TRIP REPORT--Jennie's three week European vacation (London, Paris, Venice, Florence, Rome)
Oct 29th, 2003 | 01:40 PM
#41
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OK, here it is. The long awaited final installment of this monster! I'm sorry to not get it posted yesterday. I took a break from writing and fell asleep!
However, I am back at work today and feel almost human again, so I was able to get this finished on my lunch hour.
Hope you enjoy it!
Day 16---10/3/03 (Con?t)
ROME
We rolled into Roma right on time (around 5:00--ish if I recall correctly) and quickly and easily found our way out and into the taxi line. Luckily for us, we didn?t have to wait long at all for a taxi. I was very concerned that the taxi driver might try to "rip us off" but he didn?t. I think we paid in the neighborhood of €8 or €10 to get to our B&B (Sunflower B&B) on Via Calabria.
PROS: We booked this B&B through www.sleepinitaly.com, which was very easy to do. I would work with this company again. Also, we got a fantastic deal on it for Rome: Double with private bath was €79 per night. In addition, the B&B was located on the 4th floor of a residential AND commercial building in a nice, safe, relatively quiet neighborhood. On the first and second floor of the building was a hotel called something like, "The Principessa Hotel." Our "B&B" was on the 4th floor of this building. The rooms were clean and the beds were comfortable. The hostess was friendly. A decent breakfast (lots of different kinds of pastries, toast, hot tea, juice, coffee, milk) was included and served nicely (laid out on the table with lovely place settings.).
CONS: While clean and comfortable, the set-up of the place was just . . . well . . . WEIRD. As it turns out, the "B&B" was actually a two bedroom, two bath apartment that was owned by a family whose permanent home was also in the building. The rooms were rented out separately (along with exclusive use of the bath closest to each room) and the common areas (kitchen, living area, dining area) were available for common use. Theoretically, this should have been fine, but in practicality it was anything but. For one thing, the dining room was just outside our bedroom. The door to our room opened into this room. As a result, there was not a lot of privacy. For example, on our first night there, we went to bed only to be awakened at around midnight by our fellow guests, who came in from being out and about and decided to sit in the dining room and play cards. Since the doors to the bedrooms had huge frosted glass panes in the top of them, light shown through our bedroom window until app. 2am, at which point the couple decided to go to bed. The next morning, as Mom and I were going back and forth from "our" bathroom, getting ready to leave for the day, one of our neighbors wandered out into the hallway to go to "their" bathroom (which was right next to "our" bathroom) . . . . completely NAKED! He was as shocked to see us as we were to see him, let me tell you. He turned around and bolted back into his bedroom. As soon as he was back in the room, Mom and I could hear voices going back and forth. While we couldn?t make out every word, the gist of the conversation was that they were SURPRISED that there was anyone else in the apartment. I?m not sure if they thought they were supposed to have the place to themselves or what . . . we never saw them again. They were gone (their room was opened and being cleaned) when we returned later that day.
After THOSE people left, a woman and two children took their place. This time, it seemed to us that these people were friends or relatives of the family of the owners of the apartment. They (the owners) were always there, hanging out and talking to the people over the next two days visiting with the people AND they also brought in a TV for the kids to watch as well as some games for them, etc. It just wasn't like they were on vacation (they didn?t go out as far as we could tell) but, instead had come to visit the owners of the place. The set up was more like that of people staying in a guest room, know what I mean? It was just very strange. After the woman and the kids left, we were alone in the place for the next couple of days/nights.
Another cons was that, while the owner was as friendly as possible, she did not speak ANY English at all, which made all sorts of communication difficult. We had grown accustomed to asking our hotel desk clerks for little things like, "Where?s the nearest internet café?" or "Which direction do we need to go to get to _________(nearest tourist attraction)?" and so on. We couldn't do this at all with her. Also, when we had the issue with the other guests being up and about until 2am, we had no way to discuss it with her. Things like that. We made do the best we could in Italian (when we needed her to call us a cab, we looked up the phrase in a book and wrote it down, etc.) but it was a change after all of our other places.
Another problem was that the bathroom that was designated for us had a VERY funky smell that never seemed to go away. It kind of smelled like the pipes might start backing up at any moment!
Finally, while the neighborhood was safe and pretty nice, it wasn?t close to ANYTHING. The nearest metro stop was Piazza Barberini, a good 25 to 30-minute walk away. The neighborhood was VERY residential. There weren?t really even many restaurants nearby.
All in all, I'd have to say I'd not be able to recommend this B&B (It's simply listed as B&B Via Calabria on sleepinital.com). It was just not a comfortable place for us, overall.
After getting settled into our hotel, we decided to walk over to the Spanish Steps area. After about 30 minutes, we arrived at the top of the steps just as the sun was setting. The view from the top of the steps was just lovely. We then walked down the steps to the fountain. After hanging out and people watching a bit, we headed back towards our hotel and dinner. As we left the steps area, we did not go back UP the steps, but rather headed off to the right (if you?re facing the steps), this eventually led us to Piazza Barberini and the Via Veneto. After walking back up the Via Veneto a bit in the direction of our hotel, we came upon the Hard Rock Café, Rome. Once we saw it, we immediately decided to eat there. After 2.5 weeks of eating local (other than one stop at a Burger King and another at McDonald?s) we were both craving some decent "American" food (in other words, not a burger and fries) and we got it at the Hard Rock (Nachos, BBQ sandwich, Chicken Salad). We also picked up a couple of tee-shirts while we were there. Think what you will about our choice to eat there, but the service at the Hard Rock was outstanding. Fun, friendly servers who made sure we never wanted for anything. It seemed that I could hardly take a drink of my Iced Tea (ICED TEA??? WOO-HOO!) w/o someone coming over and asking me if I was ready for a refill (what a wonderful American custom the free refill is!). And they were busy, too. The place was packed with diners of all nationalities (I heard several different languages being spoken). After dinner we walked a bit more and then turned in for the night.
Day 17---10/4/03 Saturday
We had early (9:30am) reservations for the Scavi tour at the Vatican this day, so we were up and out the door by 8am. After our half hour walk to the metro stop, we were feeling good about being on time for the tour, etc. However, this feeling was gone in a flash when we encountered the infamous "Metro ticket vending machines of Rome."
I also posted info. on these machines on a separate thread called "Ticket Machines in Rome Metro". BEWARE OF THESE MACHINES!! If at all possible, buy your ticket at a newsstand or Tabbachi shop, etc. (be aware, however, that not all newsstands sell metro tickets. In fact, the newsstand on Via Veneto at the top of the stairs leading down to the metro do not sell these tickets, for example.) BEFORE you go down into the stations. We spent almost half an hour trying to figure out how to make the damn machines work. I wouldn't wish this frustration on even the worst "Ugly American" tourist, so here is the secret to making it work for yourself:
The metro tickets are 77 cents. To buy two, for example, it will cost you €1,54. In order to get the machine to work, you have to FIRST insert the 4 cents in any combination of 1 or 2 cent coins, and then insert the rest of your money. The machine DOES give change (thus, it is not necessary to have EXACTLY €1,54), BUT it can only give change in increments of 5 cents, so it is essential that you insert however many cents you have to, to make the last digit of your total due a multiple of 5.
For example, if want only one ticket, (total cost: 77 cents), you must insert a 2 cent coin (to make the total due 75 cents . . . which is a multiple of 5) and only then can you insert the rest of your money. If you want three tickets (€2,31), you must put in a 1 cent coin and proceed from there. And so on . . . You can put as much as 5 Euros in the machine and you WILL get change . . . but you HAVE to make the last digit of your total a multiple of 5 cents first. If you don't work it out so that your total is a multiple of 5 cents, the machine will flash a "transaction aborted" message on the LCD screen and spit back all of your money.
OK, so having figured out how to work these machines from hell, it was about 5 til 9am and we had exactly 25 minutes to get to the Vatican, check our bags, and find where we?re supposed to go to pick up our Scavi tickets by 9:20. It seemed like an impossible task . . . and it was. Despite catching some breaks and getting downstairs JUST in time to catch the train to the Vatican stop, and despite reading the map so that we knew which direction to take off running the 150-200 yards or so to the Vatican gate, and despite basically ignoring the awesome sight of St. Peter?s square and Basillica on our way in ("We?ll look at it later!" I kept telling my mom!), we arrived at the Scavi office at exactly 9:35am. HOWEVER, it turned out that all was not lost. Since we were only 5 minutes late, we decided to at least TRY to see if there was any way we could still take the tour (I was thinking that they couldn?t have been very far gone after only 5 minutes!). Besides, there were several people milling around outside the office . . . like maybe the tour hadn?t even left yet . . . ? So I walk up to the guy and say (in English, after first asking if he spoke it or not), "I?m sorry, we are supposed to take the 9:30 tour. We are a little late due to some difficulties with the Metro but I was wondering if that?s the 9:30 tour still waiting to leave outside?" "Yes, he replied, that?s the 9:30 tour but . . . do you speak Italian?" "No,? I said. "Well," he says , "the 9:30 tour is an Italian tour. You should not be scheduled for that tour if you do not speak Italian." "Well," I said, showing him my electronic confirmation notice, "I am."
Well, to make a long story short, it turned out that the office had screwed up and scheduled us for a tour in Italian, despite the fact that we made our ticket request in English and had conducted all further correspondence in English as well. Being the nice people they are and wanting to make things right, they scheduled us for the next English tour, which was just an hour later, at 10:30am. SO, despite the screw-up with the ticket machines, we ended up getting to take our Scavi tour after all.
After killing the next 35 minutes by resting and checking out one of the gift shops (we did not want to go into the Basilica because we were afraid we'd get distracted and miss our next tour . . . by the time we got finished with everything in the office, it was almost 9:45 and we only had 35 minutes before we had to be back at 10:20 for the 10:30 tour.), we went back and took the Scavi tour. This was also on my "top 5" list of favorite things on this trip. This tour was absolutely wonderful from some many different perspectives: historical, archeological, religious, etc. It was just FASCINATING. I highly, highly recommend it to anyone. Don?t let anyone scare you away by saying you shouldn?t take it if you're mildly claustrophic and/or old and can?t climb stairs. First of all, the space is not THAT small. While there are some tight spots, you?re not really IN them for very long at all (it?s more like you have to go THROUGH some tight spots to get to the next area of the tour.). As for stairs, I can't remember walking up OR down more than 5 to 10 stairs at one time except for the stairs at the VERY beginning of the tour (of which there are maybe 15 stairs going down). It is very humid down there (they have to keep it at a certain humidity to preserver everything), but it wasn?t THAT uncomfortable, or at least it wasn't so uncomfortable as to impact our enjoyment of the tour. I can?t say enough good things about this tour. It's free, take it.
After the Scavi tour, it was getting on to Noon and we were starting to crash from our early morning panic/dash to the Vatican. As a result, we scrapped our plan to do the Basilica and museums that day and decided to come back on Monday, which was scheduled to be our "free day" in Rome. Instead, we decided to wander around the area have have lunch (which we did at a completely unremarkable café
, then go find Santa Maria della Vittoria church and check out Bernini's "Ecstasy of Saint Teresa." This should be easy enough, we think. Just hop on the metro to the Republica stop and walk a short way over to the church, right? WRONG? Nothing in Rome is this easy!
We get ON the subway all right . . . but when we get OFF at the Piazza Rebublicca, we find ourselves SMACK DAB in the middle of a HUGE parade/protest! As we wander around in the mob, trying to get our bearings and identify some landmarks so we can figure out which direction we need to go, we find out from a kind old man that senses we are tourists and not part of the protest that we have landed in the middle of a demonstration by "The Socialist Party of Europe." (I'm guessing what gave us away was the lack of any red "CCCP" and/or "Che Guevera" themed clothing, which seemed to be the uniform of the protestors.) According to this guy (also not with the group, but an Italian who was just there to watch.), apparently, the Italian Prime Minister was trying to mess around with the pension age in Italy (he wanted to raise it from 57 to 65) and the socialists were taking GREAT issue with this. According to another guy we spoke to (this one who WAS with the parade), they expected to have between 30,000 and 50,000 people marching in this parade. Due to the number of people sporting the aforementioned Che Guevera shirts, the old Soviet Union (CCCP) shirts, etc. Mom and I hoped we didn't just scream " AMERICAN CAPITALIST PIGS" too much (figuratively, not literally of course!). Eventually, we made our way out of the parade, but not until after we had to walk along with it for about 75-100 feet before being able to cross through it to the other side of the street and, eventually, to the church. Yes, for a few brief, shining moments Mom and I were proud European Socialists marching to the stirring sounds of . . . "Respect" by Aretha Franklin! I'm not kidding! This was the funniest thing. At one point, this song was what was blaring from the loud speakers. I figured it wouldn't do any good to tell them that I really don't think Aretha owns any hammer and sickle tee-shirts! =0) At any rate, it was a fascinating cultural experience and we ended up actually watching the parade from the steps of the church for about 30 minutes before going in and checking out St. Theresa (which was fabulous, by the way. I wish God would visit ME like that!).
After St. T, we walked just practically next door to the church of Santa Susanna (also a lovely church, with a cool side room that has a plexiglass floor through which you can see some excavations of the area underneath the church) and looked around before heading on in the general direction of the Pantheon. As we wandered we just kind of took in the sights and sounds of the Eternal City. It was a Saturday and the weather was beautiful and there were tons of people out and about. It was lovely. Eventually, we made our way to two more beautiful churches (Santa Maria Sopra Minerva has a nice Michealangeo sculpture AND San Ignazio, with its fake dome.) before finally making our way to the Pantheon. WOW! Incredible. Definitely worth a trip. (We also saw the Hotel Del Senato that everyone raves about on this site. It looked nice!). While we were in there, there was some sort of choir group (several young women) who started singing an Italian hymn. Due to the wonderful acoustics, they sounded like real angels. After their song, everyone in the place erupted into thunderous applause, (for which we were all roundly chastised with a chorus of "SHHHHHHH!!s" from the guards, ha-ha!) From the Pantheon, we walked to the Trevi Fountain, (which was an absolute MADHOUSE of people), threw our coins in and headed back home. Along the way, we found a nice little trattoria where we had dinner. The food was good and reasonable, but I can?t find the receipt for the life of me. All I know is that it was somewhere between the Trevi and the Piazza Barberini, which I realize is not much help. At any rate, at the Piazza Barberini, we stopped and checked/returned e-mails before calling it a day and heading back to the hotel.
However, I am back at work today and feel almost human again, so I was able to get this finished on my lunch hour.
Hope you enjoy it!
Day 16---10/3/03 (Con?t)
ROME
We rolled into Roma right on time (around 5:00--ish if I recall correctly) and quickly and easily found our way out and into the taxi line. Luckily for us, we didn?t have to wait long at all for a taxi. I was very concerned that the taxi driver might try to "rip us off" but he didn?t. I think we paid in the neighborhood of €8 or €10 to get to our B&B (Sunflower B&B) on Via Calabria.
PROS: We booked this B&B through www.sleepinitaly.com, which was very easy to do. I would work with this company again. Also, we got a fantastic deal on it for Rome: Double with private bath was €79 per night. In addition, the B&B was located on the 4th floor of a residential AND commercial building in a nice, safe, relatively quiet neighborhood. On the first and second floor of the building was a hotel called something like, "The Principessa Hotel." Our "B&B" was on the 4th floor of this building. The rooms were clean and the beds were comfortable. The hostess was friendly. A decent breakfast (lots of different kinds of pastries, toast, hot tea, juice, coffee, milk) was included and served nicely (laid out on the table with lovely place settings.).
CONS: While clean and comfortable, the set-up of the place was just . . . well . . . WEIRD. As it turns out, the "B&B" was actually a two bedroom, two bath apartment that was owned by a family whose permanent home was also in the building. The rooms were rented out separately (along with exclusive use of the bath closest to each room) and the common areas (kitchen, living area, dining area) were available for common use. Theoretically, this should have been fine, but in practicality it was anything but. For one thing, the dining room was just outside our bedroom. The door to our room opened into this room. As a result, there was not a lot of privacy. For example, on our first night there, we went to bed only to be awakened at around midnight by our fellow guests, who came in from being out and about and decided to sit in the dining room and play cards. Since the doors to the bedrooms had huge frosted glass panes in the top of them, light shown through our bedroom window until app. 2am, at which point the couple decided to go to bed. The next morning, as Mom and I were going back and forth from "our" bathroom, getting ready to leave for the day, one of our neighbors wandered out into the hallway to go to "their" bathroom (which was right next to "our" bathroom) . . . . completely NAKED! He was as shocked to see us as we were to see him, let me tell you. He turned around and bolted back into his bedroom. As soon as he was back in the room, Mom and I could hear voices going back and forth. While we couldn?t make out every word, the gist of the conversation was that they were SURPRISED that there was anyone else in the apartment. I?m not sure if they thought they were supposed to have the place to themselves or what . . . we never saw them again. They were gone (their room was opened and being cleaned) when we returned later that day.
After THOSE people left, a woman and two children took their place. This time, it seemed to us that these people were friends or relatives of the family of the owners of the apartment. They (the owners) were always there, hanging out and talking to the people over the next two days visiting with the people AND they also brought in a TV for the kids to watch as well as some games for them, etc. It just wasn't like they were on vacation (they didn?t go out as far as we could tell) but, instead had come to visit the owners of the place. The set up was more like that of people staying in a guest room, know what I mean? It was just very strange. After the woman and the kids left, we were alone in the place for the next couple of days/nights.
Another cons was that, while the owner was as friendly as possible, she did not speak ANY English at all, which made all sorts of communication difficult. We had grown accustomed to asking our hotel desk clerks for little things like, "Where?s the nearest internet café?" or "Which direction do we need to go to get to _________(nearest tourist attraction)?" and so on. We couldn't do this at all with her. Also, when we had the issue with the other guests being up and about until 2am, we had no way to discuss it with her. Things like that. We made do the best we could in Italian (when we needed her to call us a cab, we looked up the phrase in a book and wrote it down, etc.) but it was a change after all of our other places.
Another problem was that the bathroom that was designated for us had a VERY funky smell that never seemed to go away. It kind of smelled like the pipes might start backing up at any moment!
Finally, while the neighborhood was safe and pretty nice, it wasn?t close to ANYTHING. The nearest metro stop was Piazza Barberini, a good 25 to 30-minute walk away. The neighborhood was VERY residential. There weren?t really even many restaurants nearby.
All in all, I'd have to say I'd not be able to recommend this B&B (It's simply listed as B&B Via Calabria on sleepinital.com). It was just not a comfortable place for us, overall.
After getting settled into our hotel, we decided to walk over to the Spanish Steps area. After about 30 minutes, we arrived at the top of the steps just as the sun was setting. The view from the top of the steps was just lovely. We then walked down the steps to the fountain. After hanging out and people watching a bit, we headed back towards our hotel and dinner. As we left the steps area, we did not go back UP the steps, but rather headed off to the right (if you?re facing the steps), this eventually led us to Piazza Barberini and the Via Veneto. After walking back up the Via Veneto a bit in the direction of our hotel, we came upon the Hard Rock Café, Rome. Once we saw it, we immediately decided to eat there. After 2.5 weeks of eating local (other than one stop at a Burger King and another at McDonald?s) we were both craving some decent "American" food (in other words, not a burger and fries) and we got it at the Hard Rock (Nachos, BBQ sandwich, Chicken Salad). We also picked up a couple of tee-shirts while we were there. Think what you will about our choice to eat there, but the service at the Hard Rock was outstanding. Fun, friendly servers who made sure we never wanted for anything. It seemed that I could hardly take a drink of my Iced Tea (ICED TEA??? WOO-HOO!) w/o someone coming over and asking me if I was ready for a refill (what a wonderful American custom the free refill is!). And they were busy, too. The place was packed with diners of all nationalities (I heard several different languages being spoken). After dinner we walked a bit more and then turned in for the night.
Day 17---10/4/03 Saturday
We had early (9:30am) reservations for the Scavi tour at the Vatican this day, so we were up and out the door by 8am. After our half hour walk to the metro stop, we were feeling good about being on time for the tour, etc. However, this feeling was gone in a flash when we encountered the infamous "Metro ticket vending machines of Rome."
I also posted info. on these machines on a separate thread called "Ticket Machines in Rome Metro". BEWARE OF THESE MACHINES!! If at all possible, buy your ticket at a newsstand or Tabbachi shop, etc. (be aware, however, that not all newsstands sell metro tickets. In fact, the newsstand on Via Veneto at the top of the stairs leading down to the metro do not sell these tickets, for example.) BEFORE you go down into the stations. We spent almost half an hour trying to figure out how to make the damn machines work. I wouldn't wish this frustration on even the worst "Ugly American" tourist, so here is the secret to making it work for yourself:
The metro tickets are 77 cents. To buy two, for example, it will cost you €1,54. In order to get the machine to work, you have to FIRST insert the 4 cents in any combination of 1 or 2 cent coins, and then insert the rest of your money. The machine DOES give change (thus, it is not necessary to have EXACTLY €1,54), BUT it can only give change in increments of 5 cents, so it is essential that you insert however many cents you have to, to make the last digit of your total due a multiple of 5.
For example, if want only one ticket, (total cost: 77 cents), you must insert a 2 cent coin (to make the total due 75 cents . . . which is a multiple of 5) and only then can you insert the rest of your money. If you want three tickets (€2,31), you must put in a 1 cent coin and proceed from there. And so on . . . You can put as much as 5 Euros in the machine and you WILL get change . . . but you HAVE to make the last digit of your total a multiple of 5 cents first. If you don't work it out so that your total is a multiple of 5 cents, the machine will flash a "transaction aborted" message on the LCD screen and spit back all of your money.
OK, so having figured out how to work these machines from hell, it was about 5 til 9am and we had exactly 25 minutes to get to the Vatican, check our bags, and find where we?re supposed to go to pick up our Scavi tickets by 9:20. It seemed like an impossible task . . . and it was. Despite catching some breaks and getting downstairs JUST in time to catch the train to the Vatican stop, and despite reading the map so that we knew which direction to take off running the 150-200 yards or so to the Vatican gate, and despite basically ignoring the awesome sight of St. Peter?s square and Basillica on our way in ("We?ll look at it later!" I kept telling my mom!), we arrived at the Scavi office at exactly 9:35am. HOWEVER, it turned out that all was not lost. Since we were only 5 minutes late, we decided to at least TRY to see if there was any way we could still take the tour (I was thinking that they couldn?t have been very far gone after only 5 minutes!). Besides, there were several people milling around outside the office . . . like maybe the tour hadn?t even left yet . . . ? So I walk up to the guy and say (in English, after first asking if he spoke it or not), "I?m sorry, we are supposed to take the 9:30 tour. We are a little late due to some difficulties with the Metro but I was wondering if that?s the 9:30 tour still waiting to leave outside?" "Yes, he replied, that?s the 9:30 tour but . . . do you speak Italian?" "No,? I said. "Well," he says , "the 9:30 tour is an Italian tour. You should not be scheduled for that tour if you do not speak Italian." "Well," I said, showing him my electronic confirmation notice, "I am."
Well, to make a long story short, it turned out that the office had screwed up and scheduled us for a tour in Italian, despite the fact that we made our ticket request in English and had conducted all further correspondence in English as well. Being the nice people they are and wanting to make things right, they scheduled us for the next English tour, which was just an hour later, at 10:30am. SO, despite the screw-up with the ticket machines, we ended up getting to take our Scavi tour after all.
After killing the next 35 minutes by resting and checking out one of the gift shops (we did not want to go into the Basilica because we were afraid we'd get distracted and miss our next tour . . . by the time we got finished with everything in the office, it was almost 9:45 and we only had 35 minutes before we had to be back at 10:20 for the 10:30 tour.), we went back and took the Scavi tour. This was also on my "top 5" list of favorite things on this trip. This tour was absolutely wonderful from some many different perspectives: historical, archeological, religious, etc. It was just FASCINATING. I highly, highly recommend it to anyone. Don?t let anyone scare you away by saying you shouldn?t take it if you're mildly claustrophic and/or old and can?t climb stairs. First of all, the space is not THAT small. While there are some tight spots, you?re not really IN them for very long at all (it?s more like you have to go THROUGH some tight spots to get to the next area of the tour.). As for stairs, I can't remember walking up OR down more than 5 to 10 stairs at one time except for the stairs at the VERY beginning of the tour (of which there are maybe 15 stairs going down). It is very humid down there (they have to keep it at a certain humidity to preserver everything), but it wasn?t THAT uncomfortable, or at least it wasn't so uncomfortable as to impact our enjoyment of the tour. I can?t say enough good things about this tour. It's free, take it.
After the Scavi tour, it was getting on to Noon and we were starting to crash from our early morning panic/dash to the Vatican. As a result, we scrapped our plan to do the Basilica and museums that day and decided to come back on Monday, which was scheduled to be our "free day" in Rome. Instead, we decided to wander around the area have have lunch (which we did at a completely unremarkable café
, then go find Santa Maria della Vittoria church and check out Bernini's "Ecstasy of Saint Teresa." This should be easy enough, we think. Just hop on the metro to the Republica stop and walk a short way over to the church, right? WRONG? Nothing in Rome is this easy!We get ON the subway all right . . . but when we get OFF at the Piazza Rebublicca, we find ourselves SMACK DAB in the middle of a HUGE parade/protest! As we wander around in the mob, trying to get our bearings and identify some landmarks so we can figure out which direction we need to go, we find out from a kind old man that senses we are tourists and not part of the protest that we have landed in the middle of a demonstration by "The Socialist Party of Europe." (I'm guessing what gave us away was the lack of any red "CCCP" and/or "Che Guevera" themed clothing, which seemed to be the uniform of the protestors.) According to this guy (also not with the group, but an Italian who was just there to watch.), apparently, the Italian Prime Minister was trying to mess around with the pension age in Italy (he wanted to raise it from 57 to 65) and the socialists were taking GREAT issue with this. According to another guy we spoke to (this one who WAS with the parade), they expected to have between 30,000 and 50,000 people marching in this parade. Due to the number of people sporting the aforementioned Che Guevera shirts, the old Soviet Union (CCCP) shirts, etc. Mom and I hoped we didn't just scream " AMERICAN CAPITALIST PIGS" too much (figuratively, not literally of course!). Eventually, we made our way out of the parade, but not until after we had to walk along with it for about 75-100 feet before being able to cross through it to the other side of the street and, eventually, to the church. Yes, for a few brief, shining moments Mom and I were proud European Socialists marching to the stirring sounds of . . . "Respect" by Aretha Franklin! I'm not kidding! This was the funniest thing. At one point, this song was what was blaring from the loud speakers. I figured it wouldn't do any good to tell them that I really don't think Aretha owns any hammer and sickle tee-shirts! =0) At any rate, it was a fascinating cultural experience and we ended up actually watching the parade from the steps of the church for about 30 minutes before going in and checking out St. Theresa (which was fabulous, by the way. I wish God would visit ME like that!).
After St. T, we walked just practically next door to the church of Santa Susanna (also a lovely church, with a cool side room that has a plexiglass floor through which you can see some excavations of the area underneath the church) and looked around before heading on in the general direction of the Pantheon. As we wandered we just kind of took in the sights and sounds of the Eternal City. It was a Saturday and the weather was beautiful and there were tons of people out and about. It was lovely. Eventually, we made our way to two more beautiful churches (Santa Maria Sopra Minerva has a nice Michealangeo sculpture AND San Ignazio, with its fake dome.) before finally making our way to the Pantheon. WOW! Incredible. Definitely worth a trip. (We also saw the Hotel Del Senato that everyone raves about on this site. It looked nice!). While we were in there, there was some sort of choir group (several young women) who started singing an Italian hymn. Due to the wonderful acoustics, they sounded like real angels. After their song, everyone in the place erupted into thunderous applause, (for which we were all roundly chastised with a chorus of "SHHHHHHH!!s" from the guards, ha-ha!) From the Pantheon, we walked to the Trevi Fountain, (which was an absolute MADHOUSE of people), threw our coins in and headed back home. Along the way, we found a nice little trattoria where we had dinner. The food was good and reasonable, but I can?t find the receipt for the life of me. All I know is that it was somewhere between the Trevi and the Piazza Barberini, which I realize is not much help. At any rate, at the Piazza Barberini, we stopped and checked/returned e-mails before calling it a day and heading back to the hotel.
Oct 29th, 2003 | 01:42 PM
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Day 18---10/5/03 Sunday
This day was the day we set aside for touring ?Ancient Rome?---in other words, the Roman ruins. Tired after all the walking we?d done the day before, we slept in and had a leisurely breakfast and didn?t end up getting out until after 10. This was one of the few days that we had ?bad? weather. It was kind of grey and windy as we headed out, so we grabbed our umbrellas. After the short ride on the metro to the Colosseo stop we headed FIRST for the ticket booth at Palatine Hill. This is because we?d received a tip from some fellow travelers (turns out it?s originally from the Rick Steves ?Italy? book) that the line at the Palatine Hill ticket booth is MUCH shorter than the line at the Coliseum---BUT that they sell the same tickets at both booths: A single, €11 tickets that affords you admission to both Palatine Hill AND the Coliseum. As we walked past the Coliseum, we not only could see the massive line snaking around underneath the structure, but we also heard a woman tell some other members of her traveling group that she?d been told that the wait in the line was app. 45 minutes to one hour. When we got to the Palatine Hill booth, there were exactly 8 people in line ahead of us (I counted) and it took less than 5 minutes to buy our ticket. SO, this is a tip worth remembering, when you come out of the metro, cross the street, bypass the coliseum (will be on your left), turn right and walk up the hill towards the forum past the arches of first, Constantine and second, Titus until you see the Palatine Hill ticket booth on your left. It?s maybe a 5 minute walk from the Coliseum to Palatine Hill and then 5 more minutes back to the Coliseum . . . really insignificant when you consider how much time you save by not standing in line.
For us, however, since we were already there and were planning to see both Palatine Hill AND the Coliseum, we just stayed where we were and toured Palatine Hill first. There were relatively few other tourists here with us and the relative solitude combined with grey, windy, chilly weather lent a very eerie atmosphere to the entire area. As we walked along, I could almost see and hear the ghosts of the ancient Romans walking along with us, urging us more deeply into the ruins. As we walked, we commented on how surprised we were at how accessible the ruins were. I mean, there were many, many partial structures, pieces of broken columns and marble, just kind of ?laying around? out in the open, not really behind any barriers or anything. You could just walk right up to it and touch it. As we were walking and looking at these pieces of history scattered in the grass around us, all I could think was, ?I?m touching history. This used to be part of someone?s life who lived thousands of years before me and I yet I can see it, touch it, feel it . . . plain as day.? It was really an incredible feeling.
After wandering around for a little over an hour, we checked out the museum on Palatine Hill (Not bad, but not great, either. At least it?s free. Worth stopping at for the free, clean bathrooms, though if nothing else.), At this point in the day, we were forced to make a decision. The skies were really darkening up and it looked as if it could rain at any moment and we still had not explored the forum OR the Coliseum yet. Since it was looking more and more as though we could only do one, we had to decide which one. Since the ticket we?d bought to Palatine Hill had included same-day admission to the Coliseum, we decided to head over there and try to find a place to fit the forum in another day. Before going in, however, we grabbed a couple of sandwiches from the stand inside the metro stop across the street. Since we bought them from the bar, whey were OK and not too terribly expensive. HOWEVER, I noticed that people who were sitting at the little sidewalk café just outside the metro stop were getting the exact same sandwiches and paying a lot more for them. So look out for that. As we sat and ate our sandwiches, we felt the first few drops of the rain that had been threatening to fall all day. However, at this point, it was only a sprinkle, so we hurried on over to the Coliseum, walked past the still-gargantuan line of people waiting to get tickets, and went inside. We walked around in the coliseum for a good 30 minutes before it started to rain in earnest, so we got a pretty good sense of it. I would have liked to stay longer, but eventually, the rain was just too much and we headed back home.
We ended up getting back to the Piazza Barberini WAY earlier than we expected, so we spent about an hour surfing the net for news from home (this was the first time we saw any real-time news since London and the TV we had in our room there) and writing some nice, long, e-mails to our family members. After that, we headed back up Via Veneto to our hotel. As we walked I remembered that I?d read in my guidebook somewhere that the Capuchin Crypt was on Via Veneto. Literally, as I was thinking it, I looked up to see Santa Maria delle Concezione, the church that houses the crypt. (It is on your right as you head UP Via Veneto with Piazza Barberini at your back.) After explaining to my mom what it was, we headed inside to see the innovative way the Capuchin order decided to deal with the bodies of their dead brothers when they ran out of room in their tiny burial crypt. Let?s just say that, this place gave us the major willies! I mean, between the chandeliers made of finger bones and the wall ?mosaics? made out of pelvises, etc, my mom was pretty disturbed. Those things didn?t bother me as much as the full-out dead and decayed corpses they had propped up here and there along the way. However, perhaps THE most skeevy thing about the whole place was a little, like, epitaph thing in the last room that said, ?What you are now, we once were. What we are now, you someday will be.? I was like, ?Jeez, thank a lot for pointing that out guys! I still have another transatlantic flight to make before I get to see my loved ones again! Now all I can think about is how I?m doomed to die! Lovely!? All in all, I can?t say I?d really recommend this place. It was interesting AND it was free (well, you have to make a donation to get in, but there?s no minimum amount), but it was also disturbing (and I?m not one to really ?disturb? easily).
After the crypt we walked out to find that the rain had mostly stopped. Still, we were pretty damp and wrinkled (despite the fact that we had umbrellas . . . our pants and cuffs, etc. were wet) so we went to the hotel and changed clothes. Intending to splurge on dinner at some of the fancy restaurants we?d seen along the Via Veneto we instead stumbled a little restaurant called ?La Bruschetta E . . .? at 39/41 Via Sardegna and it looked so homey and inviting, we decided to try it instead. It ended up being a great decision. I had the very best pasta (penne arribiate) of the entire trip at this place. My mom had a gigantic pizza---we ended up taking most of it with us---which she said was fantastic also. In addition to our entrees, we split a large salad and a desert. With two cokes and a large mineral water the bill came to just about €30. This place was a gem! It?s off the beaten path in a very non-touristy area, but if you?re staying in the Via Veneto area, it?s worth looking for if you want a nice, casual place to have a relatively inexpensive dinner. I?m not sure if they take reservations (we just walked in, but it was relatively early), but the place was packed by the time we left, so it might be worth it to call ahead if you REALLY want to eat there. The telephone number is: 06 42013721. After dinner, we went ahead and walked over to the Via Veneto and strolled for a while, stopping along another side street to buy some gelato for desert. After about an hour, we headed back for the hotel and to bed.
Day 19---10/6/03 Monday
This day, we?d originally planned to go to Pompeii, but we put those plans off for another day because we just didn?t feel up to the train ride out there and back. Instead, we decided to go back to the Vatican and check out what we?d missed on Saturday.
After taking the metro over, we decided to start with the Basilica once we got a look at the line for the museums. It was down the block! As we walked into the basilica, however, we realized they were holding mass. From our guidebook, we realized that they had a mass every hour on the hour until the afternoon. SO, we decided to go back out and get in line for the museums after all. The line was quite intimidating (it made several turns as it looped down and around the two blocks between where we were and where the entrance to the museum was.) but it moved surprisingly fast. All in all, I think we waited for only about 45 minutes and we were almost constantly moving during that time. We simply passed the time reading in our guidebooks about what we were about to see.
My feelings about the museums themselves our mixed. It was HORRIBLY crowded, to the extent that, once you got headed in the direction of the Sistine Chapel (there?s basically a one-way touring path that leads to the chapel), it was really next to impossible to seriously examine any of the beautiful art you were seeing on the way. It was kind of like being in a river and being unable to go against the tide or, even, just float in place. You really had no choice in several places but to move. In fact, in one room, the crowd was so bad that a couple of people fell down while being pushed through a very narrow door and were calling for a Dr. because they kind of got trampled (well, it was more like being stepped on than actually TRAMPLED as we?d think of it) a bit. It?s like I said earlier, you get into these rooms, which are packed with these massive tour groups and then the ?guide? says, ?OK now lets go to the next room,? and heads through a narrow door and BOOM! . . . all of a sudden 40 people are trying desperately to get through that door after their guide all at the same time. If you happen to get caught in the stampede, you?re screwed, which is what happened to these people. I don?t know what ultimately ended up happening to them (well, I mean, a Dr. showed up and then we all kind of went on at that point.), but one of them (an older-looking woman) was bleeding from her nose when I last saw her. I don?t know what, if anything, can be done about this, but the groups were definitely the problem . . . the way they moved en masse and, seemingly with only one thought: ?Do not lose the guide. Do not lose the guide. Do NOT lose the guide!? I guess just go in the winter when it?s less crowded. At any rate, we finally did make it to the Sistine Chapel (after seeing the beautiful tapestries, the hall of maps, the Raphael rooms---including the ?School of Athens?---too of course) and it was, of course, amazing. I can?t believe one person did that. What an awesome talent. We left the Chapel, toured the rest of the collections (including the totally BLAH modern religious art section) and headed out. Before we went back to the Basilica, however, we stopped and had lunch at the cafeteria in the museum. I had a HUGE slice of pizza and a coke light for about €4 and it was very good. My mom had a hot lunch (some kind of pasta) with a coke and it was only a few euros more. If you?re looking for quick, decent and reasonable, the Vatican museums cafeteria will fit that bill. They also had sandwiches, ice cream, candy, pastries, etc.
Once back in the Basilica, we were much more relaxed. Mainly because we actually had enough room to breathe! I mean, not only is the basilica beautiful . . . it?s SO BIG. The size is actually a little deceptive at first because everything is so proportional, but when we would get up next to things (i.e. the baptismal fonts near the doors), we would really see how big they were compared to us. One of the books we had (maybe actually the Fodors book) pointed out that the length of one of the cherubs on the baptismal fonts foot was as long as an average person?s arm from elbow to wrist . . . and it was. Amazing. Just inside the doors and to your right (as you walk in) is Michealangelo?s Pieta which is, of course, amazing, stunning, moving, beautiful, heartbreaking . . . all of those things. I do agree with dln?s observation in HER trip report that the youthfulness of Mary?s face is a little disconcerting (she doesn?t look old enough to be his mother) but that in no way distracts from the overall power and beauty of this piece. I was just in awe. After an hour or so inside the Basilica, a visit down to the crypt of the past popes, a good stroll around the outside that included visits to every gift shop we could find, we called it a day. Going up in the dome was never really an option due to Mom?s fear of heights and, at the same time, her not wanting to be left alone while I went up. Oh well . . . I will be back to Rome so I decided to just be philosophical and save it for another day.
By the time we left the Vatican and made it back to the metro stop (with a few souvenir shopping stops thrown in for good measure), it was after 5 and we were losing steam fast. At this point in the trip we were 18 days in and had been going pretty hard for most of those days. Also, we knew we had a long day coming up the next day with our trip out to Pompeii (almost three hours of travel time each way!!) So, we basically called it a day at this point. We went back to the Piazza Barberini, hit the Internet Café and headed back to the hotel. Dinner was Subway sandwiches bought at the shop adjoining the Internet Café.
Day 20---10/7/04 Tuesday
We got up around 8am this day and headed over to Roma Termini. We wanted to catch an early train to Naples where we would then catch another train to Pompeii. We ended up getting a 9:49am train to Naples, which put us in at around noon-ish. We had a slight hitch in our plans when we neglected to specify a station in Naples (we simply asked for ?the next train to Naples?) and were put on a train to Mergellina station. Upon learning of this from our seatmate (with whom we had struck up a conversation) , she then told us that we could take a metro-like train to Centrale/Garibaldi station to pick up the Circumvesuviana, which is what we did. The Circumvesuviana took us out to Pompeii in about 30 minutes or so.
I have to say that, as much as I was looking forward to going to Pompeii, I was kind of sweating this trip a little. Being on the wrong train didn?t help matters, either. However, this was really a very easy day trip. So if you?re considering not going because of hesitancy about all the train connections/transfers, don?t worry about it. It?s pretty easy.
We arrived in Pompeii a little before 2pm and planned to spend a good three hours there before heading back to Naples and then back to Rome between 8 & 9. However, our plan was slightly thwarted by the fact that, we arrived at the entrance to the ruins only to be confronted by a large group of people standing in front of closed, locked gates. Upon further inspection, we realized that the ruins were closed to the public due to a visit from the Pope! However, the sign said the site would open at 3. With a little over an hour to kill, we wandered over to one of the little restaurants that line the short walk from the train station to the site, ordered a pizza (we got one of the last ones they had---they ended up running out due to the crowd around the entrance) and sat and looked through our guide books until we went back and waited the last 10 minutes or so for the site to open.
Pompeii was also in my top 5 favorite things list of the entire trip. For one thing, the setting is absolutely beautiful. Lovely, huge palm trees all around, lush vegetation, colorful, tropical looking flowers, the rugged green mountains running down to the sparkling blue bay . . . it was just gorgeous. (It kind of reminded mom and I of Hawaii, a little, actually.) Also, it?s very easy to tour the site AND understand what you?re seeing, which is important. Not only do you get a very detailed map with your ticket, you also get a really cool little book that describes every important building on the site in great detail. It?s just very, very well done. Then, there?s the site itself, which is just wonderfully preserved and fascinating to walk around in. The two and a half hours we ended up spending there simply FLEW by. We really wished we had more time. However, we were hesitant to push our return to Rome back much later since the next day would be our last in Rome (before we caught the night train back to Paris and home). If I had it to do over again, I would have spent another hour or two there. It was just fascinating. I?d highly recommend visiting Pompeii.
The trip back to Rome was as uneventful as the trip from Rome. However, we did ultimately decide to change our reservations so that we could catch a train right there at Centrale/Garibaldi and not have to go back to Mergellina. Interestingly, they did not charge us for this. I?m not sure if we got the guy on a good day or what, but he simply gave us the new reservations and when I asked how much he said, ?No Charge? so . . . I didn?t argue with him! Ha-ha!
Anyway, by the time we got back to Rome it was almost 9. We grabbed dinner at the wonderful little restaurant ?La Bruschetta E . . .? we?d enjoyed a couple of nights earlier and then called it a night.
Day 21---10/8/03 Wednesday
We didn?t have to be out of our room until 1 pm on this day, so we took our time getting packed up and ready to go. We slept in, then spent a couple of hours sorting out our clothes/goodies and getting ready for the LONG next two days. Our plan was to leave Rome on the night train (leaving at 7pm) to Paris. Immediately upon our arrival in Paris at 10:15 the next morning, we would head to the airport before catching our 2:25 flight back to the states at CDG. Since we knew we?d be schlepping all of our crap around quite a bit over the next 48 hours, we wanted to make sure it was as well packed as possible!
At around Noon, we asked our hostess (her apartment was next door to the one we stayed in) to call us a cab, which she did. After we arrived at the station, we checked our bags in at the luggage deposit and then tried to figure out how to occupy the next several hours. It was really no brainer as we realized that we?d never gotten back over to the forum after being forced to abandon it the other day in the rain. So, we hopped on the metro and headed back over to the ruins. We ended up spending several hours there that included souvenir shopping and a quick lunch in the neighborhood.
We headed back to Termini around 5, intending to spend an hour or so checking in and filling out online journal entries in the Internet café that?s supposed to be there. Well, as recently as 10/8/03, the Internet café that was in Roma Termini station was out of business so we had a good hour and a half to kill. We made a half-hearted attempt to go outside the station and look for another place to get online, but ultimately decided we?d just wander around the station until our train was ready to board. This was not a problem as Termini is basically like a big shopping mall with TONS of shops! We bought a few more little things and then went to the grocery store in the station just before we boarded at around 6:30pm. Within a half an hour, we were on our way back to Paris and, ultimately, home.
OVERALL IMPRESSIONS OF ROME: Before I got to Rome I was afraid of it. I?d read and heard a LOT about Rome being too intense, too crowded, too crime-ridden, that the subways were too dirty and dangerous, etc. As our trip progressed and we got closer and closer to Rome, I would get tense just thinking about it. However, my actual experience of this beautiful city bore little resemblance to the stories I?d heard. Now, that?s not to say that Rome is perfect. It IS a very busy city . . . but no more so than New York, where I lived for 5 years. It IS intense . . . . but in a good way. Yes, the subways could be kept up better (I mean, is there kind of shop where they send the subway cars to PURPOSEFULLY paint graffiti on them?!) . . . but I never felt unsafe. All in all, I thought Rome was GREAT! It was endlessly fascinating, extremely beautiful and just a whole heck of a lot of fun. I will definitely be back!
This day was the day we set aside for touring ?Ancient Rome?---in other words, the Roman ruins. Tired after all the walking we?d done the day before, we slept in and had a leisurely breakfast and didn?t end up getting out until after 10. This was one of the few days that we had ?bad? weather. It was kind of grey and windy as we headed out, so we grabbed our umbrellas. After the short ride on the metro to the Colosseo stop we headed FIRST for the ticket booth at Palatine Hill. This is because we?d received a tip from some fellow travelers (turns out it?s originally from the Rick Steves ?Italy? book) that the line at the Palatine Hill ticket booth is MUCH shorter than the line at the Coliseum---BUT that they sell the same tickets at both booths: A single, €11 tickets that affords you admission to both Palatine Hill AND the Coliseum. As we walked past the Coliseum, we not only could see the massive line snaking around underneath the structure, but we also heard a woman tell some other members of her traveling group that she?d been told that the wait in the line was app. 45 minutes to one hour. When we got to the Palatine Hill booth, there were exactly 8 people in line ahead of us (I counted) and it took less than 5 minutes to buy our ticket. SO, this is a tip worth remembering, when you come out of the metro, cross the street, bypass the coliseum (will be on your left), turn right and walk up the hill towards the forum past the arches of first, Constantine and second, Titus until you see the Palatine Hill ticket booth on your left. It?s maybe a 5 minute walk from the Coliseum to Palatine Hill and then 5 more minutes back to the Coliseum . . . really insignificant when you consider how much time you save by not standing in line.
For us, however, since we were already there and were planning to see both Palatine Hill AND the Coliseum, we just stayed where we were and toured Palatine Hill first. There were relatively few other tourists here with us and the relative solitude combined with grey, windy, chilly weather lent a very eerie atmosphere to the entire area. As we walked along, I could almost see and hear the ghosts of the ancient Romans walking along with us, urging us more deeply into the ruins. As we walked, we commented on how surprised we were at how accessible the ruins were. I mean, there were many, many partial structures, pieces of broken columns and marble, just kind of ?laying around? out in the open, not really behind any barriers or anything. You could just walk right up to it and touch it. As we were walking and looking at these pieces of history scattered in the grass around us, all I could think was, ?I?m touching history. This used to be part of someone?s life who lived thousands of years before me and I yet I can see it, touch it, feel it . . . plain as day.? It was really an incredible feeling.
After wandering around for a little over an hour, we checked out the museum on Palatine Hill (Not bad, but not great, either. At least it?s free. Worth stopping at for the free, clean bathrooms, though if nothing else.), At this point in the day, we were forced to make a decision. The skies were really darkening up and it looked as if it could rain at any moment and we still had not explored the forum OR the Coliseum yet. Since it was looking more and more as though we could only do one, we had to decide which one. Since the ticket we?d bought to Palatine Hill had included same-day admission to the Coliseum, we decided to head over there and try to find a place to fit the forum in another day. Before going in, however, we grabbed a couple of sandwiches from the stand inside the metro stop across the street. Since we bought them from the bar, whey were OK and not too terribly expensive. HOWEVER, I noticed that people who were sitting at the little sidewalk café just outside the metro stop were getting the exact same sandwiches and paying a lot more for them. So look out for that. As we sat and ate our sandwiches, we felt the first few drops of the rain that had been threatening to fall all day. However, at this point, it was only a sprinkle, so we hurried on over to the Coliseum, walked past the still-gargantuan line of people waiting to get tickets, and went inside. We walked around in the coliseum for a good 30 minutes before it started to rain in earnest, so we got a pretty good sense of it. I would have liked to stay longer, but eventually, the rain was just too much and we headed back home.
We ended up getting back to the Piazza Barberini WAY earlier than we expected, so we spent about an hour surfing the net for news from home (this was the first time we saw any real-time news since London and the TV we had in our room there) and writing some nice, long, e-mails to our family members. After that, we headed back up Via Veneto to our hotel. As we walked I remembered that I?d read in my guidebook somewhere that the Capuchin Crypt was on Via Veneto. Literally, as I was thinking it, I looked up to see Santa Maria delle Concezione, the church that houses the crypt. (It is on your right as you head UP Via Veneto with Piazza Barberini at your back.) After explaining to my mom what it was, we headed inside to see the innovative way the Capuchin order decided to deal with the bodies of their dead brothers when they ran out of room in their tiny burial crypt. Let?s just say that, this place gave us the major willies! I mean, between the chandeliers made of finger bones and the wall ?mosaics? made out of pelvises, etc, my mom was pretty disturbed. Those things didn?t bother me as much as the full-out dead and decayed corpses they had propped up here and there along the way. However, perhaps THE most skeevy thing about the whole place was a little, like, epitaph thing in the last room that said, ?What you are now, we once were. What we are now, you someday will be.? I was like, ?Jeez, thank a lot for pointing that out guys! I still have another transatlantic flight to make before I get to see my loved ones again! Now all I can think about is how I?m doomed to die! Lovely!? All in all, I can?t say I?d really recommend this place. It was interesting AND it was free (well, you have to make a donation to get in, but there?s no minimum amount), but it was also disturbing (and I?m not one to really ?disturb? easily).
After the crypt we walked out to find that the rain had mostly stopped. Still, we were pretty damp and wrinkled (despite the fact that we had umbrellas . . . our pants and cuffs, etc. were wet) so we went to the hotel and changed clothes. Intending to splurge on dinner at some of the fancy restaurants we?d seen along the Via Veneto we instead stumbled a little restaurant called ?La Bruschetta E . . .? at 39/41 Via Sardegna and it looked so homey and inviting, we decided to try it instead. It ended up being a great decision. I had the very best pasta (penne arribiate) of the entire trip at this place. My mom had a gigantic pizza---we ended up taking most of it with us---which she said was fantastic also. In addition to our entrees, we split a large salad and a desert. With two cokes and a large mineral water the bill came to just about €30. This place was a gem! It?s off the beaten path in a very non-touristy area, but if you?re staying in the Via Veneto area, it?s worth looking for if you want a nice, casual place to have a relatively inexpensive dinner. I?m not sure if they take reservations (we just walked in, but it was relatively early), but the place was packed by the time we left, so it might be worth it to call ahead if you REALLY want to eat there. The telephone number is: 06 42013721. After dinner, we went ahead and walked over to the Via Veneto and strolled for a while, stopping along another side street to buy some gelato for desert. After about an hour, we headed back for the hotel and to bed.
Day 19---10/6/03 Monday
This day, we?d originally planned to go to Pompeii, but we put those plans off for another day because we just didn?t feel up to the train ride out there and back. Instead, we decided to go back to the Vatican and check out what we?d missed on Saturday.
After taking the metro over, we decided to start with the Basilica once we got a look at the line for the museums. It was down the block! As we walked into the basilica, however, we realized they were holding mass. From our guidebook, we realized that they had a mass every hour on the hour until the afternoon. SO, we decided to go back out and get in line for the museums after all. The line was quite intimidating (it made several turns as it looped down and around the two blocks between where we were and where the entrance to the museum was.) but it moved surprisingly fast. All in all, I think we waited for only about 45 minutes and we were almost constantly moving during that time. We simply passed the time reading in our guidebooks about what we were about to see.
My feelings about the museums themselves our mixed. It was HORRIBLY crowded, to the extent that, once you got headed in the direction of the Sistine Chapel (there?s basically a one-way touring path that leads to the chapel), it was really next to impossible to seriously examine any of the beautiful art you were seeing on the way. It was kind of like being in a river and being unable to go against the tide or, even, just float in place. You really had no choice in several places but to move. In fact, in one room, the crowd was so bad that a couple of people fell down while being pushed through a very narrow door and were calling for a Dr. because they kind of got trampled (well, it was more like being stepped on than actually TRAMPLED as we?d think of it) a bit. It?s like I said earlier, you get into these rooms, which are packed with these massive tour groups and then the ?guide? says, ?OK now lets go to the next room,? and heads through a narrow door and BOOM! . . . all of a sudden 40 people are trying desperately to get through that door after their guide all at the same time. If you happen to get caught in the stampede, you?re screwed, which is what happened to these people. I don?t know what ultimately ended up happening to them (well, I mean, a Dr. showed up and then we all kind of went on at that point.), but one of them (an older-looking woman) was bleeding from her nose when I last saw her. I don?t know what, if anything, can be done about this, but the groups were definitely the problem . . . the way they moved en masse and, seemingly with only one thought: ?Do not lose the guide. Do not lose the guide. Do NOT lose the guide!? I guess just go in the winter when it?s less crowded. At any rate, we finally did make it to the Sistine Chapel (after seeing the beautiful tapestries, the hall of maps, the Raphael rooms---including the ?School of Athens?---too of course) and it was, of course, amazing. I can?t believe one person did that. What an awesome talent. We left the Chapel, toured the rest of the collections (including the totally BLAH modern religious art section) and headed out. Before we went back to the Basilica, however, we stopped and had lunch at the cafeteria in the museum. I had a HUGE slice of pizza and a coke light for about €4 and it was very good. My mom had a hot lunch (some kind of pasta) with a coke and it was only a few euros more. If you?re looking for quick, decent and reasonable, the Vatican museums cafeteria will fit that bill. They also had sandwiches, ice cream, candy, pastries, etc.
Once back in the Basilica, we were much more relaxed. Mainly because we actually had enough room to breathe! I mean, not only is the basilica beautiful . . . it?s SO BIG. The size is actually a little deceptive at first because everything is so proportional, but when we would get up next to things (i.e. the baptismal fonts near the doors), we would really see how big they were compared to us. One of the books we had (maybe actually the Fodors book) pointed out that the length of one of the cherubs on the baptismal fonts foot was as long as an average person?s arm from elbow to wrist . . . and it was. Amazing. Just inside the doors and to your right (as you walk in) is Michealangelo?s Pieta which is, of course, amazing, stunning, moving, beautiful, heartbreaking . . . all of those things. I do agree with dln?s observation in HER trip report that the youthfulness of Mary?s face is a little disconcerting (she doesn?t look old enough to be his mother) but that in no way distracts from the overall power and beauty of this piece. I was just in awe. After an hour or so inside the Basilica, a visit down to the crypt of the past popes, a good stroll around the outside that included visits to every gift shop we could find, we called it a day. Going up in the dome was never really an option due to Mom?s fear of heights and, at the same time, her not wanting to be left alone while I went up. Oh well . . . I will be back to Rome so I decided to just be philosophical and save it for another day.
By the time we left the Vatican and made it back to the metro stop (with a few souvenir shopping stops thrown in for good measure), it was after 5 and we were losing steam fast. At this point in the trip we were 18 days in and had been going pretty hard for most of those days. Also, we knew we had a long day coming up the next day with our trip out to Pompeii (almost three hours of travel time each way!!) So, we basically called it a day at this point. We went back to the Piazza Barberini, hit the Internet Café and headed back to the hotel. Dinner was Subway sandwiches bought at the shop adjoining the Internet Café.
Day 20---10/7/04 Tuesday
We got up around 8am this day and headed over to Roma Termini. We wanted to catch an early train to Naples where we would then catch another train to Pompeii. We ended up getting a 9:49am train to Naples, which put us in at around noon-ish. We had a slight hitch in our plans when we neglected to specify a station in Naples (we simply asked for ?the next train to Naples?) and were put on a train to Mergellina station. Upon learning of this from our seatmate (with whom we had struck up a conversation) , she then told us that we could take a metro-like train to Centrale/Garibaldi station to pick up the Circumvesuviana, which is what we did. The Circumvesuviana took us out to Pompeii in about 30 minutes or so.
I have to say that, as much as I was looking forward to going to Pompeii, I was kind of sweating this trip a little. Being on the wrong train didn?t help matters, either. However, this was really a very easy day trip. So if you?re considering not going because of hesitancy about all the train connections/transfers, don?t worry about it. It?s pretty easy.
We arrived in Pompeii a little before 2pm and planned to spend a good three hours there before heading back to Naples and then back to Rome between 8 & 9. However, our plan was slightly thwarted by the fact that, we arrived at the entrance to the ruins only to be confronted by a large group of people standing in front of closed, locked gates. Upon further inspection, we realized that the ruins were closed to the public due to a visit from the Pope! However, the sign said the site would open at 3. With a little over an hour to kill, we wandered over to one of the little restaurants that line the short walk from the train station to the site, ordered a pizza (we got one of the last ones they had---they ended up running out due to the crowd around the entrance) and sat and looked through our guide books until we went back and waited the last 10 minutes or so for the site to open.
Pompeii was also in my top 5 favorite things list of the entire trip. For one thing, the setting is absolutely beautiful. Lovely, huge palm trees all around, lush vegetation, colorful, tropical looking flowers, the rugged green mountains running down to the sparkling blue bay . . . it was just gorgeous. (It kind of reminded mom and I of Hawaii, a little, actually.) Also, it?s very easy to tour the site AND understand what you?re seeing, which is important. Not only do you get a very detailed map with your ticket, you also get a really cool little book that describes every important building on the site in great detail. It?s just very, very well done. Then, there?s the site itself, which is just wonderfully preserved and fascinating to walk around in. The two and a half hours we ended up spending there simply FLEW by. We really wished we had more time. However, we were hesitant to push our return to Rome back much later since the next day would be our last in Rome (before we caught the night train back to Paris and home). If I had it to do over again, I would have spent another hour or two there. It was just fascinating. I?d highly recommend visiting Pompeii.
The trip back to Rome was as uneventful as the trip from Rome. However, we did ultimately decide to change our reservations so that we could catch a train right there at Centrale/Garibaldi and not have to go back to Mergellina. Interestingly, they did not charge us for this. I?m not sure if we got the guy on a good day or what, but he simply gave us the new reservations and when I asked how much he said, ?No Charge? so . . . I didn?t argue with him! Ha-ha!
Anyway, by the time we got back to Rome it was almost 9. We grabbed dinner at the wonderful little restaurant ?La Bruschetta E . . .? we?d enjoyed a couple of nights earlier and then called it a night.
Day 21---10/8/03 Wednesday
We didn?t have to be out of our room until 1 pm on this day, so we took our time getting packed up and ready to go. We slept in, then spent a couple of hours sorting out our clothes/goodies and getting ready for the LONG next two days. Our plan was to leave Rome on the night train (leaving at 7pm) to Paris. Immediately upon our arrival in Paris at 10:15 the next morning, we would head to the airport before catching our 2:25 flight back to the states at CDG. Since we knew we?d be schlepping all of our crap around quite a bit over the next 48 hours, we wanted to make sure it was as well packed as possible!
At around Noon, we asked our hostess (her apartment was next door to the one we stayed in) to call us a cab, which she did. After we arrived at the station, we checked our bags in at the luggage deposit and then tried to figure out how to occupy the next several hours. It was really no brainer as we realized that we?d never gotten back over to the forum after being forced to abandon it the other day in the rain. So, we hopped on the metro and headed back over to the ruins. We ended up spending several hours there that included souvenir shopping and a quick lunch in the neighborhood.
We headed back to Termini around 5, intending to spend an hour or so checking in and filling out online journal entries in the Internet café that?s supposed to be there. Well, as recently as 10/8/03, the Internet café that was in Roma Termini station was out of business so we had a good hour and a half to kill. We made a half-hearted attempt to go outside the station and look for another place to get online, but ultimately decided we?d just wander around the station until our train was ready to board. This was not a problem as Termini is basically like a big shopping mall with TONS of shops! We bought a few more little things and then went to the grocery store in the station just before we boarded at around 6:30pm. Within a half an hour, we were on our way back to Paris and, ultimately, home.
OVERALL IMPRESSIONS OF ROME: Before I got to Rome I was afraid of it. I?d read and heard a LOT about Rome being too intense, too crowded, too crime-ridden, that the subways were too dirty and dangerous, etc. As our trip progressed and we got closer and closer to Rome, I would get tense just thinking about it. However, my actual experience of this beautiful city bore little resemblance to the stories I?d heard. Now, that?s not to say that Rome is perfect. It IS a very busy city . . . but no more so than New York, where I lived for 5 years. It IS intense . . . . but in a good way. Yes, the subways could be kept up better (I mean, is there kind of shop where they send the subway cars to PURPOSEFULLY paint graffiti on them?!) . . . but I never felt unsafe. All in all, I thought Rome was GREAT! It was endlessly fascinating, extremely beautiful and just a whole heck of a lot of fun. I will definitely be back!
Oct 29th, 2003 | 04:06 PM
#44
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 288
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Wow. Great trip report. And you (and your mom) seem to have a great attitude too--you didn't let small obstacles hinder your enjoyment or negatively color your view of each city--you took each city for what they were. I wish everyone could travel with such a good attitude (heck, I wish I could!)
Oct 30th, 2003 | 06:33 AM
#46
Original Poster
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 376
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Hi guys:
Thanks again for all the nice comments. We really did have a great time on this trip. I do want to correct something in my report. In going back, I realized I wrote that the Scavi tour is free. Of course, it isn't. It was €9 each for us. I'm not sure what I was thinking about when I wrote that . . . I'll just blame it on recovering from my illness, I guess!
allovereurope: I appreciate your comments about taking things as they came and not letting them affect my overall enjoyment. That was definitely the attitude I went into this trip with and I'm glad it comes through in the report.
I'm always a little puzzled by people who write in and say they had an awful time on their trip and just "hated" some place or another.
When I travel, I'm always cognizant of the fact that I am SO LUCKY and BLESSED to be doing what I'm doing and it just humbles me. I mean, sure . . . if you get mugged or run over by a Vespa or something, that's one thing. But if, like, your hotel room sucks or the shop girl was rude to you or you had a bad meal. . . so what?! I mean, you're in __________ !!(fill in the blank). Let's face it, you can get a bad meal or a rude shop girl anywhere and, just speaking for myself, I'd much rather be eating a crappy meal while looking at the canals of Venice or the Eiffel Tower!!!
Also, I did want to mention one other thing . . . sort of a "conclusion" I guess. In 3 weeks in Europe I did not experience ONE SHRED of any so-called "anti-American" sentiment whatsoever. No one was rude when they heard my American accent. No one refused to seat me at a restaurant. The name "George Bush" came up exactly one time and that was in kind of a joking way (I was trying to explain to a woman from New Zealand at the airport in Paris where I was from--Oklahoma--by telling her that my state was right next to Texas and she said, "Oh, I know Texas . . . home of JR Ewing and George Bush!". In fact the only discussion of politics we had was with a cab driver in London who broke down his thoughts on the future of Tony Blair. In short, our American-ness was really, truly a NON-ISSUE. Just wanted to put that out there.
Thanks again for reading and commenting so kindly on my report!
Jennie
Thanks again for all the nice comments. We really did have a great time on this trip. I do want to correct something in my report. In going back, I realized I wrote that the Scavi tour is free. Of course, it isn't. It was €9 each for us. I'm not sure what I was thinking about when I wrote that . . . I'll just blame it on recovering from my illness, I guess!
allovereurope: I appreciate your comments about taking things as they came and not letting them affect my overall enjoyment. That was definitely the attitude I went into this trip with and I'm glad it comes through in the report.
I'm always a little puzzled by people who write in and say they had an awful time on their trip and just "hated" some place or another.
When I travel, I'm always cognizant of the fact that I am SO LUCKY and BLESSED to be doing what I'm doing and it just humbles me. I mean, sure . . . if you get mugged or run over by a Vespa or something, that's one thing. But if, like, your hotel room sucks or the shop girl was rude to you or you had a bad meal. . . so what?! I mean, you're in __________ !!(fill in the blank). Let's face it, you can get a bad meal or a rude shop girl anywhere and, just speaking for myself, I'd much rather be eating a crappy meal while looking at the canals of Venice or the Eiffel Tower!!!
Also, I did want to mention one other thing . . . sort of a "conclusion" I guess. In 3 weeks in Europe I did not experience ONE SHRED of any so-called "anti-American" sentiment whatsoever. No one was rude when they heard my American accent. No one refused to seat me at a restaurant. The name "George Bush" came up exactly one time and that was in kind of a joking way (I was trying to explain to a woman from New Zealand at the airport in Paris where I was from--Oklahoma--by telling her that my state was right next to Texas and she said, "Oh, I know Texas . . . home of JR Ewing and George Bush!"
. In fact the only discussion of politics we had was with a cab driver in London who broke down his thoughts on the future of Tony Blair. In short, our American-ness was really, truly a NON-ISSUE. Just wanted to put that out there.Thanks again for reading and commenting so kindly on my report!
Jennie
Oct 30th, 2003 | 07:26 AM
#47
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Posts: n/a
Thanks, Jennie, for the report. I'm glad you liked Pompei, too. That's one of the places we saw that took me completely by surprise. It was so much more beautiful and fascinating than I had ever dreamed. And Rome--like you, I faced it with a bit of trepidation, given all the discussion about it. I shouldn't have worried! We enjoyed Rome so much, and I'd send anyone there in a heartbeat. Ciao, fellow traveller and lover of Italy!
Oct 30th, 2003 | 10:36 AM
#50
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 395
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I must admit I was a little uncertain about reading a self-proclaimed long-winded report, but it was wonderful! I loved reading all the details--you really painted a picture. Thanks for sharing and letting me relive London, Paris and Italy all over again! My favorite was your hilariously descriptive section on Mr. BigSuitcase. That had me laughing out loud! Thanks again!
Nov 1st, 2003 | 07:08 PM
#52
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 15,646
Likes: 11
Jennie, I really enjoyed this report. I am copying parts of it to send to my daughter, since we can identify with quite a few things you went through, especially in Rome. We stayed in a hotel quite near your B&B, actually a little bit farther from the center, and we used the bus to get everywhere, even to the metro. One time we were riding on the same bus we had taken every day, hoping to get to the Barberini metro, but suddenly the scenery looked different and it appeared that we were taking a different route. I had no idea why. My daughter noticed a metro stop as we pulled over to a bus stop, and we got out, not really having any idea where we were, and got on the metro there. It turned out the Barberini station was closed, we think because of a demonstration, and maybe the bus was detouring around it.
We got caught up in another demonstration as we were taking a taxi to the place we were to get our bus to Pompeii. Seems like there are lots of those in Rome.
We got caught up in another demonstration as we were taking a taxi to the place we were to get our bus to Pompeii. Seems like there are lots of those in Rome.
Nov 3rd, 2003 | 09:52 AM
#53
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 376
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Barbmike:
Sorry to leave you hanging!
The train from Rome to Paris left on time, was totally uneventful and even got into Paris Bercy about 5 minutes early (app. 10:10am). From Bercy station, we rode the Metro one stop to Gare de Lyon and got a cab from there to CDG (it was less than €30). (We did this because Bercy station is VERY small with no real taxi line to speak of. Taxis do occasionally come there, but we were told by a frequent Bercy traveler that we would be better off taking the metro to Gare de Lyon, where they have a HUGE taxi line.)
We arrived at CDG at app. 11:20am found the Northwest counter and got in line. We waited about 5-10 minutes before they started checking us in for our flight at 11:30 (our scheduled departure was at 2:25). Check in was easy and we went from there to our terminal where we grabbed some lunch. Eventually we made our way to our gate and from there on to the plane. We took off right at 2:25 and had a completely uneventful flight back to the US. The only notable thing that happened is that I had a HORRIBLE allergic reaction to the soap they had in the bathroom on the airplane. I used it to wash my face and, about an hour later, my eyes were itching and watering terribly. (They were like that for the rest of the flight and all through our connecting flight.) So, be careful of the soap in the bathrooms of the plane!
Upon arrival in Detroit, we went through first immigration, then customs before rechecking our bags and catching our connecting flight back to Dallas. Thanks to the wonderful set-up of the Northwest terminal in Detroit, this entire process only took about 25 minutes. We EASILY made our connection, despite the fact that we only had about an hour or so between arrival and departure.
Nikki:
It's funny how many people have said "Oh that same thing happened to us." Or "We had a smiliar experience." or whatever. It really makes you feel like a part of the "traveler's club" when that happens! Ha-ha!
Jennie
Sorry to leave you hanging!
The train from Rome to Paris left on time, was totally uneventful and even got into Paris Bercy about 5 minutes early (app. 10:10am). From Bercy station, we rode the Metro one stop to Gare de Lyon and got a cab from there to CDG (it was less than €30). (We did this because Bercy station is VERY small with no real taxi line to speak of. Taxis do occasionally come there, but we were told by a frequent Bercy traveler that we would be better off taking the metro to Gare de Lyon, where they have a HUGE taxi line.)
We arrived at CDG at app. 11:20am found the Northwest counter and got in line. We waited about 5-10 minutes before they started checking us in for our flight at 11:30 (our scheduled departure was at 2:25). Check in was easy and we went from there to our terminal where we grabbed some lunch. Eventually we made our way to our gate and from there on to the plane. We took off right at 2:25 and had a completely uneventful flight back to the US. The only notable thing that happened is that I had a HORRIBLE allergic reaction to the soap they had in the bathroom on the airplane. I used it to wash my face and, about an hour later, my eyes were itching and watering terribly. (They were like that for the rest of the flight and all through our connecting flight.) So, be careful of the soap in the bathrooms of the plane!
Upon arrival in Detroit, we went through first immigration, then customs before rechecking our bags and catching our connecting flight back to Dallas. Thanks to the wonderful set-up of the Northwest terminal in Detroit, this entire process only took about 25 minutes. We EASILY made our connection, despite the fact that we only had about an hour or so between arrival and departure.
Nikki:
It's funny how many people have said "Oh that same thing happened to us." Or "We had a smiliar experience." or whatever. It really makes you feel like a part of the "traveler's club" when that happens! Ha-ha!
Jennie
Nov 3rd, 2003 | 11:46 AM
#54
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
Jennie,
You talked about the Slavic (???) tour in the Vatican. Is that the tour that takes you down under St Petes? Was it really good? How long is it? How, when and where did you book it? I will have 2 teenagers with me? Is it something they would like?
Also, has anyone done the Vatican garden tour? We will be going in NOV so I am not sure there will be anything to see. My husband is a gardening nut.
You talked about the Slavic (???) tour in the Vatican. Is that the tour that takes you down under St Petes? Was it really good? How long is it? How, when and where did you book it? I will have 2 teenagers with me? Is it something they would like?
Also, has anyone done the Vatican garden tour? We will be going in NOV so I am not sure there will be anything to see. My husband is a gardening nut.
Nov 4th, 2003 | 10:05 AM
#55
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 376
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Hi ksr:
Yes, the "Scavi" (I believe it's simply the italian word for "excavations" tour at the Vatican is the tour that takes you underground to the original tomb of St. Peter. It lasts about an hour and a half or so. It was an absolutely fascinating tour that I would highly recommend. I think your teen-agers would really like it.
To make reservations send an email to [email protected] with the following information in the language you'd like the tour to be conducted in:
--The number of visitors in your group
--The names of each visitor, including you, of course!
--The language you'd like the tour to be conducted in.
--The dates and times you will be available for the tour. (The greater your availability, the greater the chance you'll receive tickets.)
I requested my tickets about 6 weeks in advance, I'd say.
Good luck!
Jennie
Yes, the "Scavi" (I believe it's simply the italian word for "excavations"
tour at the Vatican is the tour that takes you underground to the original tomb of St. Peter. It lasts about an hour and a half or so. It was an absolutely fascinating tour that I would highly recommend. I think your teen-agers would really like it. To make reservations send an email to [email protected] with the following information in the language you'd like the tour to be conducted in:
--The number of visitors in your group
--The names of each visitor, including you, of course!
--The language you'd like the tour to be conducted in.
--The dates and times you will be available for the tour. (The greater your availability, the greater the chance you'll receive tickets.)
I requested my tickets about 6 weeks in advance, I'd say.
Good luck!
Jennie
Nov 4th, 2003 | 12:12 PM
#56
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 12,076
Likes: 0
And this was your first Euro trip? Damn, girl, you did it right. Seriously, if someone asked me "What should I do for my first trip to Europe?" your trip would be pretty close to my answer.
Brava!
What will you do for an encore?
(If you want my advice, I'd recommend the Swiss Alps & Italian Lakes)
Brava!
What will you do for an encore?
(If you want my advice, I'd recommend the Swiss Alps & Italian Lakes)
Nov 4th, 2003 | 12:29 PM
#57
Original Poster
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 376
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mr_go:
Thanks so much for the kind words. I'm pretty pleased with how our trip turned out. I did some pretty exhaustive research here and on other websites (as well as read every travel book I could get my hands on!) for about a year leading up to the trip. I just put A LOT of effort into planning the thing.
As for what's next, it's funny that you should mention the alps and the lakes. It's on my shortlist of 3 places for a return trip in Fall of 2005 (Three weeks in Germany, Switzerland and the Italian lakes area.) The other two ideas are:
1) Three weeks in Ireland, Scotland, and England (including London again which I LOVED)
2) Ten days on the western Italian coast (Cinque Terre then down to the Amalfi coast) and 10 days in Greece.
I've decided that I have to decide by June of 2004 in order to start planning properly. I'm obsessive! Ha-Ha!
Thanks again,
Jennie
Thanks so much for the kind words. I'm pretty pleased with how our trip turned out. I did some pretty exhaustive research here and on other websites (as well as read every travel book I could get my hands on!) for about a year leading up to the trip. I just put A LOT of effort into planning the thing.
As for what's next, it's funny that you should mention the alps and the lakes. It's on my shortlist of 3 places for a return trip in Fall of 2005 (Three weeks in Germany, Switzerland and the Italian lakes area.) The other two ideas are:
1) Three weeks in Ireland, Scotland, and England (including London again which I LOVED)
2) Ten days on the western Italian coast (Cinque Terre then down to the Amalfi coast) and 10 days in Greece.
I've decided that I have to decide by June of 2004 in order to start planning properly. I'm obsessive! Ha-Ha!
Thanks again,
Jennie
Nov 6th, 2003 | 07:21 AM
#58
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 1
Likes: 0
I loved reading about your European vacation. I felt like I was there. London is my favorite city in the whole world. Our family{9 of us} is planning a trip to London over the Christmas holidays. I'm the designated travel planner.Like you, I also do a lot of research. It's half the fun! We're staying at the Jolly Hotel St. Ermin across from the New Scotland Yard. Got a great deal through hotel.com. This will be our 3rd trip to London. There's always something new to see. You have the right idea with your positive attitude. Just go with the flow and don't get all bent out of shape about the little things. Again, what a great description of your trip. Cheerio!
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