Day 1.

Left Pittsburgh for JFK then to Rome. Got dark around 8 PM and I slept for ~2.5 hours. Awoke at 11PM (EST) and all excited to see a sunrise from the left side of the plane. We were flying south of the UK which put the sunrise on my side of the plane. Arrived in Rome on time. Baggage was fairly prompt but we saw no Trafalgar people in the baggage area. After a few questions, we exited the baggage area and saw two Trafalgar reps. After a short wait, we got the 9:30 transfer to our hotel. We were met with our tour bus driver there. We were in our hotel room by 10:30. We immediately left on a walking tour (we were by the train station). We first went to Santa Maria Maggiore Church (15 minute walk). What a great first impression of Italy. This church was not on any tour stop (inc optionals) and was well worth the visit. We then walked another 20 minutes or so south to another Church San Giovanni in Laterno. It was even more impressive. After taking a few wrong turns, we got back to our Hotel around 4. We had a welcome drink around 5. Our tour director, Jeff Allen was quite simply amazing. He was so courteous, knowledgable and so committed to us having the best tour possible. We were very fortunate getting him on this tour.

We did the evening night walk of Rome as an optional tour. We had a guide who did a great job. We started at the Trevi Fountain and walked down to the Pantheon (maybe the most impressive thing I saw all trip). Then on to Piazza Navona. We ate at a decent place where pasta and pizza was offered. After a nice dinner we took a bus tour of Rome to see the lighted buildings. We saw St Peter's and the Colosseum areas. Very enjoyable evening. The tour we took was the only optional tour offered that night. Most took it and I found it to be very good (as I did all the optional tours). I intended to take very few optional tours, however we did many more than initially planned. While pricey, every guide was very good and added so much more to the experience.

We got back to the hotel around 10 and we immediately crashed. The Hotel was Ateneo Garden Palace. It was comfortable. Rooms were warm and the windows were kept open all the time. But the hotel offered everything we needed included a nice breakfeast including eggs (special orders only).

On to the second full day later.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: WallynDiane,

Great start - looking forward to reading more

Day 2

We had an early wake-up call. Bus was leaving at 7:15. Good breakfeast and the hotel made eggs if requested. (our other hotels had scrambled eggs out for the Trafalgar tour people). The breakfeats were more robust than I thought we would get.

We were going to the Vatican Museum. Got there about 7:40 and waited for 8 am when the doors opened promply. Because we were a group, we went right in. The general public was not so lucky as the line was very very long. Saw 4 of the Vatican musuem rooms before entry to the Sistine Chapel. Had a very good guide and we had around 20 minutes in the Sistine Chapel by ourselves. I brought binoculars which were very helpful. The Sistine Chapel ceiling is very high. The Chapel is also rather dark to preserve the ceiling. There is a powerful feeling in the Sistine Chapel. Quite amazing experience.

Make sure you know how to turn your camera flash off. Some parts of the Vatican Museum and all of St Peter's allowed pictures. However some areas did not allow flashes. I couldn't believe how many people didn't know how to turn off their flash.

We then went directly to St Peter's. The size of St Peter's is simply unbelievable. Michelangelo's Pieta is stunning and the lighted setting left a lifelong memory. The detail of that sculpture is remarkable. Michelangelo was 24 when he did that. How he could turn a piece of marble into such a work of art with the flowing of Mary's robe and all the detail is simply unbelievable. St Peter's is still leaving me say WOW, two weeks after I was there. We had 40 minutes after the guides discussion to wonder around St Peter's. We used Rick Steve's tour books and podcasts (on our IPod's)to enhance our free time there. We then had an hour to eat. We walked through a tunnel and had a good pizza in a bar there. Lunch pizza's were between 7-10 Euro's. Cokes were in the 2 Euro range. Pizza's was all thin crusted just as we like them (sorry Chicago).

After lunch we went to the Colosseum with the same guide as St Peter's. Again group tours offered an advantage as we walked right past a huge line and walked right in. We were there approximately 1 1/2 hours before return to the hotel. The Colosseum's upper deck offered great views and I snapped way to many pictures. As in St Peter's, we were pinching ourselves when we were in the Colosseum. While in ruins, the Colosseum is such a powerful place that is difficult to explain.

The evening optional tour was a walk around the Spanish Steps followed by a dinner with performances by opera singers. We elected to do our own thing and walked around Rome for a few hours. We just lazily walked and enjoyed the sights. Rome is amazing with 4 million people and all the tourist but with few red lights and stop signs. People and traffic merged so well together. As long as you were in a cross walk, you simply walked out. Traffic always came to a stop. Only time I seen some anger was when you waited for an opening and singled out a car or two. They didn't like that.

We had dinner in a bistro that had a 20 euro per person dinner menu with wine. It was decent.
Most eateries had fish ,chicken,pasta, pizza or veal. We had chicken and it was ok. I had some eggplant pasta and it was pretty good. The wine was also good and we had over 2 glasses each.

We were pretty tired and we retired around 9 PM. This would be the earliest we went to bed all trip.

Day 3 to follow.

WallynDiane,
It's a cold wet and miserable day here in Sydney, and to top it off I have the flu. Reading you great Tour Tale is bringing back lovely memories of my trip to Italy and it's making me feel better. Thank you.
Keep it coming....

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Day 3

This was a free day in Rome. There was an optional tour to the catacombs as well as to St Peter's Outside the Walls Church. They also had a Papal blessing visit option as it was a Wednesday and the Pope was giving a public blessing.

We passed on that optional and we took the metro to the Colosseum. Amazing metro - watching 100 people attempting to get off the car at the same time 100 people were trying to get on. But a 1 Euro fare was cheap and the metro was very efficient.

We quickly got off at the Colosseum and we walked down to the entrance of the Forum. It was 11 Euro per person to get in. We used Rick Steve's guidebook and Podcasts to guide us around. The weather was spectacular. Seeing the ruins was quite spectacular. We also went on a walk of Palatine Hill that offered tremendous views of the Forum and Colosseum. Rick Steves podcast really made the tour even more enjoyable as he brought life to the Forum. Without that, you would not know what was what. Little info posted and it was in Italian. Walking through the Forum with the Colosseum in the background was very enjoyable. Knowing most of this was close to 2,000 years old was amazing. How the ancients put that up is an amazing engineering marvel.

After ~2 hours in the Forum we walked over to St Peter's in Chains Church. It was less than a 5 minute walk from the Colosseum. Michelangelo's statue of Moses is in that church. His Pieta in St Peter's (Vatican) is in a more dramatic setting, however Moses is equally impressive. After numerous photo's there we strolled back to the metro at the Colosseum for our return to the hotel. After another great pizza and more gelata. There are many gelata places in Italy. I tried to find the ones recommended in Rick Steve's guidebooks. But they were all very good. However, Grom's in Florence and one in San Gimignano were by far the best we had.

After a brief rest, we left at 5 for an optional tour to Tivoli. It was maybe 45 minute ride to Tivoli. It is in the foothills of the mountains and is quite a lovely setting. There are many fountains in the gardens. They diverted water to the fountains and they all are gravity based fountains. One in particular has 5-6 water spouts that were 25 feet or so high. One word of caution, there are many steps to get down to the garden. Several on the tour didn't want to go down. We had a guided tour that lasted 1 hour and we had maybe 20 minutes of free time.

The Tivoli tour also included a dinner. We walked around the town of Tivoli for 30 minutes with the locals. Seems like every Italian town has the locals out for an evening stroll with their families. The dinner was in a 2,000 year old building. It was an old Roman bathhouse. Upon entry we had a welcome drink, then the chef gave us a pasta making demonstration. Then we walked through a small triangular shaped hole in the wall. It opened up into several large barrel ceiling rooms that made up the dining hall. The food and wine was plentiful. We also had our first taste of lemoncello. After 4 or so glasses of wine, and a big glass of 90 proof lemoncello, made that hole in the wall to get back out more of a challenge.

We got back to the hotel around 10:30 and we had an early start tomorrow for our trip to the Amalfi Coast.

I found Rome to be very enjoyable. We saw most of the must see things we planned to do (we missed the Spanish Steps). Another tip, public rest rooms are very scarce. However buying a coke or something small gives you access to "free" bathroom facilities.
More later.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: WallynDiane,

WallynDiane: It's a bit cold and overcast here in my part of the world also, and I'm really enjoying being in Rome with you. Thanks for sharing with us.

Brenda

Hi Wallyndiane ~ Still rainy and cold here in Sydney, so reading your tale has brightened up a miserable day. Look forward to reading more!

On our Italy tour two years ago, we too had Jeff Allen as our TD, he was great. Thanks for your Tales, we are enjoying them.

Day 4

We left Rome @ 8:30 or so. Traffic was terrible.

Our first stop of the day was Montecassino. Of all our stops, this was the stop that I had the least knowledge. I did see a history channel show on the 1944 battle for Montecassino that was helpful in understanding the WWII battle there. Many thousand died on that mountain.


The Abbey of Montecassino sits on top of mountain. Quite a dramatic setting and several on the bus was nervous winding up the steep mountain road (estimated height above sea level was ~ 2,000'). The Abbey was first built in AD 529 by St Benedict. The abbey was destroyed many times. It did not survive a large allied bombing of the abbey in early 1944. It was rebuilt and offers an ancient feel/quality in a late 1940/early 1950's building. The hour or so there was very enjoyable.

We ate lunch at an autogrille. Clean rest rooms and a quick sandwich lunch.

We arrived at Paestum late afternoon. Paestum was a Greek settlement before the Romans came to town. There were 3 Greek Doric style temples on the site as well as some minor Roman Ruins. The weather was simply great. Deep blue sky with some white "puffY clouds. Perfect picture taking weather with honey colored 2,600 year old temples. Wow and double wow. The setting was magnificent. The largest of the Temples was the Temple of Neptune and for a 2,600 year old building was remarkably intact (missing roof). The other two Temples were in poorer shape. We had another great guide who used the whisper system radios and took us on a 45 minute or so guided tour of the site. We then had ~ 30 minutes of free time to further explore Paestum.

After that great stop, we headed north for Solerno for our ride to Maiori. If people thought the ride up to Montcassino was hairy. They haven't seen anything yet. Our bus driver, Pierre Luigi got that bus around corners that you would not believe. He had to break several laws of physics. The Amalfi drive is simply spectacular. Shear cliffs with buildings perched on the most precariously looking sites. The weather was perfectly clear and the dark blue ocean coupled with the dark blue sky and that incredible Amalfi coast left a lifelong impression. Simply spectacular.

Because of the full day, no optional tours were offered today.

We arrived at our hotel maybe around 7PM. The hotel was named Panorama and was just across the street from the ocean. The mountains on one side, ocean on another and looking south, the mountains around Solerno resulted in a marvelous setting. When I researched Maiori, many people said why are you staying there. We found it to be a superb 3 night stay. Many good eateries and nice local shops. After three days in Rome, we found the lack of tourist to be refreshing.

After a quick check-in, we had our first tour dinner. It was at the hotel and consisted of pasta and veal. It was ok. Plenty of food but not a first class meal. Unfortunately, the optional meal in Tivoli the night before was also veal.

The hotel had a pool and a great overlook on the 5th floor. We quickly found it and enjoyed the views (stunning at night as well) and the cool night weather. After all the antiquities of Rome, Montecassino and Paestum, I was looking forward to the 3 nights on the beuatiful Amalfi. It did not disappoint.

More later.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: WallynDiane,

Don't quite know what happened to your tale, WallynDinae but enjoying this trip with you since it stops at different places than we had visited. So, you're making me a little more acquainted with this part of the world. Thank you for that. That coast is simply spectacular isn't it? And I wouldn't choose to drive it myself I'll tell you.

I think this is the same tour that Jeannie118 took a couple of years ago and I remember how much she said she enjoyed Maori.

Waiting for the next installment--no pressure .

Brenda

Hi wallyndiane, looking forward to the rest of your tale, I do have a question, hopefully you can help, you mentioned you used Rick Steves podcast to guide you in Rome, I would love to have that, I was able to download the tours to my PC, but can't sync my iPod, is there any trick? (I do have an iPod Nano, Rick Steve mentions MP3, could this be my problem? I know there are many here with excellent tech knowdledge, help, anyone? Thanks!

Californian

I actually did the Ipod loading two different ways. I had just purchased the Ipod and I had downloaded the Rick Steves Forum walk directly from Ricksteves.com and saved it to my hard drive. After I got into I tunes, I brought in the Forum Walk from my C Drive into I Tunes. This tour was saved as an album.

I also did a podcast download when I was in ITunes. I clicked on the Itunes podcast icon and did a search for Rick Steves. I then brought in his St Peter's and Florence walks into my Itunes play list (from the podcast Ipod menu). Both ways were very simple and after a wrong click or 2, I got it to work.

I set the Itunes to an auto sync with my Ipod and it loaded very quickly.

Good luck.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: WallynDiane,

Day 5

Can't believe that the vacation is already reaching the halfway point. I am even more impressed on our Tour Director Jeff Allen.

Being an accountant, his fast counting of tour members was impressive, especially when people were moving around. He also was the darn best battery changer I have ever seen. The whisper radios seemed to suck up baterries like there is no tomorrow. I digress.

We decided to do the morning optional tour to Ravello. I had a SITA bus schedule and had planned to do Ravello on our own. But we decided on the optional tour. We departed around 8;30 or so and the bus weaved it's way up the mountains and over to Ravello. It was maybe a 30 minute drive. We first toured the Ravello cathedral. It was a small church but had an amazing carved pulpit with columns resting on carved lions. Also in that church was a saint's dried blood that allegedly turns to a liquid one day each year.

We then toured Villa Rufolo. It has beautiful gardens and an outstanding view of the Amalfi coast. Ravello was around 1,200' up and offered commanding views. It was another perfectly clear day and the views were spectacular. It would of offered better photo's in the afternoon as the view of the coastline was in the sun.

The tour books had the Villa Cimbrone as the better villa, but Vila Rufulo was fine by me. After a 45 minute guided tour, we had 20 minutes or so a free time. I was a picture taking fool as the scenery was superb.

We then went back Maiori for an afternoon boat ride to the town of Amalfi. We departed from the marina in Maiori and went a few miles up the Amalfi coast to Amalfi. Again photo opportunities abounded.

We had about a 30 minutes guided tour of Amalfi and had 1 1/2 hours of free time. I had a great lunch of an eggplant pasta dish. The town offered many nice shops that had some affordable gift opportunites for family. After a pleasant trip we reboarded the boat for the return trip to Maiori.

We all posed at the marina for our group tour photo's. Didn't take long to take the 24 or so pics from all the camera's.

Trafalgar offered an evening optional dinner tour. It was rather expensive (55 euros or so) and we elected to kick back and stay around the hotel. The weather was simply beautiful and we had a great beach walk (little sand-lots of small pebbles) and a long sit on the 5th floor deck of the Hotel Panorama. We used that free time to really relax for the first time on the trip. Dinner was once again a great pizza (could not get enough of pizza).

We sat out until almost 11 and then retired.

Tomorrow was a longer boat ride to Capri.

More later.

WallynDiane ~ Really enjoying your tale & ready for more.

...looking forward to Capri, thank you for you help with the iPod, I finally got it!