Hi,

We had reserved this trip a while back. Then something happened and I was quite reconciled to the fact that our trip was pretty much canceled. However I just got a call...and the appointment for which I was staying back has been postponed to the 14th...soooo...I am more than thrilled...but a little nervous as well. Now its just me and my husband who are doing this trip. We would be coming from London. We will reach at 9:00 in the morning.

This is how our itinerary looks:

3rd September: Piazzas, Pantheon and Borghese (tickets booked), we ill get the Roma Pass. We plan to spend the morning in the Trastevere area. We have taken a print out from Frommers for their Trastevere walk. For Pantheon we have the Rick Steve's audio guide.

4th September: Vatican

I have read Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling and Agony and Ecstasy. I have also gone through the Vatican Website, which provides quite a lot of details and we are taking print outs of some of the sections that interest us.

We have booked the Through Eternity group tour for 3.5 hrs which starts at 12:30. We took this tour because we read the crowds are less of a problem in the afternoon.

We saw on the Vatican website that the museums would be open every Friday in September and October between 7 and 11 in the evening. One needs to get the booking done online. We happen to be going to the Vatican on a Friday (4th September), will we have to get a separate booking for the evening tour, or we can just stay on the ticket that we will get in the afternoon. If a special ticket needs to be bought, then is it worth it to go back again in the evening? Have any of you done this evening tour, can we do this instead of the morning tour?

5th September: Ancient Rome ( I have tried reading synopsis of Rome's history of Wikipedia .I am a little ashamed. But don't have time to do more as I wasn't sure that we are going to go, and I lost a little bit of my enthusiasm. We know the basic outline. We know some of the emperors and we know whats written in my lonely planet guide. Apart from this we have the Rick Steve's audio tour and Frommers Walk of the Caesars to supplement it.

Do you think we should take a separate Ancient rome + Palatine hill tour with through eternity?

6th September: Florence ( I have looked at one/ two day itineraries here. We plan to leave for Florence around mid afternoon on 6th)

7th September: Florence

8th September: afternoon flight from Pisa

Please let me know how is this itinerary. Is there something that I have missed, or is it too rushed?

We have booked our accommodation:
http://www.vrbo.com/220827

Our communication with our land lady have been excellent. We are really looking forward to staying here.

The address of the house is Vicolo della Torre, 9.

Could any of you please suggest how to get from Ciampino Airport to Trastevere. If you let us know the bus/tram stop then we can print a google map of the way to our apartment.

We are staying at the Alloro BnB in Florence.

Would love any comments or feedback.

Thanks a lot!

Many museums in Florence will be closed on Monday so plan accordingly.

The Friday night openings/tours for the Vatican Museums is new so this week will be first.

I've stayed at Alloro B&B. It's a short walk from the train station. You should ring the bell on via del Giglio, not Alloro.

Thanks Kybourbon for telling us about Alloro and the museum closure on Monday We plan to visit both Uffizi and Academia on Sunday.

I am very tempted by the idea of going to Vatican in the night, but am not sure if it would not be just as crowded, or if it would be really worth it. The 7:00pm slot already shows low availability. Don't know if that means that there will be hoards of people there.

Probably will have to figure this one out in Rome itself. We have internet access in the apartment, so in case we decide to go and there is availability, we would probably book it on 3rd September. Though I would definitely like to know others opinions on it.

Also what would you suggest about taking a tour for forum/ Colosseum and Palatine hill?

Thanks again for your help...

We'll be in Rome during the night-opening period as well, so I looked into that. You cannot just stay with a day ticket into the evening hours - it looks from the booking website that there's an hour in between the day and the evening hours.

I decided I would rather be having a nice, leisurely dinner and strolling through Rome for my evenings that have a possibly-less crowded time in the Vatican Museums - but then, we're foodies, and 2 of the 3 of us have been to the Vatican Museums several times previously.

Also note that on Saturday nights, the Capitoline Museum, Ara Pacis and Central Montemartini will be open the same late hours.

You have 3 days in Rome, and specific, booked activities for 2 of them. To leave yourselves some flexibility, consider NOT booking a tour for Ancient Rome.

The Colosseum/Forum is also part of the special night openings for Sept/Oct. They are open until 11pm on Sunday night.
http://en.turismoroma.it/oggi_a_roma.../musei_di_sera

There's also a special night tour of the Colosseum on certain nights.
http://en.turismoroma.it/oggi_a_roma...o_notti_flavie

From the information available online, the evening Vatican tours seem to be severely truncated visits to the Vatican Museums--the tapestries, map gallery, Raphael rooms, Sistine Chapel, and not much more. I suspect from all the research you mention that you have particular things of interest that you hope to see at the museum--with such a limited area on view, the night hours might not be the best for you.

I've been to Florence twice for 2 nights each time. Eat at Il Latini & Il Ritrovo - you will not be disappointed! Latini is 'communal' seating - if you can sit with locals and make friends, all the better - as then you will be charged to local rate!

Be prepared for Rome to be busy, crowded, graffiti filled, overwhelming, yet still awe-inspiring. My advise is DON"T overplan yourself there! Florence is manageable on foot & pleasant as long as you give Vespas the right of way. Rome takes city smarts to navigate. Piazza Navona at night (full of artisans selling their work) was a respite from the chaos for us. Trevi fountain is bellisimo, but be on guard at all times.

I promise I am more laid back than this sounds - Enjoy!

I've also stayed at the Alloro and you can hear the church bells. It's only a few blocks to the Duomo and we got around very easily. Watch the buses for cying out loud I almost got flattened when I wasn't looking.

Lexma I don't think I will go to Vatican during the night instead of going during the day. As Ellenem has rightly pointed out its a much shorter visit. But your point about spending laid back time on dinner is a valid one, lets see how we feel about the Vatican after visiting it.

Kybourbon and Lexma thanks a lot about the info on longer opening hours. It has just added to my confusions. Now apart from the Vatican confusion I also have to decide if I want to go for a separate Colosseum (moonlit)tour or not. I sometimes wish I had unlimited time and money!!

Travelphile I think I agree with you on not taking a tour on all the three days that we are there. We have decided against taking the ancient Rome tour. We will do the walking and audio tour on our own. Thanks a lot for recommending Il Latini & Il Ritrovo. Would you say it has good vegetarian options as well? We were told by family who just visited Florence to go to Zazza and Cucina Mediterranean (if we want some change from Italian food). They said both these places were good for vegetarian food.

Sheri its good to know that Alloro is close to the Duomo, that was one of the reasons for our choosing this place.

As for the buses and the vespas, I have lived in more chaotic cities (in India), and hopefully we should be able to handle the traffic.

I think I will post separately for help for getting from the airport to our apartment. I did do a search here and have found out some options. Would like to know others opinions on it.

In the meanwhile would like to know if there are any good budget vegetarian places in Rome?

Thanks a lot to all of you for helping me out at this last minute.

You can get to your apartment in Rome by taking the local train from the airport (the FR1 not the Leonardo Express)to Trastevere station(about 5.50€ each). The FR1 departs every 15 minutes. From Trastevere station you can catch the tram (#8)the rest of the way. Ask the apartment owner which stop to get off.
http://www.atac.roma.it/docunet/file.asp?mid=3&rid=5

Kybourbon thanks a lot for your suggestion to take the train. I did see the terravision option, but given how sceptical we are here of taking buses into central London on working day mornings I wasn't sure if this was a good idea.

Taking the train seems like an easier option.

My land lady had asked me to get to Termini Station and then take city bus "H”to Viale Trastevere and get off the first stop.
I have written to her again to ask which stop to get off if I am taking tram 8.

Thanks again this was really helpful!