Preparations 2017
We lost our cat in January following a very short illness. We have been married nearly 46 years and have always had cats to share our lives with. We decided not to get another fur friend at this time as it would be easier to get away from home without organizing a cat sitter or a cattery stay.
We did not really think about further overseas travel until late May/early June. Where did we want to go this time? The last time we travelled was August-October 2012 and our first tour was April-May 2010.
We decided we would like to try a river cruise. I wanted to find one that left from Vienna so we could have some time to see the sights prior to boarding. We found only one that left from Vienna and finished at Basel. This was an Avalon Cruise. The only date available was 30th May. A good cruise we agreed.
Now we needed something beforehand. We both wanted to see Italy again. Do we do it on our own or another tour? We never got to the Uffizi Gallery when on our first tour as we were in Florence on a Monday! (museums closed). We looked at hotels, b&bs and apartments in Firenze to perhaps spend a week before flying to Vienna. We then compared that option with possible tours. We found a Trafalgar tour – Great Cities of Italy. This stayed 3 nights each in Rome, Florence and Venice. There was one that commenced 18th May and finished in Venice on the 27th. While others on the tour did the optionals, such as Pompeii or Pisa which we have already done, we can do our ‘own thing’ such as Tivoli Gardens and the Uffizi. Great idea!
Perfetto we exclaimed. We can then fly from there to Vienna and have 3 days there prior to the start of the cruise.
As NZ is such a journey to Europe we wanted to do something else after the cruise. What?
After some discussion we decided on London. We had 3 days there in 2012 between two Trafalgar tours. One of the days was taken up with Oxford as I always wanted to go there. Cannot experience much of London in 2 days, so we decided to have a week. One day we could go on an organized day trip to The Cotswolds as that was another area we have seen and heard about on TV and wanted to experience it for ourselves.
Now that we had plans and places we needed flights and accommodation organized. This we got our local Travel Agent to arrange.
Our passports were due to expire in 2013 at the time we were buying and moving into our current home. As we were not going to be travelling for a while we did nothing about them. When arranging these 2018 travels, I said we’d have to renew Passports now. However, Eddie thought we would have time to do that later as we wouldn’t be travelling for a year! Little did he know. Our TA contacted me saying that the airline needed our passport numbers before they would book our flights! Mad scramble. We took photos of each other and with a bit of tweaking they were accepted for our online application. This we did on a Sunday afternoon. At 7am on the Tuesday there was a knock at the door – the courier was delivering our new passports! Great service and I could then give Marie the information for her to book the flights.
Then it was only the matter of waiting for nearly a year before our journeys could begin!
What follows is as I wrote in my Travel Journal that I tried to keep up-to-date as we travelled.
TT Great Italian Cities 18 May – 27 May 2018
ROMA
Friday 18 May – Grand Hotel Palatino
9:00pm Roma Time – Well, we are here! Just finished a pleasant meal at the Hotel with a group 4 ladies who are traveling together from Connecticut. Very strong US accents. They say they love love love NZ – would love to go there sometime! One had a daughter who worked on a cruise ship around NZ and they saw her photos. One of them continued to think we were Aussies however.
48 on this tour and Debra Lane is our Tour Director. I thought she was American/Italian based on her accent and language skills. However later she told us she was born in Germany.
We left home 1:35pm NZ time on Thursda7 17 May and arrived here at the hotel at 5:15pm on the 18th after arriving at Rome Airport Fiumicino or Leonardo da Vinci at 1:33pm!
Going through – or rather getting to go through customs was a mad house! Hundreds of people and only 4 Customs Officers initially in attendance. No clearly defined lines either so a mass of people shuffled and pushed to slowly get to the front. We finally go to the Trafalgar check-in desk at 3pm and that’s only because a fellow opened 2 more gates and also opened another ‘gate’ in the ‘sheep pens’, so a number of us near there slipped through and finally got to a custom officer – who after all that did not even give a stamp in our new passports – one brief glance and he waved us through! Remember this oversight as it caused us a problem later on in our journeys.
As a group we were taken for a brief orientation drive around the city to view some of the main sites. Walked up the stairs to the Capitoline Hill and took photos of the Forum – in daylight this time, as in 2012 we did a night drive. Also viewed the statue of Romulus and Remus and the wolf.
Very weary now. Too much sitting in planes and standing in Departure or Arrivals line – and we still had to take a 25 minutes bus ride from the plane to the Terminal at Dubai – although the bus this time was air conditioned!
We finally ‘got through’ to the girl at Hotel reception re: A Tivoli Tour. She said at first there were none, then finally found a brochure and guess what??! There is an afternoon tour on Sunday when the rest of the group go to Pompeii, that will even pick us up at the hotel!
Saturday 19 May at 7:10pm Out like a light at 10pm last night but woke later with cramp behind both knees! Thought that will put paid to our walking tours! But OK this morning. Up before the alarm so had time to read Debra’s paperwork before breakfast.
I had a traditional Italian breakfast – but no cappuccino! Ordinary coffee OK thought.
A nice Italian male on the desk booked us in for Tivoli tomorrow so our prior plans are coming together nicely. Now, at 7:30pm we have to board the coach for the Vatican and then the coliseum!
Our room is basic but OK except for the very thin pillows. I had to have 2 last night but there wasn’t an extra in the cupboard for Eddie. He slept OK until he woke around 5am. We couldn’t get back to sleep so gor up and sorted our stuff.
In the bus by 7:35am and after a brief ‘Tiki Tour’ to see the pyramid* (burial site for a wealthy merchant) we went to the Vatican. No trouble with entry ticket this time. Had a nice tour of the museums including the ‘stairless’ stairway, built so the Pope of the time could ride a donkey from his rooms to the Chapel.
The Sistine Chapel was very crowded and people still talk despite the TDs and the local custodians repeatly asking for “Silencio!”
From there we entered the Cathedral and this too was very very packed! There were also chairs out (very rare) as there is to be a special Papal Service tomorrow. Tried for another look at Michelangelo’s Pieta but crowd was 3-4 deep so we just looked at the mosaics instead.
Then it was lunch break after we had used the toilets in the Gift Shop. The self-service eatery was also very crowded but a couple from our tour already seated, stopped some ‘strangers’ from taking the seats next to them and waved us in. Had a nice dish of tomatoes and mozzarella balls with chicken, and a fruit salad to follow.
I kept feeling very thirsty – or rather having a very dry mouth! Horrible. And we were not allowed to take our ’metal’ insulated drinking bottle which was a shame as it does keep the water nice and cool.
We were not allowed to take it into the coliseum either and my mouth got very dry again and my feet hurt! We didn’t go to the top layer because of me feeling hot, dry and sore. We bought a bottle of water from the bookshop – warm, but at least my mouth felt better – for a while.
Back to the Hotel by 2:15pm for R & R until we go on an optional walk of Piazzas & Fountains and find somewhere to eat – probably Piazza Navona?
Sunday 20 May at 8:05am – Just had showers and now watching some BBC news.
Last evening was good. We saw the Trevi Fountain once again (3rd time) but so crowded we decided not to try to get close to toss in coins this time. I was still experiencing a dry mouth so we bought a gelato. I had limone and it was refreshing and delish!!
Then we ambled with Silvana, the local guide, through little back streets toward the Pantheon. There was a service on in there but due to end in about 10-15mins so she took us to see a beautiful church St Ignatius, in her neighbourhood. Beautifully decorated and painted ceiling including a dome that looked as though it was curved and high but was an optical illusion – painted on a flat surface.
We had to wait in line until the Pantheon opened and then we only spent about 10 minutes in there before we progressed to Piazza Navona.
People everywhere!! A lot more than last time we were here.. Debra had arranged a few tables at one of the trattoria and we had a nice salad, pizza, bruschetta and fruit salad dinner along with a small bottle of one of our favourite wines – Nobile di Montepulciano!
Sat with a couple from North Carolina – Ann and Ron. They were not going to Pompeii either as they were there before this tour started. When I told her about Tivoli she was very keen. When we returned to the Hotel we went with them to the reception desk to show them which tour. Most of the group are going to Pompeii and were leaving at 7:30am! I’m glad we are not going. This is much more relaxing.
Got a text, then a call from Roadcats shuttle back home saying they were waiting for us at the Airport! They had recorded we were returning 20 May!! Stupid people. He asked where were we? When I told him Rome there was along pause on the phone and when I said we were returning 20 June there was the sound of a keyboard in action and then – oh, right …..see you then, then. Only hope they have it firmly in their schedule for that day.
Later: 7:00pm We are back from a very interesting afternoon tour to Tivoli via Greenline Buses.
In the morning we had showers then wandered down and had a full breakfast (brunch?). then after we had cleaned up in our room we went for a walk down – right turn out of the Hotel. There was a major road race in action! We came to some ruins and after we had taken pics, we walked around a bit further and realised we had come to the 
large white building with the guy on his horse (bronze). Took pics of the Altare della Patria, also known as the Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II or Il Vittoriano, is a monument built in honor of Victor Emmanuel, the first king of a unified Italy. It is also 
called the wedding Cake!
I was then in need of a toilet and wanted to go back the way we came as I knew that way, but Eddie wanted to do what he thought was a loop back but we only got a short way when I really needed to ‘go’. We stopped in a small bar and I used the toilet while he got use glasses of Mela Verde with ice. This was cool and delicious as I was by then feeling very hot and sticky. I tried to use Google maps and sort of got directions but we passed a Tourist Booth and asked how we got to Via Cavour. We had to go back the way we had come and turn down Via Serpente which led to ‘our’ street. All good and we had no need of lunch as the Green Apple juice had set us up nicely.
We went down to the lobby and waited for our Tivoli pickup. We had thought Ann and Ron had decided against it as she had said earlier she had read some negative reviews on Trip Advisor. However, 5 minutes before pickup they arrived back at the Hotel and said they were coming! They went up to their room to freshen up and the driver arrived before they came back down and we had to wait about 5minutes for them.
Then we were off in a minivan driving like a ‘bat out of hell’! he took us to the Greenline Office where we paid for the trip and then finally found the English-speaking bus. Tall Ricardo was our guide. About 28 people in our bus and another 20+ in the Spanish/French bus.
As we got closer to Tivoli we saw dark clouds over the hills. The tour started well and we good some good photos of the gardens and fountains of Villa d’Este. 
But then some ominous thunder rumbles, lightening flashes and then, as we were walking along a path to one of the fountains it started to hail!! Tried to shelter but not much helped and we were getting bombarded by hail stones – a couple even went down the back of my neck! Good thing it wasn’t a cool day.. No-one in the group had rainwear and only one person had a small umbrella but she still got very wet. Then the rain came down in earnest! We had to go up steps to get back to the Villa and torrents of water were flowing down, especially, as Ann commented, on the side with the handrail. (she has a bad knee too, so like me, needs to use a handrail).
By the time we got back to the bus we were drowned rats!! The tour included Villa Adriana. It was still raining when we got there and Ricardo told us that the grounds are not neatly dissected with good gravel paths, so could be rather muddy. I did not want to have to clean mud from my shoes as I would need them the next day when we were stopping at Assisi on the way to Florence.
He told everyone that the tour included visiting Adriana so even if only 1 person wanted to go he would have to take them. There were no tearoom or giftshop open (after 5pm) so if we didn’t want to go we’d have to sit in the bus for about an hour!
The Spanish/French bus was there before us and their tour was nearly ended. Someone asked if the people who didn’t want to do the tour could go back to Rome with them. After some discussion with the drivers, it was agreed. It was still raining but not as bad. Eleven people decided to tour Adriana - a Roman Villa so far older than Villa d’Este.
We finally got back to our Hotel at 7pm. We had to walk back from the Termini which was the ‘top’ end of our street, Via Cavour. We realized that where the bus dropped us off was the first Roman Hotel we stayed on our first tour in 2010! It was No. 15 and our Hotel was 213!!
Eddie had a nice steak with porcini mushrooms and I had a delicious plate of escallops of chicken in lemon sauce. Never had a better chicken meal. We also ordered side dishes of roast potatoes and grilled veges to share. We also had a ½ bottle of chianti. A very nice idea. We cannot get ½ bottles in NZ.
Had room for dolce as we didn’t have any antipasto. Eddie had a nice applecake and I had a very creamy, smooth tiramisu. A lovely end to an eventful day.
* we were told two stories for the pyramid. the first time we drove passed we were told he was a wealthy merchant who had obviously been to Egypt and wanted such a burial site. in his will he stated that the family had to have one built for him within one year or they would not get any of the inheritance! As the pyramid is there the guide presumed they completed it in time.
the second time we drove passed the guide we had then told us this version, which we all liked! Merchants in the past had to be gone from home for many months perhpas even a year or more. The merchant had a beautiful young wife and he told her he understood that it would be hard to be by herself for so long without male company. He told her he would not mind, but she had to tell him the truth. He asked her to put a rock in the garden if she 'strayed', he'd see it, forgive and forget. When he came home after being away for many months he saw, in the garden, the Pyramid!! (LOL)