I recently returned from Italy, and I must say that it was the most enjoyable trip I have ever taken. Initially, we were going to Naples for a day, but due to a late plane and a wrong train our itinerary changed.

Instead of Naples I chose the Borghese Gallery and have never regretted it. Upon arrival in Roma (finally) we were approached by a gentleman(?) selling limousine (van)trips to Rome for 20 euro. My sister and I were tired and considered using them instead of the Leonardo Express, but there was something about him that did not seem very customer friendly-like. We sat down in the seats he directed us to sit in and then my sister need to use the necessary. "Where are you going"? he asked when she got up. I got up to go outside for a smoke, "Where are you going"? he asked me and I squeaked "Nowhere, just to smoke outside". I walked down the sidewalk a little and noticed he was watching. I acted casual and caught my sister's attention before she got back to the hostage area, then we stayed outside until we saw the escalator and went upstairs to buy our tickets for the Leonardo Express.

Well, we ran to the track where some person informed us that we would take our train. When we got there it was about to take off and I asked a group of folks blocking the train door in English "Does this train go to Rome"? They answered in Italian and I shook my head like I understood and decided that they said 'yes'. So I tell my sister to get on board. It was not the Leonardo Express, I know this now because we saw about 4 of them pass us while we were waiting for a train to take us back to the airport to start all over again. I do not remember the name of the next stop, but I immediately found out after boarding that we were on the wrong train. Those people lied to me! We got off and waited for the next train to cme and take us back to FCO, but alas they were delayed so we waited at this stop for at least 90 minutes or more until a train stopped. When we finally got on the express to Rome it was thunderstorming outside and we were in it truly by the time we stepped out of Termini. We came out of Termini at the end where you can get a taxi. We wanted a bus so we walk up this steep incline along the side of Termini not realizing how truly large this place is, nor how steep the sidewalk. To make a very long story shorter, We were miserable when we finally arrived at our hotel, it was too late to get to Borghese at my reserved time(5:00), I took a chance and asked the Clerk if he could get us reservations for Borghese for any day except Saturday, because That was the day we were going to Naples. Well, Saturday was the only day available so I decided to scratch Naples - this time. This was all in our first day in Roma. We had 2 weeks more to go...

Gee, I sure hope the remaining 14 days got better!

This has the makings of trip report of the year. More please.

Hi Jemappell, I too am looking forward to the balance of your trip report. It didn't start out to well from what you have said but since you said this was your most enjoyable trip you have ever taken I assume that your time in Rome got better. That is good!! I am looking forward to your next installment. Do just add it here to the thread you started.

Please more, but with paragraphs we can read.

The next day I had planned pretty well. I woke up feeling like it was the middle of the night, but the sun was shining brightly so we got dressed, ate breakfast and hit the streets. Our point of reference in Rome was the Termini. We knew if we could get back to the Termini we could find our way back to the hotel-Bus # 90 or 36 and get off at Noventanta.

We boarded a tour bus there to get a feel of the city before we went out on our own. We got off at St. Peter's but when we arrived it was closed due to some type of ceremony for the cardinals. Disappointed, we walked right side of the Basilica and accidentally found an entry into the square to enter St.Peters. There were metal detectors we had to pass through but we bypassed the long line of people that wound all around the square.

Of course everything was going too good to be true. Armed with my new digital camera I was ready to take lots and lots of pictures, in fact I had taken some while on the tour bus earlier but when we got to the Vatican my camera went dead. I had to buy a 15 euro instant Kodak sans flash. Needless to say I was not very happy at the time and my sister kept telling me that she thinks that I need to charge the batteries. "No I charged them 2 days ago, but I know what I did wrong. These rechargable batteries are supposed to be all the way down before you recharge them or you will shorten the life of them" I wailed. " I shortened the life of my batteries"!

St Peter's allowed photos without flash so I guess I should have been pacified, but I was truly afraid that I would have to buy another camera in Italy.

On the way out of St Peters square we were approached by a reporter and her camera man for ETWN or EWTN, the religious television station. She interviewed my sister first. The reporter wanted to know how we felt about ‘The DaVinci Code’ and ‘Opus Dei’ and what we would say to the Pope if we got the chance to talk to him on the Vatican hot-line. Now I cannot remember the last time my sister read a novel, and she can’t either I’m sure, however she stated that if she had the chance to speak to the Pope she would say “Hello Pope, How you doing”?

I was determined to send all of my postcards from the Vatican post office because I heard it was the most reliable postal service in Italy. Unfortunately I ran out of money before I could buy all the stamps I needed. So I had to come back the next day to buy more – only to buy more stamps because I had decided that I was going to the Vatican museum on the free Sunday. It was the only time that I had to go while in Rome.

Samplng of my over 400 photos.

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