Thank you so much everyone for all of your help in planning our trip. I have posted a little bit, but mostly just read a ton (especially Mebe's report on traveling w/a toddler.)A little background: DH & I are in early 30's & bambini is almost two. DH & I are seasoned travelers...pre-baby! Why oh why would we take our two year old with us? We couldn't bear to be without her for 3 weeks & yes, we know she won't remember, but we will. We are fully prepared for things to be different & we promise to remove our bambini from any social situation (museum, resturaunt, etc.)if she has a meltdown (OKAY- MAYBE BEFORE THE MELTDOWN WOULD BE BETTER!) Our daughter is typically well behaved & she has been out of the USA before & done well. We will be eating early dinners at kid-friendly places- she would never make it for dinner at 8:30 pm!
Our plans:
Depart USA December 16th (flying FREE w/frquent flyer miles- YEAH!)
Arrive Venice December 17th
H2O taxi to hotel (expensive we know... but luggage, a baby & jet lag will make it worth it!)
Hotel: Corte Grimani

18th Venice: Doges Palace (Secret Itineraries tour booked,) St. Marks, feed the pigeons-probably will be highlight of two year old's day, take slow boat #1 down grand canal, dinner (Zattare area)

19th Venice: Rialto market, shopping, Cannareggio district, boat to Murano & Burano in afternoon, Gondola ride

20th- Train to Florence (tickets booked) Arrive Florence 1:30 pm

Hotel: San Lorenzo Apartments

Duomo/Baptistry, Accademia (booked a reservation-Thank you IRA for the number!

21st Florence: San Lorenzo Market,Bargello, Pitti Palace & Boboli gardens

22nd: Uffizzi (booked reservation), train to Pisa in afternoon

23rd Florence/Umbria:
pick up rental car (AutoEurope) & drive to Greve for lunch, on to San Gimignano & final destination Asissi.

We will be based in Asissi for the next 5 nights.
Hotel: Asissi CarpeDiem Living Club (a timeshare- so this is pretty much free for us.)


24th: Perugia & Spoleto

25th: Asissi (we figured stay close to home on Christmas- doubt if anything will be open)

26th: Todi & Oriveto

27th: Montepuliciano- has anyone been to the Contucci Cantina? Siena

28th: Gubbio & Cortona

We now begin the slightly abnormal part of our itinerary because DH decides at the last moment that HE MUST SEE POMPEII! Mental note to self: next time INSIST that DH helps plan the next trip instead of letting him say "whatever you think honey" for 6 months. We are driving from Asissi to Sorrento this evening (baby goes to sleep at 7:30 pm & we will begin the drive then so we can drive in peace w/a SLEEPING baby!) We know we could probably leave the car somehere in Umbria, but it just seems easier in our case to keep it. We should arrive in Sorrento late, but at least we will wake up & be there in the AM & not have to make a 5 hour drive with an AWAKE two year old in the car!

Sorrento Hotel: Mignon Meuble

29th- Pompeii in morning, hired driver in afternoon (Renato Cumonet- reccomended here) to take us around Amalfi Coast

30th- Drive to Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli, on to Rome where we drop off rental car in Borghese underground garage.

Rome Apartment: Farnesi Apartment (in Campo dei Fiori)

31st Rome: Ancient Rome Tour (booked through Eternity tours, Pantheon & Piazza Navona

January 1st Rome: Villa Borghese Zoo-Bioparc (Yes- it's open today,) Trevi Fountain, walk along Via Guilia & have dinner in Trastevere

2nd Rome: Vatican, spanish steps, maybe Borghese gallery?

3rd: home

Thoughts, comments, suggestions, etc? Is there amything we are missing? Anything I still need to do (except pack... & that may be a whole different post!)

What are we missing? A bag of earplugs?

"We couldn't bear to be without her for 3 weeks" This too shall pass.

Seriously, have a good time. I'm sure you will have many amusing stories to tell when you return.

Maybe you should reserve the Borghese Gallery the day that you plan to go to Borghese Gardens. You are limited to 2 hours once inside the museum.

Also, check ahead to see if there are any restaurants open in Assisi on Christmas Day or Christmas Eve. If not, stock up your fridge to fix your own holiday meal.

Comments? you bet...I'm JEALOUS!!

Have a great time!

Your very first day in Italy is packed! I don't know if this is the first overseas trip for the baby and you know better, but wouldn't she need a mid-day nap, especially during the first 2-3 jetlagged days?

Degas- You are too funny! The earplug comment made me laugh! Hopefully, it won't be an issue. I chuckled myself when I re-read that "we couldn't bear to be without her!" I bet in 17 years it won't bother us nearly as much!

FlyingMaltese- Thanks for the suggestion. I think I checked & the Borghese gallery wasn't open on Jan 1st., hence going back the next day.

FainiAgain- I appreciate your concern. Naps are a BIG event in our life! Our very first day in Italy is nothing than just geting to the apartment, but day 2 we start sightseeing. DD usually will nap well in a stroller or backpack for a couple hours, if not- one (or both) of us will be back at the apartment napping too!

Ha ha ha ha Mr Again used this excuse for his nap when the kids were small

I went to Spain with my DD, S-in-L, and 13-mo.-old grandson and we all a ball! We took a lightweight stroller and kept snacks handy . . . we laughed and said he had the snack/bread tour of Spain, that's about all he ate.

I typed up my travelog from that trip and would be happy to email it to you, you could see how we managed everything and planned our days. Just let me know at [email protected].

We really had a good time and it was easier than we anticipated. Hope you have a terrific trip.

Sandy (in Denton)

Hi googie.

Here is my favorite thread on what to do right before you leave, etc:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34648432

Have a lovely time!

You're going to have a blast, and you're not crazy (well at least not certifiably). We saw a lot of young couples with babies travelling in Italy last month. All I have to say is that I'm jealous of you on two counts: you're going to Italy, <u>and</u> you've got a mouseketeer. Have a ball, googie.

My very best wishes to you googie and to your husband and to your little one.

My daughter is all grown up, how I wish she was two years old again! I could not have been without my toddler for three weeks either so I completely understand.

Just a warning, your little angel will become so enthralled with trips she will be nagging you from now on to take trips, lol. But won't that be fun? Enjoy every precious moment. I envy you.

Sounds like a fantastic trip. Yes you better start packing now


Along the way I am guessing a few things may end up being deleted from your itinerary, but that'll come naturally.

..been there and done that..and still doing it though my 2 youngest are in their late teens. IMO the 2's were the worst time for travel (and I had no choice..family spread all over the place). A travel writer once wrote re advice on travelling with 2-4..&quot;don't!&quot; I wouldn't go that far BUT I would like to share a bit of advice. Go looking at this as a family vacation. You may not be able to do anything other than the things that you would be doing at home..ie go to the park (but the park will be the Borgese gardens!!). You may find that you and your hubbie may have to tag team if you want to see a specific museum- one with babe for an hour while the other does a stroll and then a switch. You will have a good time if you just remember that you are having a family time in Europe rather than a European vacation. Have fun.

Sounds like a great trip. Not sure about the drive to Pompeii but other than that, sounds fine. Another option would be to go straight to Rome and visit Pompeii for a day or so from there.
Carolena

Hi googie,

Great trip. We're doing almost the same thing but in reverse at about the same time. And yes I know about those husbands that leave it all to you and add in their 2 cents worth right at the end. We have always travelled with our babies on every holiday and that is why we are still going strong now. Our oldest baby is 19 now and of course coming with us to Italy .. well if we are paying why not? Our youngest thinks he is going to every continent with us before he leaves home. He only has 3 to go. Be warned they are hard to get rid of but would you have it any other way?

We traveled with our daughter in Europe, including Italy, from the time she was born until she was almost 3.

Our most important piece of equipment was a lightweight, collapsible stroller, which someone has already mentioned.

Breakfast was the trickiest meal for her. But, we learned to carry packets of cereal that you would mix with boiling water.

Traveling with our daughter required some adjustements but I would say that we enjoyed it more than when we were on a previous tour without her.

Regards, Gary

&quot;Thoughts, comments, suggestions, etc?&quot;

OK, I'll say it...Better you than me. Have fun.

Thanks everyone for your insightful responses. Sandy b- We laughed about the &quot;bread tour of Spain&quot; with your 13 month old grandson! I am pretty sure that our daughter will be eating a lot of raisins- it's her new &quot;thing.&quot; I would love to read your trip report! I will try and email you when I have a moment. Tiff- thank you for the &quot;things to do before you leave thread&quot;- good stuff!! LucieV, LoveItaly, suze, travelbunny, Carolina, aussiefive, &amp; Gary Mc- thank you so much for sharing your stories, thoughts &amp; words of encouragement. Your insightful comments and suggestions are truly appreciated. Wliwl- regarding &quot;better you than me...&quot; thanks for your candor &amp; we thought the same thing before we had a kid. We truly enjoyed our almost 10 years of marriage pre-baby &amp; taking LONG relaxing trips as a couple (ah... the days of sitting at dinner for hours over a bottle of wine...) It's funny how kids change you- we are EXCITED at being wherever we are as a family this time. I read something once that said that you &quot;take children to places, so that you CAN take them to places.&quot; Trranslation: if you never expose them to anything outside their &quot;world&quot; the harder it gets to do anything outside the norm. Makes sense to us.

Googie-might I suggest one more tour in Venice? Seeing as you are doing the Secret Itineraries tour, the brand new (just opened in November) tour of the newly renovated 500 year old Clock Tower in Piazza San Marco sounds really interesting, you get the history of the Tower, and get to see the inner workings up close, plus you will get these marvelous views of the Piazza and the basin of San Marco from up high, for picture taking purposes. The cost is 12 Euros.

You could be one of the first to take the tour and report on it-this is a tour you must also reserve in advance, and English tours are given on certain days. You can reserve on the Venice Museums website, or, since you will be going to the Palazzo Ducale for the SI tour, you might be able to get a reservation there, since the tour is new, and not that many people know of it yet. I believe that, with that 12 Euro admission fee, you also get admission to the Venice Biblioteca (library) which rooms, I understand are quite beautiful (this will be something for me to do on a future trip).

I'm happy to see my report was a help. I'm jealous! I think about our trip to Italy all the time (especially now that I'm strapped to my house with newborn twins...) and I am so thankful I went before I had three kids! Have a wonderful trip and please share all your adventures when you get back Oops, baby crying...