Thank you!

So how did the things you asked about turn out in the end? (e.g. changing money ahead of time, eating early dinners, etc.). Any surprises, things you would do again, not do again?

Great Herf!

When's your next trip? jk!

If you can, let us know how the Scavi tour went

Changing money ahead of time worked - for us. Since my wife is a corporate VP with Bank of America, we get a discount on the exchange rate/fees for currency. It was nice to have cash in hand for a lot of our purchases

Late dinner didn't turn out to be as big an issue as we expected. We ate a decent breakfast at the hotel, ate a hearty lunch out and that held us over until dinner time. When it didn't, there was always gelato, lol! But honestly, we didn't lack for food

We walked most places so didn't need to use public transportation - didn't experience any issues with pickpockets. We did take a cab to the Vatican Museum in order to get to our meeting spot by 7:20am as well as from Trastevere when my wife couldn't walk any further - the cabs we took didn't take cards.

Totally amazed at the ticket lines for the Colosseum and Vatican Museum. Our first entry to the Sistine Chapel was awesome, seeing the Hall of Maps and Tapestries totally empty. By the time we left to head to the Scavi Tour, the ticket lines went down Viale Vaticano and around the corner on Via Leone IV - and this was at 10:15am!

March was perfect weather for us - sunny and on the cooler side. Crowds were very manageable.

Such a beautiful city!!

Lovely Herf!

Maybe you and your wife caught the Roma bug? lol.

Thanks for the follow up; especially about the Vatican. (Although St. Peter's Basilica is ingrained in me.) My next trip, I hope to visit the Vatican again if I can get there as early as you guys did. Probably makes a huge difference.

I've been to Italy before, but when I set foot in Rome, I was enamored. It's beautiful, mesmerizing, fun and crazy all at once! I had great times both trips. I'm a little biased about Rome right now, ha ha. My question to myself is "why did I wait so long to visit Rome?!" Timing is everything, I guess.

Girasol

We really enjoyed the Scavi Tour. Our tour guide, Georgia, was very difficult to understand but we got the gist of what she was saying - and there was a lot of interesting information!

Otherwise, if you are clasutrophobic, this might not be the tour for you. Also, there is not a lot of space to walk around in - unfortunately, there was a larger gentleman on the tour and he had some difficulty getting around down there. Quite humid as well, in order to protect the artifacts. We did get to see where St Peter's bone are allegedly stored.

I didn't bring a backpack but instead used my Maxpedition Versipack Jumbo crossover and there were no issue bringing that - thank goodness because the lines to get into St Peter's was crazy long!

Excellent! Agreed, it's best to take a smaller bag out and about (if you can.)

As mentioned, I hope to revisit the Vatican. My first trip was not realizing the date I chose was one of the busiest weekends in December, lol, as well as the "kick off to Christmas." I went on a Saturday, December 8 which is the feast of the Immaculate Conception. It was jammed packed; a little rainy; locals and their relatives and travelers alike. Phew!

The Sistine Chapel was beautiful and crowd controlled, so that helped. St. Peter's was a welcome relief and the start of a "love affair" with the Basilica. Great experiences!