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Italy, Day 1 and 2: Trains, Rain, and Scary Stuff

Italy, Day 1 and 2: Trains, Rain, and Scary Stuff

Old Jul 22nd, 2011, 05:05 AM
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annhig: thank you..
No I didn't know that,what a strange name for a road! The only explanation is that it may be a surname of someone, even though I had never heard it as a surname but everything is possible...

"We had an uneventful train ride back to Rome" :I'm glad it was uneventful this time !
So,the scary things and the rain have not lasted long fortunately !
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Old Jul 22nd, 2011, 05:53 AM
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Old Jul 22nd, 2011, 07:08 AM
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Wow! I'm tired!

Don't you ever stop walking?

(Just kidding!)

Keep up your reporting - it's very enjoyable!
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Old Jul 22nd, 2011, 08:17 AM
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Such a walk!
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Old Jul 22nd, 2011, 09:32 AM
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"did you know that there is a "via mafia" in florence"

It is Via Maffia, not "Via Mafia".
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Old Jul 22nd, 2011, 10:08 AM
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oops - pv - you are quite correct.

you live and learn.
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Old Jul 22nd, 2011, 10:18 AM
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Jennifer
Your positive attitude towards what you encounter is a pleasure to read.

I never read about the Bocca della Verita without thinking of Audrey Hepburn. And I'm right there with you on wishing you could bring artwork home. I've regretted not buying artwork from other countries, I think it's time to bite the bullet and ship something home when I finally get to Italy.

I'm loving your stories, keep em coming!

CindyP.
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Old Jul 22nd, 2011, 01:32 PM
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I think it's time to bite the bullet and ship something home when I finally get to Italy. >>

in Venice, near the Frari, i found a shop selling unframed prints of modern -style views of the city. fortunately it JUST fitted in the bottom of my case, and now hangs over the fireplace.

no reason not to bring things home if they are not too big or too heavy.
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Old Jul 22nd, 2011, 02:38 PM
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annhig...you are right! If only we hadn't packed so frugally.

We had one medium size suitcase and one carry on for 4 people, so they were both packed full. We considered buying another suitcase to transport things home since we were allowed one suitcase each, but decided against.

I have a feeling this won't be our last trip...so next time.
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Old Jul 22nd, 2011, 02:46 PM
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socaltraveler....The beds weren't lumpy or horrible, but certainly not what we are used to sleeping on. They were hard.

The rips in the wallpaper were extremely small, and the stains on the carpet as well.

Just thought I'd note it because it's considered a 4 star hotel for Rome and would be considered a 2 star hotel in the states. In case anyone is searching for places to stay, I thought this was a GREAT budget hotel. I am sure there are nicer places that are more expensive, but this was perfect for us.

I didn't mention and was pleased to find that there was a elevator in this hotel. I know that is not common in these older buildings, so we hadn't expected it to have one.

The pictures on their website are true to what we got and we were very happy with it.

Better A/C would have been nice...
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Old Jul 22nd, 2011, 04:43 PM
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DAY 4:

I forgot to mention that on the evening of day 3 as we rested in the hotel room after walking all day, we went online and booked tickets for the Colosseum for Day 4 and Vatican/Sistine Chapel for Day 5.

Up we were at 7:30, showered (not sure why), went up to have a quick breakfast on the rooftop breakfast area. They served rolls, meat, cheese, fruit, cereal, and had a few pastries. I was disappointed in the coffee machine they had in the hotel, but luckily there are no shortage of places to get a good cappuccino in Rome We grabbed a quick cappuccino at the next door restaurant and were on our way.

We headed out to walk to the Colosseum, which as I mentioned yesterday is a bit far from our hotel. We walked about 1/2 the distance by way of Corso Vittorio Emmanuele (which I later discovered there was a shorter way) and realized we were going to be late for our scheduled time of 10:30am if we walked the entire way. So we hopped in a taxi for the remainder of the trip for 7 euros. We were able to jump all the lines and go to the reservation window where they printed our tickets and into the Colosseum we went.
I believe I took about 200 photos here! It was beautiful and amazing. Though I have seen many pictures, it is not the same as experiencing it in real life. We walked both levels and also through the Nero exhibit on the second floor. I wish we had booked the tour for the sub-level, but I don't think DH noticed that this was an option. I also wish we had thought to go back at night and get night time photos...but I did buy a night time postcard!

After about 1 1/2 hours we exited and walked over to the Arch of Constantine. We did NOT take pictures with the dudes in Roman costumes, but I thought they were funny. I understand the reasoning for fencing around all the monuments and ruins but sometimes it's hard to tell if there is restoration work going on or if things always look that way! Surprise! We discovered a place that had cappuccino right in front of the metro station so we sat to have a quick cup. (Just joking about the surprise. Cappuccino and Gelato are like 7-11's in the US, located every 100 yards or less)

We decided to give the boys a walking break, so we jumped on the metro and went to the Spanish Steps. My son saw what he called the "BEST GRAFFITI EVER" when a train passed by that had Mario and Luigi (the nintendo characters) painted on it.

We ascended the steps but didn't enter the church, instead choosing to head over to the Villa Medici. Okay, here I was stumped. We passed by the Villa (there was no entrance) and ended up at the galoppatoio (park?). We saw a beautiful very expensive restaurant and very cool art pieces and we walked next to what I assume is the walls to the Villa, but couldn't find a way in?! I was about to ask someone when the boys saw the 4 seater bikes. "We HAVE to do that!" DH says, "I don't really want to pedal, but I'll go for a ride."

So, for 20 euros we rented the bike for an hour. We rode in all directions but didn't really wander too far from the rental site. DH helped pedal only a little, and the 11 yr old was too short to reach the pedals. I don't think I mentioned before that DH is "map handicapped" (side note - each time he tried to look at the map and direct where to go- we turned the wrong direction). Since I was the driver, and he was the navigator we were at his mercy. Also, just because there was a path on the map didn't mean the bike could go there. I saw a sign for the zoo and we started to head in that direction but when we saw some bigger hills (not really big - but big when only 2 people are pedaling)we decided not to go that far. After about only 30 minutes of pedaling around in the 95 degree heat, we were done. They certainly made their money on us It was fun though.

It was getting toward lunch time and we decided to go back to our hotel area so we could go to a place recommended by the hotel desk that morning. We bought a bus ticket and hopped on back to our hotel (which DH later discovered is not as far from the Spanish steps as we thought). We cooled off in the room for a few minutes and at this point it was about 2pm.

As we headed out the door, my 13 yr old decided he just doesn't want to walk anymore. So, we let him stay in the room and had him lock the door after us and told him to call our cell phone number if he needed anything. We went over to Buffetto on Via del Governo Vecchio only to discover that they were not open. We had failed to ask the morning desk clerk about what time they were open. Even the next day when we checked earlier in the day it was closed...so not sure what is going on there.

So we slowly wandered back down Via del Governo Vecchio since we had passed many places that were still serving. We ended up stopping at Cantina and Cucina just a stones throw away. Love, love, love this little restaurant/bar. The two girls that run it were wonderful, they have their menus in several different languages (6 that I could see), and it was casually beautiful if that makes any sense. I had a salad with smoked salmon, almonds, and feta that was amazing. DH had a pizza diavolo that he enjoyed, my 11yr old had a tasty pizza margherita and we brought back a pasta dish that had pancetta for the 13 yr old and he scarfed down the entire dish.

After feeding ourselves...it was time for more walking. Now NEITHER child wanted to go back out into the heat. So, we let them both stay in the room while we went out walking. I had asked the afternoon desk clerk earlier where there was a self serve lavanderia and he looked up an address for us that was near the Trevi Fountain. EXCELLENT, not too far of a walk, if DH isn't navigating!

We headed out the door to investigate with the map, DH's tablet PC with the google directions turned on and the camera, but no clothes in case it wasn't really there. We'd return tomorrow with the clothes if it was. So, with DH guiding with his tablet PC we headed out following the route mapped by google directions. Not more that 5 blocks into our walking we had missed a turn. My suggestion was to re-route ourselves using the paper map. No, DH wants to see if we can follow these directions to see how good they are. Okay, so we back track and can't seem to locate the street we need, so we finally just turn right down a street and end up at Piazza di Montecitorio by way of Via Uffici Del Vicario. (this will be important in the near future) He re-enters the Trevi Fountain destination and we get back on track with streets we now CAN find. We are only 3 blocks from the fountain and I see a wooden direction sign pointing toward the fountain...but we HAVE to follow the google directions. So about 5 turns 5 blocks later (I swear we circled the fountain on an outside block before we spiraled into it), we arrive at the fountain. This is beautiful at night, and of course PACKED with people. Is there a time of year when this area ISN'T packed?!

After a gelato and cappuccino (yep we had more) we walked down Via Lavatore where the lavanderia was supposed to be located. But alas....it was not there. (So, glad we hadn't dragged the bag of laundry with us). I navigated our return trip back to the hotel and it took us only about 15 minutes (compared to the 1.5 hours it took us to find it)!

Note: On Via Uffici del Vicario, we passed by a very lit up (it had gotten dark by now) cafe. It was packed with people and I noted..it must be good. DH says...I think it's just well lit so that's why people stop there. Neither one of us paid any attention to the street name...big mistake that you'll hear about on Day 5.

We arrived back to the hotel 3 hours later and for once decided to take the elevator. Oh no...it's not working says the front desk gentleman. So, we trudge up to our 4th (really 5th since the street level is considered 0) floor room and tell the boys about all the great walking and the beautiful fountain they missed. "Aw shucks" with no enthusiasm was their reply. I'm glad we went without them, I can't even imagine the complaining there would have been.

Nighty, night. An adventurous Day 5 and last day in Rome to follow.
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Old Jul 23rd, 2011, 08:37 AM
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Old Jul 23rd, 2011, 08:52 AM
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Love the report; thanks for posting your adventures!
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Old Jul 25th, 2011, 10:00 AM
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DAY 5/DAY 6:

Again we were up early and to breakfast by 8:00am. This day we split up. DS-13 yr old and I went to the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel. DS - 11 yr old and DH went wandering and ended up at the Leonardo Da Vinci museum. DH and DS 11 had NO desire to wear pants in the heat of Rome, which is why we split up. DS 13 had CHOSEN the Sistine Chapel as one of his places to visit, so he had no qualms about having to wear pants. If he was a little more flexible, he'd have chosen a pair of khakis rather than jeans which is the ONLY pants he will wear. I suggested bringing shorts to change into right after but he said he wasn't going to change. I luckily have very light capri pants, so I was much cooler than he was.

DS 13 and I left our hotel to walk to the Vatican at about 9:00am. I knew we would be arriving early as our scheduled time for the Vatican was 11:30am, but DS was anxious to get out the door AND I wasn't sure exactly where to go when we got there. We stopped a cafe about 2 blocks from St. Peter's square to have a cuppuccino (one of many that day), and then leisurely walked up to St. Peters.

We wandered up toward the signs for the St. Peters Basilica entrance to see if we could find anything indicating where to go for the Vatican and ended up herded into almost the front of the line. We continued through the line, through security, and into St. Peters Basilica. We quickly wandered around inside a little and took a few pictures. I wish I'd known what time it was, because I would have spent much more time in there and gotten more and better pictures. Since I only had a guesstimate that it was around 10am, we asked a Vatican security person how to get to the Vatican Museum entrance and he directed us back outside St. Peters Square and around the side.

We quickly exited and headed out the around the outside walls of Vatican city. We encountered a lot of "tour" guides that will take you into the museums and jump you to the front of the waiting line. We already had reservations for tickets so turned down the offers for this. I would have been interested to know how much one of these "tours" costs and how good they are. Now that I've been through, I wish I had gotten a tour person to tell me what I was seeing.

We arrived in the lobby of the Vatican Museums at 10:30am (an hour early) but were able to go right in. We took the short route to the Sistine Chapel, and of course I think I took about 200 pictures in here...and due to no guide...not sure what I took most of my pictures of. I snapped away at whatever art work, statue, floor, ceiling that I could! Speaking of ceiling, boy was my neck and shoulders SORE when we got out of there. I spent so much time looking straight up and taking pictures of the ceiling, I was afraid I'd get stuck that way!

Again, some day I'll go back and spend more time wandering and get the "tour" so I can hear the history behind what I am seeing. But, DS 13 really just wanted to get to the Sistine Chapel. We spent about 15 minutes in the Sistine Chapel, and were disappointed that you can't take photos. I think they worry about flash, and it affecting the paint?! Not sure, but I did see many people taking a picture or two and nobody getting a camera confiscated. DS 13 was very impressed, as was I. I think this and St. Peters were my favorite sites of Rome, followed closely by the Colosseum.

We quickly walked back to the hotel so we could get into shorts. We arrived back at the hotel about 12:30pm. We hung around waiting for DH and DS 11 to arrive and I took a nap...ah.

DH and DS 11 arrived about 30 minutes later and we talked about what we each saw. They had walked to the Spanish steps, and the Piazza de Popolo and happened up the Leonardo Da Vinci museum so went in. They enjoyed it alot, and told us about the cool replicated things they saw.

Now for food. We decided to go back to Cantina and Cucina for lunch as we had enjoyed it so much the day before. We walked the few blocks around the corner to the restaurant (and checked Buffeto which had been recommended the day before but was not open, and again it was not open and had no hours posted). We had more pasta and pizza, believe it or not! It was fabulous...again. After this meal they brought us a shot of sambucca (not sure how to spell it)on the house. We are not drinkers, so I tasted it. Wow is that strong! I offered a taste to the boys...but they were turned off by the smell!

After lunch we returned to the hotel to retrieve the map. Once again, the boys were NOT wanting to walk in the heat, so we went on a 2 hour jaunt without them. This time we had a mission...to find the cafe we had passed the night before that had been well lit up and looked very busy.

So, this time without the Google directions or PC tablet (just my handy paper map), we headed in the direction that we thought we had traveled the night before to get to the Trevi Fountain. This was a keystone cop trip! Every time we thought we were around the corner, we'd end up back to a place we'd already been! We easily found the Trevi fountain and started by walking down the blocks that spanned out from there. We passed Piazza Colonna about 5 times and were just about to give up when it dawned on us that we had seen this cafe BEFORE Piazza Colonna.

We walked back through the Piazza and just on the other side of the Palazza Montecitorio on Via Uffici del Vicario, it was there! So 2 hours of roaming in a 1/2 mile radius to find a Giolitti Cafe which is only 6 blocks from the hotel! That's what we get for not looking at the name of the place OR the street it was on. All because we had been so focused on finding the Trevi Fountain the night before.

It had fabulous cappuccino, pasteries, and gelato (we had a little of everything). So good in fact, that we quickly went back to the hotel and told the boys that we would be going back there later for gelato. They were okay with that We convinced the boys to come out and walk just a little within a few blocks of the hotel so we could pick out a gift for our neighbor who dog sat for the 10 days we were gone. We ended up with a pretty scarf, because I couldn't find a nice small pair of earrings...they were all big! Around 5pm we grabbed a slice of pizza on the go, and headed back to Giolitti for our last gelato. We enjoyed it immensely and will miss our good cappuccino and gelato.

By 8pm we were back in the hotel. We were drenched, tired, and had to pack to go home. We were asleep by 10pm.


Last morning in Rome. We got up and had our last breakfast on the rooftop terrace of the hotel. We had arranged the night before for a taxi to the airport for 9:30am, which was waiting for us as promised at 9:30. After riding in two taxis in Rome...I'll never do it again! The driving there is CRAZY. We made it safely to the airport...not sure how....and our flights left on time. We had a short layover in Dublin and arrived home with no issues.

It was a fabulous trip, and I look forward to returning in the near future...but next time I'll avoid July!
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Old Jul 25th, 2011, 10:09 AM
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One thing I totally forgot to mention..one of these evenings, we did find and go to a self serve laundry facility. I forget the name but it was located on Via San Francesco a Ripa in the Trastavere area of Rome.

We were in and out in 45 minutes! So, if you are looking for a laundromat (lavanderia), here it is!
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Old Jul 26th, 2011, 03:57 AM
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Jennifer, you are not the first person to say that a tour of the Vatican would have been helpful.

I prefer to see museums on my own at my own pace, but I think I may be changing my mind after the advice of so many travelers.

Now.....to decide which tour!??

Thank you so much for sharing your journey with us.

CindyP.
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Old Jul 26th, 2011, 04:45 AM
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That was a very nice family trip you had. Thanks for sharing.

Sounds like you had enough cappuccino to float home on!
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Old Jul 26th, 2011, 05:48 AM
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Here's a list (4 pages) of self service laundries in Rome including the one on Via San Francesco (Il Mastello). If you click on the name of a laundry, it will give the hours and a map (click expand). If you click the camera on the map you will get the satellite view.
http://www.060608.it/en/accoglienza/...e-self-service
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Old Jul 26th, 2011, 07:19 AM
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kybourbon,

I almost logged on to post when we were searching for one! Thanks for posting that, it will be helpful to others, I'm sure!!
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Old Jul 26th, 2011, 03:29 PM
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CindyP, I have been to the Vatican Museums a half a dozen times, twice with (1 with Scala Reale now ContextRome & 1 with Context) and 4 times on my own.

The S.R./Context tours were outstanding and both with Art Historians.

But all Vatican tours are working within a timeframe and if the Sistine Chapel is included often with St. Peter's Basilica that is less time spent in the actual museums.

On tour you will see a few of the star attractions which will be explained in *detail*.
And if it's an early admission tour you will be ahead of the herd.

But on the tour's downside you will miss the majority of the exhibits.

DIY with their audioguide you will see alot more but risk being in the herd.

"I prefer to see museums on my own at my own pace,"

As do I, my choice for a 1st time visit would be an audioguide tour.
And with a little homework on my 'must see' exhibits.

Hopefully you are one of those lucky souls where everything in life falls perfectly into place , if not then plan on your *major* 'must see' to be in an area/room that is closed that day
Or maybe it's just me.

In the ticket area there is a signboard that lists the areas/rooms that are closed-off.
(I haven't been there since '06 so I'm assuming it is still on-going?) Regards, Walter
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