Sept. 17-18, 2008
Day 1 and 2 (Rome)
We boarded over overnight transatlantic flight to Rome and arrived at Leonardo Da Vinci International airport approximately 10:30 AM and proceeded through customs, which was a breeze, I'm actually not sure what we did was go through customs, but we must have because my passport was stamped. Pretty laid back system in Italy!
We then went to claim our luggage and located our Globus greeter and off to board the bus to hotel. So far, so good. We arrived at the hotel Ciceroni in Rome and were pleasantly surprised, the room was large and very nice, great bathroom as well. With no time to waste, we took a shower and off to hit the streets of Ancient Roma. I have been to Rome before on 2 other occasions, but this was my husbands first time and he was surprised at all the graffiti and traffic, but it is a big city and luckily the historical sites are protected against graffiti. We walked to Torre de Argentina to visit the cats who live in the historic ruins near where Caesar was assassinated and is now a cat sanctuary for over 250 cats. Romans love their cats and do a wonderful job in feeding and helping the feral cats who hang around the ruins. We went into the shop and made a donation and bought some cat related items. The volunteers were all very nice and spoke prefect English (luckily for me since I only know a few words in Italian) Tip: It is a good idea to learn some of the language before you go, Italian is not too hard to learn the basics and really is such a beautiful language. Also Rome is a walking City and it is the best way to see and experience it, so walk whenever you can, most of the famous sites are all close by, so grab a map or a GPS and go!
Next we walked to Piazza Navona-In the heart of the historic centre, Piazza Navona is Rome's most famous square. It was an interesting square with lots going on, and a great place to stop and people watch. We then found our way to the Panethon,which was defined as a temple to all gods and built more than 1800 years ago, the magnificent building still stands as a reminder of the great Roman empire. It has survived plunder and invasions for 20 centuries to stand as the most complete example of Roman architecture known. We did spend some time here, lots to admire in this beautiful building. We had to meet back at the hotel for our welcome dinner with Globus and to meet our new traveling companions by 6:00 PM so on our way back we stopped and grabbed a delicious gelato and made it back on time to relax before dinner.
Had a nice 4 course dinner with free flowing red and white wine, a glass of champagne, antipasto salad, rigatoni bolognese, risotto, green salad, pork and veggies, dessert and of course cappuccino... can't live with out our coffee! Had a fun time and in bed by 9:30 PM. Tip: to avoid jet lag, try to drink plenty of water on the flight and nap or sleep on the plane. Once you arrive at your destination DO NOT GO TO SLEEP, try to stay up and be active then go to bed in the evening, this really works and the next day you will be refreshed and ready to go on a normal schedule.
Sept 19, 2008 Day 3 (Roma)
Met the group for breakfast at 6:30 which was a huge buffet style at the hotel and tour at 7:30 am. This was our first bus tour so we didn't really know what to expect, but Globus did a great job, never had to handle our luggage or worry about anything, other than being on time for tours and such. The group of people we had on our bus all seemed very nice and for the most part everyone was on time when we were ready to move to our next destination. So it was great to sit back and relax and let someone else do the driving and worrying. We boarded the bus and met our driver Pepe, who spoke no English, but was a safe driver and then off to pick up our local tour guide. This is another thing I liked about the tours. Throughout our bus tour Pepe was always our driver and Christina was our Globus tour Guide, then in every different region we visited in Italy we had a local guide specializing in that region alone. Our guide in Rome was Alissia and she was very good. She first took us to the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel. Tip: Another great thing about tours as appose to independent travel, NO LINES, that's right, you do not have to wait on any lines to get into all the famous sites, some places people wait online for hours , but not if you are booked with a professional tour, so that alone makes it a great deal! So off we went to explore the beautiful Vatican City. We were then escorted to St. Peters Basilica and Square and unfortunately at this time it started to rain, so that put a little damper on things. If you have never seen St. Peters, it is a MUST when in Rome, it is quite breathtaking.....We then went back on the bus and crossed the Tiber River to head toward the Roman Forum-It originally was a marsh, but the Romans drained the area and turned it into a center of political and social activity. The Forum was the marketplace of Rome and also the business district and civic center. Visitors can be a little confused by the Roman Forum; at first glance, it is a rather lifeless array of marble fragments. But remember that in ancient times, this space was far more than the temples and monuments whose ruins we can explore today. It was filled with bustling, noisy life as the popular crossroads of the city. Every morning at dawn, average Romans would escape their cramped, dark apartment blocks and spent their days outdoors. Very cool! Now raining harder than ever, we didn't get to spend too much time there.
Finally the magnificent Colosseum! The Colosseum is probably the most impressive building of the Roman empire. Originally known as the Flavian Amphitheater, it was the largest building of the era. It could accommodate some 55,000 spectators who could enter the building through no less than 80 entrances.Emperors used the Colosseum to entertain the public with free games. Those games were a symbol of prestige and power and they were a way for an emperor to increase his popularity. Games were held for a whole day or even several days in a row. They usually started with comical acts and displays of exotic animals and ended with fights to the death between animals and gladiators or between gladiators. It was amazing to see, we LOVED it! On our way back we drove past Circus Maximus where the chariot races took place and the ruins from Caesars Palace (that's the real Caesars Palace, not the one in Vegas :) By now it was around 2:00 PM so we had some free time to explore Rome on our own. Still raining, we walked to the Spanish Steps-The Piazza di Spagna is one of the most famous images in the world, as well as being one of the most majestic urban monuments of Roman Baroque style. In the Renaissance period, the square was the most popular tourist attraction in the city: it attracted artists and writers alike and was full of elegant hotels, inns and residences. Today it is still a great place to people watch...
Before we left for Rome I found someplace that was very interesting to me, it was called Cripta dei Cappuccinni-It was one of my most memorable experiences I had in Rome. Under the Church of Santa Maria Immacolata Via Veneto is a crypt decorated with some 4000 bones of Capuchin friars collected between 1528 and 1870 from the old cemetery of the Capuchin Order. The crypt is divided into five small chapels where there are even some entire bodies of mummified monks wearing the traditional robes of Capuchin friars. Entrance to the crypt is written on a plate: "We are what you soon will be". The decision to decorate the crypt with the bones, which might seem gloomy, is actually a way to exorcise death and stressed that the body is a container of the soul, and as such once that it has abandoned the container can be reused in other ways. It was all very interesting and creepy at the same time, but we was fascinated, the "art work" they made from the bones were incredible. (See photos on Rome).
As we left the crypt, the rain had slowed down some so we walked to the famous Trevi Fountain. As always, even in the rain it was packed with people and umbrellas all over the place. But it is a beautiful fountain and we also tossed a coin -Legend has it you will return to Rome if you throw a coin into the fountain. You should toss it over your shoulder with your back to the fountain.
Now that we were completely water logged from all the rain we headed back to our warm and dry hotel room and relaxed before heading out to dinner. We were on our own tonight for dinner, so we found a small place close to the hotel and ate at a reasonable cost of 31 euro. Pasta was our choice for dinner. When in Rome..............
Sept. 20, 2008
Day 4 (Pisa)
We now head North to Pisa for pictures of its amazing Leaning Tower. Along the way to Tuscany, we passed beautiful rolling hills of green grass and small villages and arrived in Piza around 12:30 PM. Although it was a small town, I was very impressed with Piza. It was quaint and clean and the Leaning tower was really leaning.... a lot! But it was great to visit it in person and see the area. It was a beautiful sunny day and people were at the cafes and on the grass having picnics. It was really lovely. After taking photo's of the leaning tower and the beautiful Duomo, we had pizza at one of the little cafes. Decent price of 17 euro for pizza and wine with our lunch. We had only 2 hours to spend here, but it really was enough time, like I said the area is small. Tip: It is acutally less expensive to order wine with every meal instead of coke or water, so do, Italian wine is the best!
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