Sheila and Steve's Tromp Through Italy, April 2008

Day 1: Our flight was late taking off from New York so we got into Rome about an hour late. It was an interesting experience getting into the airport in Rome; the plane stopped at some empty place at the end of the runway and we walked down a flight of metal stairs and crammed onto a bus which drove us to the arrivals terminal at the airport. Getting through immigration and customs was a breeze and it was a piece of cake getting to the train station to catch the express train to Termini station in Rome. The train ride was hot and we had trouble finding seats, but we ended up sitting with a nice couple from Seattle, who were going on a Holland America cruise. As a matter of fact, the guy is a marketing manager for HAL, so that was quite a coincidence! We had fun walking from the Termini station to our hotel, getting confused a couple of times, but we made it okay. Turned out our hotel was only about a block away from the Repubblica stop on the Rome Metro A line, so we learned a quick lesson. The La Griffe Hotel is decent (our mini-suite was kind of cool but I don’t think I’d get that room again) but frankly, the service was not up to par. Location-wise, it was great as we used the Metro a lot while we were in town. We got to the hotel around 3:30 pm local time, showered and changed, went for a nice dinner at a restaurant across the street (Via Nazionale) and then went back to our room and I crashed. I was so tired from the long plane ride from New York to Rome as I did not sleep well at all, despite trying desperately to do so.
Day 2: We got up relatively early because we went to bed so early from being so exhausted and were out the door by 9:00 am. We had a decent breakfast at the same place we had dinner last night and then made our way to Termini Station so that we could buy the Roma Passes from the TI booth there. Those were great and I will recommend them highly, as we saved a bundle in Metro fares alone! From Termini we hopped on the Metro B line and arrived at the Colosseum. I almost burst into tears when I first glimpsed it as I walked out from the train station because I just couldn’t believe that I was finally seeing it with my own two eyes. The security lines were pretty long (although moving quickly) and Steve and I just kind of jumped in one of the lines. It was great after that, though, because there were tons of people waiting in a LONG line that wasn’t moving, to buy tickets, and we got right in with our Roma Passes! The Colosseum itself was quite a sight and we took tons of pictures and video. I really wished we were able to go down into that maze below the floor! After we trekked around there for a while, we headed over to the Forum. Well, actually, we thought we were going to The Forum, but Rick Steve’s book was wrong, and we ended up walking up a steep hill for nothing, because where he says to enter is now blocked off as an exit only. So we had to walk about 300 meters down the street to enter. We got to skip the line again, which was awesome, but we had no idea where we were going or what we were seeing, so we ended up walking all the way up this huge hill to Palatine Hill to see nothing really mind-blowing, before we finally found the entrance to The Forum. The Forum itself was pretty cool but I had trouble figuring out what was what because Rick Steve’s Forum Walk didn’t make a lot of sense. So what I thought was one thing in the beginning, turned out to be another thing in the end, and I never really saw the things I wanted to see (or understood what I was seeing), like the House of Vestal Virgins, but, nevertheless, it was an awesome sight! We stopped for a ridiculously overpriced and not very good “pizza” at some food stand across from the Colosseum, then decided to go to St. Peters in Chains church to see Michelangelo’s Moses sculpture. We had a little trouble finding our way there from the Metro stop, and the flight of stairs getting up there was a killer, but it was pretty neat. We got a quick gelato on the way back to the Metro, and then rode back to the hotel. The uneven “road” wreaked havoc on our ankles, though, so when we returned to our room late that afternoon we had to soak our feet for quite a while. After that long and punishing day, we still decided to punish ourselves some more by taking Rick Steve’s Dolce Vita Stroll and the Night Walk Across Rome (although we did that one in reverse, going from the Spanish Steps to Campo Di Fioro and having dinner there). That was actually pretty cool, as we went by some of the other major sights, such as the Pantheon (incredible), Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps. There is a lot of top-brand shopping on Via Condatta on the way to the Spanish Steps, and I wanted to stop in to some of the stores, but they were closed (they close at like 5 pm). The Spanish Steps were beautiful, with tons of people hanging out there, and naturally, we climbed all the way to the top just to go back down again. Trevi Fountain was beautiful but really crowded, and we forgot to throw coins in. I wonder if that means that we’ll never return to Rome? We had a pleasant dinner (though the pasta was not as good as the first night’s) then caught a cab back to our hotel. I had no idea what was in store for my body the next day.
Day 3: Since it was Monday, we decided to head to the Vatican to take in St. Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican Museum (well, really we just wanted to see the Sistine Chapel). I was afraid of having to stand in a really long line to get in, so we took Rick Steve’s advice and arrived there around 1:00 (well, more like 12:30). The line was huge when we got there and it wrapped a long way around the Vatican wall, so we took advantage of an English-speaking tour for25 Euros per person (plus the 14 Euro per person ticket price) so we could jump the line. We didn’t really want to do a group tour but I was not up to standing in line for hours, either, so we made sure first that we could drop out of the tour early. I was okay until the tour started, where we spent at least 30 minutes listening to Mike, our tour guide, explain the Sistine Chapel’s art. At that point, my feet and ankles began to ache so badly that I could barely stand. No matter what I did, the pain persisted, and we finally decided to break from the group as soon as they decided to head inside the Vatican Museum. We sat in the courtyard there for about 15 minutes, while I tried to rest my feet and ankles, and finally decided that I just had to deal with the pain so that we could get in there, get out, and go back to the hotel to rest. So we headed inside and trudged our way through the entire museum, fighting with the pushing and shoving crowd, filing past stuff that we had zero (or less than zero) interest in, just so that we could make it to the Sistine Chapel. I have to say that I really think this whole thing is horribly mismanaged and I think it’s a joke that you are required to schlep through miles of a pretty worthless museum (in our opinion, at least) just so that you can get to see what you really want to see, and what most people are there just to see. So once we FINALLY made it into the chapel, it was hot and massively crowded, with people pushing and bumping into you from all directions, and there were so many people there blatantly breaking the rules and taking pictures, some with flash even! I was in awe of the majesty of the art, but there was so much to take in that I was just overwhelmed by it. I was in so much pain and I tried to stand there for as long as I could, but I just couldn’t take more than maybe 10 minutes of it. I was so disappointed because I think that they do not allow you to really appreciate the artistry of it all in the way they run things. They should allow a limited number of people in at a time, and provide seating or something so that you can relax and be able to comfortably view the magnificent artistry so that you can really appreciate it; instead of allowing so many people in that the room is almost completely full and you have no space to be able to move around in so that you can view much at all! When we couldn’t stand it anymore, we made it out the slow as molasses moving crowd through the “back door” and went into St. Peter’s Basilica. Now I don’t know if it was the fact that I was in so much physical pain or it was the incredible sight I saw in front of me, but I almost cried once we walked into that absolutely magnificent holy place. I am not religious at all but I felt as if I need to thank God for creating such a gorgeous sight. I could not believe what I saw, from the walls to the ceiling, to the sculpture (Michelangelo’s Peita was fantastic), the unbelievable dome, the altar, the marble floor… I just couldn’t believe it. It literally took my breath away. I had never felt that way in my entire life and I don’t know that I ever will again. The beauty was just too much for me. It was the kind of experience that I thought I would have had in the Sistine Chapel, but didn’t, but I feel so grateful that I was able to see that incredible holy place with my own eyes. I have never seen a more beautiful sight in my entire life and I will treasure that feeling it gave me forever. When we finally and mercifully arrived back at our hotel, I was in an incredible amount of pain, but, being that this was our last night in Rome, we still went out that night and did more walking. Steve thought it would be fun to walk down to the Victor Emmanuel monument and have dinner there, so we walked down Via Nazionale and stood in front of the monument for a few minutes. Then we decided to try to find a good place to eat and made the mistake of going to some place called Pastarita or something like that. The food was mediocre at best (I had shrimp risotto which was not good and Steve had gnocchi with pesto; better than mine but still not great). We both felt very uncomfortable there, and it wasn’t just because the temperature was like 80 degrees inside there. Plus, there was some kind of political demonstration going on that night, with tons of people on the street waving flags and shouting, and cars honking their horns and stuff, and then a whole bunch of those people came inside the restaurant. We left as quickly as we could and then stopped for some delicious gelato desserts at a nice sidewalk café on Via Nazionale on our way back to the hotel. We went to bed but I had trouble sleeping so stayed up playing games on my old cell phone until almost 3:00; then we overslept and didn’t wake up until 10:30 am, and our checkout time was at 11:00!
Day 4: We had to hurriedly pack up and check out so we had no time to shower or eat breakfast, and we caught the Metro to Termini to buy our train ticket to Florence and then thought we’d spend some time at some art museum seeing a Joan Miro exhibit. We had a quick bite at Termini, then checked our bags downstairs and headed to the TI booth to get some info on the museum, but then realized that the museum was closed and would open up only after our train to Florence left! Since we still had a couple of hours to kill before our 3:30 train to Florence, we rode the Metro to the Spanish Steps and hit the shopping district on Via Condotti. We windowshopped for a bit and then headed back to Termini to catch our train. It was easy finding our train, except for the fact that it was listed on the board as going to Milan (the final destination) and we were getting off in Florence. The ride itself was pretty nice; quiet, and we had a nice little snack of bread, cheese, and red wine to help pass the time. The scenery was decent but not a must-see. We arrived in Florence at a little after five and found it to be a pretty easy walk to our hotel. The Savoy is very expensive and the front desk and concierge service seem to reflect the high price, and the room is very nicely appointed, although tiny. However, we got a great room on the top floor with a view of the Duomo outside our window, so we were pretty happy about that! We went to dinner at a local restaurant that the front desk clerk suggested, and we WAY overpaid for the ridiculously huge slab of meat that we ordered (steak for 2? Call it steak for 4, at least!) but at least we had a nice ½ bottle of Chianti and some delicious roasted potatoes. After being raped on that meal, we got raped some more by paying 25 euros for 2 cappuccinos and 2 desserts at this little café on the Piazza della Repubblica across the street from our hotel. We spent the later part of the evening in our room, catching up on a few business things using the hotel’s internet (20 euros for 24 hours, yikes!) and called the kids. I had a weblead to follow up on and did a few routine business things, and then it was lights out.
Day 5: We got a relatively early start today because we had reservations at the Accademia at 10:35 am, which we got through the hotel concierge. That worked out very well and we got to skip a huge line waiting to get into the museum. On the way to the museum we stopped at a little café and got croissants and cappuccinos (our cheapest meal yet!) but I was worried about getting to the museum on time, so we didn’t linger, although that would have been nice. The Accademia wasn’t much to shout about but it was worth it to see David. The sculpture is magnificent and it really is quite a sight to see. He is set underneath a dome and flooded with natural light from above and you find yourself just staring at him with a complete look of awe on your face. He is a spectacular work of art and seeing how finely detailed he is really made me appreciate Michelangelo even more. After we quickly worked our way through the rest of the museum we headed back to the hotel to change our shoes (both Steve’s and my ankles were killing us in our MBTs) and then we headed over to the Duomo, which is about a block away from our hotel. It is beautiful in green, pink and white marble, with very intricate carvings all over it, and the dome is impressive. We joined the end of the relatively short line to climb the dome and began the long trek of 436 steps to the top. At first I was a little claustrophobic and I had to use my inhaler early on but then I got used to it and it wasn’t so bad. Tiring, yes, but it was worth the climb because the view from the top was beautiful. You could see the green mountains in the background and the city really is impressive with its maze of short streets and alleyways and all the buildings are the same sort of whitish color with the same red tile roofs. It was neat and the climb down was much easier, obviously, and overall it made for a fun couple of hours while we got a good workout to boot! We then headed towards the Uffizzi Gallery, where we had reservations for 1:45 and had lunch at a little restaurant on the Piazza. Steve had a delicious 4-cheese pizza with salad for only 9 euros – not bad! Getting into the Uffizzi was a breeze but neither of us really got much from it at all. It was all religious works of art and sculpture and there were only a few pieces that held our interest for more than a few moments, but I’m glad we went because I can say that I’ve been there and I saw The Birth of Venus, which was really cool. We went back to the hotel afterwards to rest for a while because we were both pretty tired and then headed back out again to do some shopping. We walked along, looking in different stores, Louis Vuitton in particular, but I didn’t buy anything there, mostly because I was concerned about spending so much on a purse after all the money this trip was costing us. I did, however, find a really cute (and inexpensive) purse in a small shop after seeing it in the window as we were walking by, and I feel really good about that purchase because I know I won’t find something just like it at home and it will always remind me of being in Florence. We had dinner at McDonald’s to make up for overpaying so much last night and walked back to our hotel to relax for the evening. It’s our last night here in Florence and we’re tired!
Day 6: We got up, showered, packed, and downstairs to check out about an hour before the noon checkout time, so we did not have to rush like we did getting out of our hotel in Rome. However, we had a surprise waiting for us when we checked out, because little did we know, although I did suspect in the back of my mind that they would do this, the hotel overcharged us by A LOT for the tickets to the Uffizzi and the Accademia. Tickets with reservations were 10.50 Euros per person at each museum, but the hotel charged us 15 each. They never told us they added a “service charge” to the price of the tickets, so we complained. First they tried to tell us that that is what the actual tickets cost, but we argued with them and said that they were 10.50 each total. Then they said that the additional was their “service charge” and we said that they should have told us before they charged for that. They replied that they didn’t have to do that, and that “all the best hotels all over the world” charge a service charge without disclosing it first, so they didn’t have to. We still complained and they finally took some of the money off, but it was only after they treated us like dirt for complaining in the first place. We should have only paid a total of 44 Euros but we ended up paying 48, but I didn’t want to push the matter after the way they treated us. We walked back to the train station and bought tickets to Venice, and made our way onto the train without incident. The train ride was interesting, as we wound up sitting across from some nasty lady whom Steve ended up spilling water on after I stepped on her foot trying to get into my seat, and I think she was so relieved when we got up to go have lunch in the dining car. The lunch was actually quite good, although at 28 Euros a piece, it was very expensive, but the experience was pretty cool. I'd highly recommend it to someone who has never really traveled by train. By the time we were done with lunch, which began when we stopped in Bologna, we only had about an hour left on the train, and we ended up sitting in seats across the aisle from our original seats so the nasty lady had space to herself. She got off in Mestre so we were alone for the last bit of the ride. When we finally arrived in Venice, we got off the train and then proceeded to find our way to the Vaporetto stand to buy tickets to take the #82 vaporetto bus to Rialto Bridge so we could get to our houtel. However, we quickly found out that there no longer is a #82 bus and we’d have to take the #1, which stops at EVERY stop along the way. We stood in a massively long line trying to buy tickets, and then I heard this couple behind us speaking English, so I asked them if they’d be interesting in sharing a water taxi with us instead of waiting to take the vaporetto. They weren’t, as they were going another direction, but the man suggested that we walk to our hotel instead of waiting in line to take the vaporetto. I said that I thought that it looked like a REALLY long walk, but he said it would only take about 30 minutes and it was easy, as you just followed the signs towards Piazza San Marco. So off we went, and the walk really wasn’t that long or that bad; the worst part was trying to weave our way through the massively crowded narrow streets. There were so many people, walking so slowly, it was really tiring and frustrating trying to get to our hotel! The worst part were all the bridges, as people would stop on the top of the bridge to take pictures or whatever, and block other people from getting up the stairs, and then you’d have to fight your way through the crowd at the top so that you could go down the other side. It was awful and I was so relieved when we finally arrived at the Palace Bonvecchiati, which as it turns out, is very conveniently located between the Rialto Bridge and Piazza San Marco. The hotel was very nice and breakfast was included in our rate, which was nice because buying breakfast every morning was becoming quite expensive. The room was very nice but the shower was a little awkward as the spray was directly overhead of where you had to stand so water runs right down the top of your head and gets in your ears. Oh, well. After we relaxed for a bit and unpacked, we took the concierge’s recommendation and went to a decently priced restaurant about a block or two from the hotel and had some pretty good food and wine for dinner. After that, we walked to Piazza San Marco and looked around for a bit at the different shops and listened for a few minutes to one of the orchestras that was playing there in the square. We then returned to the hotel and spent the evening catching up on more business, then turned out the lights and went to sleep.
Day 7: We got up at 9:30 so that we could make it downstairs for breakfast while they were still serving, but found out that it went until 10:30 instead of 10:00. Breakfast was decent, with eggs and bacon, assorted fruits, cereals, juices, yogurts, and breads and pastries. After we were sated, we walked over to the American Express office located near the Piazza so that we could buy our train tickets back to Rome. We encountered trouble using the Fidelity Visa, as we had at the train station, so we went to a nearby ATM to withdraw the cash to pay for the tickets. Once that was taken care of, we headed off to explore Venice by ourselves, and found it to be magnificent. It is so picturesque, with the lovely buildings sitting on the canals, all the beautiful flower boxes under the windows, and the warm sunshine. We decided to walk instead of trying to take the vaporetto, heading over the Accademia bridge so that we could visit the Peggy Guggenheim collection, which featured some of our favorite artists, like Picasso, Kandansky, and Miro. The museum is small so we did not spend a tremendous amount of time there, but it was worth a visit. We then had lunch over by the bridge, which was fantastic. We had reasonably priced and delicious pizza at a table right on the canal, and enjoyed watching all the people, boats, and birds go by. It was very relaxing and a wonderful experience, and I think it was my favorite part of our visit to Venice. Next, we bought tickets for the vaporetto (passes for 48 hours at 26 Euros each, and at 6.50 per ride, after riding it 4 times, it paid for itself) and rode the #1 all the way to the Lido, which was the final stop for that bus. We stood on the edge of the open part so we had great opportunities to take pictures, and the scenery was just beautiful. Then we rode a different vaporetto to Piazza San Marco and walked around there for a while. There are many shops there with beautiful Murano glass and we got confused as to what to buy since some shops had some really nice stuff and some seemed to have junk. We found a sculpture that we liked but were concerned about spending the 1100 Euros to buy it, and decided that we’d be better off going to Murano the next day and buying something there. We had a cheap dinner at Burger King, then splurged on coffee and dessert at one of the restaurants on the Piazza so we could listen to the music. It was very expensive to do so, as they charge about 6 Euros a piece just to sit there, but it was really a great experience and we enjoyed it quite a bit. Next, we walked around trying to find a Gondola station to take a ride, but all the gondoliers were gone. We finally found one at Piazza San Marco, and spent 150 Euros for a 40-minute ride. Yes, again, we WAY overpaid but we figured we didn't know when we'd be back in Venice so it was something that we HAD to do. The ride was very peaceful and our gondolier was pretty cool (no, he did not serenade us) and pointed out important buildings as we floated by. The city was very quiet and it was beautiful to see the moonlight reflecting on the water. We went up through the Grand Canal, under the Rialto Bridge, and then ended up back at Piazza San Marco again. It was a great way to experience Venice and we will treasure those memories.

Day 8: Today, Saturday, we made the mistake of taking the Vaporetto to the island of Murano. The wait at the station near the Piazza San Marco was incredibly long, as it seemed that the whole continent of Europe decided to descend upon Venice that day. We had wanted to take the nonstop Vaporetto that would take us directly to Murano, but after waiting in the really hot station with the very pushy crowd, we got on the first bus that we could fit onto, which just happened to be the one that made EVERY stop along the way. So after spending about an hour and a half trying to get to the island of Murano, we finally made it and spent all of about an hour there, as there really wasn't much to see. We went to a glass-blowing demonstration but had to wait in line for about 20 minutes first and the demo lasted all of about 3 minutes. Then we were herded into their shop but the merchandise was nothing special (a lot of junk, really) so we quickly left. We browsed in a few more stores and found a few glass pieces that we liked but did not end up buying anything after all. We walked back to the Vaporetto stop but there was a huge line of people waiting so we decided to have lunch and wait there for the next bus. We had a decently priced pizza lunch at this little cafe right across from the Vaporetto stop so we could keep an eye on the line. When we finished, there was no line at the stop so we went over there to wait for the next bus. We quickly learned that Europeans have no respect for lines, as many people cut in front of us even though we were there first, and the fact that their culture does not respect "personal space" as ours does, made us very uncomfortable. The long ride back to Piazza San Marco was made even more unenjoyable by the fact that the bus was totally overcrowded and hot. Steve decided to open one of the windows to get some air, and water splashed on us a few minutes later. We thought it was kind of funny, but the elderly lady sitting next to me, who got a little wet, didn't at all, and she lambasted us for opening the window. Of course, we couldn't understand what she was saying since she yelled at us in Italian, but Steve gave it right back to her in English. When we finally arrived back at Piazza San Marco, there were wall to wall people in the streets surrounding the piazza that it took us about 40 minutes to walk back to our hotel, which had only taken us about 5 minutes previously. We rested up in our hotel room for a while in the hopes that in the evening the crowds would be gone, and they pretty much were when we ventured back out around 7:00. We shopped for a few souvenirs for the kids and some friends of ours, then had a very nice pasta dinner in a different part of town, and then headed back to our hotel to pack, as we had to leave early the next morning.

Day 9: We were downstairs for breakfast very early, as we had to check out and take the Vaporetto back to the train station to catch our train back to Rome. The Vaporetto ride was relatively quick and uneventful and we made it to the station in plenty of time. The train ride to Rome was about 3 hours long so we had a chance to relax and watch the scenery for a while. Upon our arrival at Termini station, we checked our bags downstairs and then sat and had a bite to eat. We upgraded our tickets from coach to Business Class with Eurofly and we were able to use their VIP Lounge before boarding. The lounge was quite nice and it had wonderful reclining chairs that allowed us to plug in our laptops and work on them while we waited. Our flight was delayed a bit but once we boarded, it was a nice, pleasant flight back to JFK. I tried to sleep and actually was relatively comfortable in the seat, but since I never sleep well on planes, the rest I got was better than I expected. By the way, the food was quite good and I would definitely not hesitate to fly Eurofly again. By the time we arrived back in JFK and took the complimentary shuttle to our hotel, we were absolutely exhausted because it was well after 1:00 am. We stayed at the Ramada Plaza Hotel, which is supposedly right next to the airport, but it sure took the shuttle bus a while to get there. The room was sparsely furnished and in overall not very good condition, but it served its purpose well (much needed sleep!). However, the front desk staff was rude and understaffed, and I would not recommend this hotel to my clients.

Day 10: Our flight home on JetBlue was uneventful and actually quite good, considering we could watch DirectTV programming right from our seatback monitors. All in all, this was a superb trip and we will cherish the memories forever. Ciao, Italy!

Bermuda to Allow Cruise Ships to Open Late-Night Casinos in Port

Cruise ships will be allowed to open late-night casinos in port in Bermuda, according to The Royal Gazette. Premier and Tourism Minister Ewart Brown announced the decision in the House of Assembly as one of a number of alterations to cruise ship legislation, the newspaper reported.
He said that ships would now be allowed to open bars and signature shops and "provide full entertainment inclusive of the opening of casinos after 10 p.m. while in port."
Brown said that, in return, the cruise lines would be required to contribute hundreds of thousands of dollars to on-Island activities, adding that Norwegian Cruise Line has committed to pay $150,000 a year to the Bermuda Music Festival and provide entertainers for Harbour Nights in Hamilton, produce an on-Island dining brochure distributed to all its cruise guests and donate a total of $275,000 to the Bermuda Heritage Museum and St. George's Foundation, according to the Gazette. It added that negotiations are underway with Royal Caribbean.
Brown reportedly said a review of cruise industry trends concluded that Bermuda was losing its competitive edge attracting cruise ships, especially "the smaller premium ships capable of docking in Hamilton and St. George's." This he blamed partly on increased competition from other summer destinations such as the Mediterranean and Baltic and high operating costs in Bermuda.