Thank you

Marge It sounds like the trip of a lifetime. So glad it turned out that way, not just for you but for all 4 of you. How did the teens enjoy themselves? What did you do that made it enjoyable for them?

marge, It's great to hear that you all had such a fantastic holiday in Italy! Those will be memories for a lifetime. I imagine you'll be starting to plan your next trip now.

Thanks, Ken and Nigel. In response to Nigel's question about activities enjoyed by the teens... We took the advice of many posters and tried not to overdo our amount of daily activities. They loved the idea of a re-energizing "siesta" in the afternoon and often took that time to write in their travel journals, read, plan ahead, sleep, watch a DVD, listen to music, etc... In general, they loved picnics, hikes, and bike rides wherever we could do it. Rome favorites: Catacombs and walking along Via Appia from Quo Vadis to first set of catacombs. The Scavi tour, the Colosseum, and the Roman Forum. Evening visits to Piazza Navona, Campo dei Fiori, and the RS night walk. Day trip to Pompeii. Visited all the sites from one daughter's favorite film, Roman Holiday. Favorites were Via Margutta 51 and the "embassy," actually a beautiful art museum in Palazzo Barberini. They also started a quest/list for the best gelato and pizza by the slice. Started a "scala" list of the exceptionally high sets of stairs they climbed. Older daughter began quest for "all things Etruscan." We stayed in Rome for a little over a week and to my surprise, they said they would've stayed even longer. Venice: Climbing the bell towers in Piazza San Marco and on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, where they also liked the Gregorian chants sung by the monks at San Giorgio. Padova: Scrovegni Chapel. Verona: atmosphere of Piazza Erbe and Bra. All the ficitional Romeo and Juliet stuff.
Florence: To my surprise, they absolutely loved Florence, the activity, the art, the culture, the ambience. We stayed three full days and nights, and they loved every minute of it. Our older daughter loved the History of Science Museum in particular. Loved the Accademia. Evening walks, a little shopping, and visits to piazzas were favorites there, too.

to finish this up.... We stayed a week in a small villa near Castellina in Chianti. They loved the pool ! Daytrips to other Chianti towns, San Gimignano, Volterra, Siena, Pisa, Monterrigioni, and other places where we did picnics and hikes were also a favorite. We had bikes where we stayed, and they did a lot of biking on small, side roads as well. Visited wineries and farms, as we drove, biked, or hiked. Assissi: A favorite activity in Assisi was hiking to the hermitage of Saint Francis. They loved Assisi at night (2 nights). Very quiet, calm, safe, fun to walk around, grab a gelato, or a quick bite to eat. They left Italy with places they would want to spend more time in on a future trip and new places they would also like to explore.
Throughout the trip, they sent postcards to friends, but also to themselves, and they loved coming home to postcards depicting their favorite sites or artwork.

Marge, I was believing everything you said until you said that the postcards mailed from Italy got home before you did. Not possible, with the Italian postal system. :-) Glad you had such a great time. Can you talk a little more about your daytrip to Pompeii from Rome? That has always seemed like it would be a death march to me. But you guys enjoyed it?

Michael, excellent point on the Italian mail system! :) I should qualify that some, not all, of the postcards had arrived, and we're still waiting on some... I highly recommend mailing from the Vatican Post when one is in Rome. They have a mail "trailer" right there in St. Peter's Square and, according to my husband who was at home, all the cards we sent from Vatican Post arrived within about 10 days of being sent. Nice stamps, too. Others are still trickling in from Siena and Assisi and some other small hilltowns. Hmmmm.... Regarding Pompeii.... The girls absolutely wanted to go there because they had read about it from elementary school on. I would have opted for Ostia Antica. That said, however, what made the trip "doable" was going the first week of June on a rather cloudy, not hot day, drinking plenty of water, and wearing good walking shoes. We sandwiched the Pompeii trip between two "easy" days in Rome. The train trip from Rome Termini to Pompeii was very simplejust one change in Naples. The train station in Pompeii is only about a block away from the site. While there, We used the RS guide and also picked up a book on Pompeii at the bookstore. We spent about three or four hours there. Left Rome in the morning and back by dinner time. As I mentioned, this was a trip highlight for my daughters because it was something they had studied and really planned on seeing. What also made it fun was going there with an Italian family we befriended at a Papal Audience in Rome, and they also had teenagers that spoke a little English. My daughters would definitely do it again, but I'm not absolutely sure I would. :)
Hope that helps some!