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Anyone else on Heart of Italy Tour July 8-16 2022?

Posted by (California) on

Hello! Anyone else here going on the Heart of Italy tour next week, starting on July 8th? Just seeing if I can make some initial connections with folks on the tour. My wife and I are both educators in California, and we're taking our 13-year-old daughter on this adventure. It will be the first time across the Atlantic for both my wife and daughter! (I visited Italy, England, and France during the year I taught English in Madrid). It looks like there are a few other families on the tour, so I'm crossing my fingers that my daughter will be able to interact with some teens around her age. I'm not sure yet what her tolerance will be for all the walking, museums, and art, so I'm trying to include her in the planning and come up with some creative ideas for our free time during the tour. (So far, she has requested that we see some "haunted places." Hmm...) She loves drawing and animating, so we're all going to bring journals and pretend to be Renaissance artists from time to time. I really want this to be an enjoyable, life-changing experience for her, as traveling has been for me. Anyway, if you're going on the same tour at the same time, or you have any suggestions about what I've written, I'd love to hear from you!

Grazie!
--Eric

Posted by
6574 posts

Eric, you might want to move this to the Rick Steves Tours section of the Forum. It's under the heading "Tips and Trip Reports."

Have a great time.

Posted by
14895 posts

If you haven't been on a RS tour before, at the first meet up everyone introduces themselves. I'd encourage her to tell the guide she is interested in haunted places and see if they can come up with some things. Right off hand, Volterra seems like the best possibility for hauntings - Roman ruins there, lol.

HOI was my first RS tour which I did with my brother, SIL and their 2 kids ages 25 and 20. The 20-year-old mentioned he was interested in the Medici. We were in the Uffizi having a tour by a local guide, looked around to locate everyone and saw the RS guide who had the nephew by the arm on the far side of the gallery talking to him about a portrait of one of the Medicis. She was so awesome!

Posted by
3 posts

Jane: Many thanks for the tip---I'm still getting used to navigating this forum!

Gerri: Those are some spot-on suggestions! I'm checking them out right now. Much appreciated! :)

Pam: I love that advice. I'll be sure to encourage my daughter to bring up the topic with our guide. Thanks!

Posted by
3113 posts

As to the stamina, start now and do a 3 M hike daily. It will get her going. My wife (73) and I (70) are doing that for our Italy trip in Sep-Oct.

Also get her the Rick Steves Italy book. If you wish, it might also be good to watch some Italy programs. We watched a Medici program. There is also the Borgia program (note: sex, sex, sex, nudity, sex, but no smoking).

When we were in Zagreb, they had a "Haunted Zagreb" tour, which featured the guide with a "ghost detector app". A complete hoot.

Posted by
377 posts

Medici the Magnificent on Netflix is very good. It helps visualize the history. If she is a good reader maybe, the Agony and the Ecstasy. There is also a movie of the same name, but I have not viewed it , so no comment! I did watch a little of the Borgias and did not continue.

Posted by
14895 posts

Eric, it will get her prepared to introduce herself in front of a group too!! Plus it will give the other tour members a little hook to start conversations with her!!

Posted by
3 posts

Paul, I applaud you for the vigorous physical preparation you're doing! I'll see what we can do! I love the idea of a ghost detection app.

Gerri, the art lesson in Florence is another great suggestion! That could also be a nice rest from all the walking.

Ellen, my wife and I have enjoyed the Medici show as well! I've toyed with the idea of watching The Agony and the Ecstasy with my family...hopefully, watching it will be more ecstasy than agony! ;) My wife and I are also interested in seeing "Il Peccato," a more recent film about Michelangelo.

Pam, yes, any hook to start conversations will be helpful for her. I'm hoping this will be a good opportunity for her to grow socially!

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