The Cousins Go To Italy
 

We are now down to 5 weeks until the departure of my family group of nine (my husband, two teenage sons, and me, my sister-in-law, and two cousins with their wives) for a long-awaited (two years in the planning) trip to Italy. Because I lived in Rome for a few years many years ago, and still speak rusty Italian, I am the planner and tour guide. However, I have been helped in this, to a very large extent, by some remarkably knowledgeable and helpful people on this site, including Howard, Elaine, Richard, Elvira, Ed, Dona, Paulo, Walter, Rex, and others too numerous to name. I’d like to thank all of you. Here’s our itinerary, along with an offer to pass on the help to anyone else who asks when we get back: We fly from New York direct to Venice for 2 nights, then train to Florence for 2 more. In Florence, we pick up a mini-bus and car and drive to Colle di Val d’Elsa for a night, then on to Porto Santo Stefano for 2 days of seaside relaxation before the Rome adventure. (See part II below.)

In Rome (yes, we’re driving in, for better or worse!) we have reserved a large apartment near Piazza Farnese for a week. We’ll use the cars on Sunday to drive down to Anzio and Nettuno to see the landing site and American cemetery, then we’ll ditch them on Monday. From Rome, we’ll also take a day trip to Pompeii, either using Walter’s great train directions or (my preference) renting our own bus and driver. (I’m not having any success finding any tour companies who are willing to do this for us, though, and would love suggestions. We don’t want to join a big tour.) We couldn’t book a direct flight home, and have to stop in Paris, so we’re staying over for 24 hours before returning to New York. I like to think of the Paris stopover as “previews of coming attractions,” in this case at the end of the feature instead of before it. The most remarkable coincidence of all is that Nancy, of this forum, and I figured out, from one another’s questions and responses, that her family is staying in the exact same Rome apartment as mine, the week after! We plan to meet for an apperitivo on my last night in Rome, and her first. I’ll be wearing that Fodor’s pin if it arrives in time.

Karen - <BR> <BR>Sounds wonderful! <BR> <BR>If you get an early start on Sunday, you may want to stop to see the ruins at Ostia Antica. I did your trip in reverse a year ago but when I got to Ostia Antica it was closed for lunch! The American Cemetary and Anzio are moving experiences but won't take too long to see. <BR> <BR>Have a great time! <BR> <BR>Dona

Karen, <BR>It is getting so close. <BR>While I will not be wearing a Fodor pin, I hopefully will remember a blue ribbon. <BR>Otherwise, you will recognize me as the one with the big, goofy , happy smile, leading a very tall man, a two hopefully NOT sullen children <BR>(but I will excuse them if they are, just having arrived in rome) <BR> <BR>I will be very interested in hearing about Anzio and Nettuno,when we meet, as my son has great interest in WW2 and history. <BR>Although he thinks the cemetary might be too sad. <BR>So, count down begins Karen! <BR> <BR>Dona, Do you have any suggestions for places to eat in the anzio /Nettuno area for Karen and myself? <BR>I did E- Karen some addresses of places from the Tuttitalia 2001 Gambero Rosso book. <BR>But if you have any "hands on" or should I say "mouth on" experiences , that would be so much better! <BR>Thanks. <BR> <BR>

Topping this in the hope that someone may have an idea for that bus trip to Pompeii.

Sorry, nothing on Pompei (but local buses in that area are reliable and inexpensive, have you considered public transport?)...I do have a cemetery story. I visited Italy with my 83 year old Mum and 17 year old daughter at her school in the Abruzzo last year. We arrived just before the whole (high) school went to visit Ortono, which is the largest Canadian grave site in Italy. At first the kids were quite dismissive, going throught the motions of the ceremony the scholl had aplanned. Then they started to wander throught the gravestones and read the markers. The realization that those kids were the same age as they were when they were lost brought the message home more effectively than any amount of reading, preaching or poetry could ever do... I saw a number of these great hulking 19 year olds in tears when they found someone their age, from their home town...at dinner that night back at the school my Mum was innundated with questions about what is was like to live through a war and lose friends and family. So, as to whether it would be too sad, I guess the answer is it depends on your child, but it was "good-sad" for those kids and really brought the war and the Allied role in Europe to life for them and for us.

Thanks for the good wishes. Dona, you did give me some restaurant names last year (and Nancy provided the phone numbers!). I think we'll probably try Lo Sbarco d'Anzio, since it sort of goes with the theme of the day. Stopping at Ostia is a definite possibility, unless we drive south to Monte Cassino. Lesley, I first visited the cemetery at Nettuno when I was in my early 20's and had the same experience. I realized with a shock that these were boys, not men, buried here, most of whom probably didn't even know where they were when their young lives ended. This time I will be taking my 17 and 19 year old sons, and I expect it to have a similar effect upon them.

Karen: <BR> <BR>Good luck 1) finding and 2) getting into the Museo dello Sbarco in Anzio. We spent a week near Anzio last summer and tried for two days to find it (it's quite hard to find, back on a little alleyway, with only one minuscule sign that doesn't help because once you've found the sign, you're there) and four days to go there when it was open. It was inexplicably closed at the usual opening times for three of those days and on the fourth the doors were open, but a workman said we'd have to come back the next day because the caretaker had become ill that morning. We couldn't go back the next day, as that was the day we spent finding out that the boat trip to Ponza we'd planned couldn't happen because the posted schedules weren't accurate. We never did see the museum, though we did visit the British Cemetery. Auguri!

Karen: Try this site for a bus & driver, I just found it for another post. www.busweb.com/coachdtl.asp?hc=15 The SO.ME.T company seems to have a nice webpage, click-on "Motor Vehicles" to get an idea on bus size. The "412" is a 15 passenger (13+driver+guide), the next smaller size is an 8 passenger. There are 6 companies on that website that you can try. Good-Luck...Regards, Walter <BR> <BR>

Walter, <BR>You do pull through with amazing info at times. <BR>I copy all your posts, and I know we will not get lost if we follow your instructions! :) <BR>Lesley, <BR>Of course this will be sad for my son, seeing the cemetaries. <BR>But, I know it is something he really does want to do. <BR>But, being a 13 yr old boy, I think he is sensitive about crying in public. <BR>His class just finished up a study on the Holocost. <BR>It was a real shocker for him (some of the books they read) <BR> ,even though we at home have always talked about it. <BR> so I think he will appreciate the cemetaries even more now. <BR>I have also told both my children that it is a good way to pay our respects. <BR> <BR>Karen, <BR>Hope the Walter advice helps with your Pompeii adventure. <BR>The Cousins Go to Italy, will be a hugh success! <BR>Count down continues. <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR>

Walter, great tip on the bus page. I have already gotten one response and hope for another one or two before deciding. Thanks.

Me again, with an update. Our private bus tour to Pompeii and the top of Vesuvius is all set, with a company called Euroservice, which I got from Walter's suggested web page. (Thanks, Walter!) I'll let you know how it works out. We also have airport transfers and a quick bus tour of Paris booked for our one-night stand there, through Cometoparis, which I also learned about on this forum. I'm still waiting for those train tickets from Venice to Florence, which I ordered from Rail Europe after giving up on the Ferrovie dello stato site, which STILL lists trains only up to June 9. But oh well, if that's the only problem, we'll be fine. Two weeks from this Friday, and we're off to Venice. Thanks again to all of you for the great tips, and I'll report back on how they went. And my Fodor's pin came today.