Got back home on Friday after 12 days in Italy. I must say I really enjoyed our time there. Some may remember the itinerary I posted awhile back and what all we had planned. We pretty much did 90-95% of it with no problems. If I had it to do over though I would do less cities and more time in each city. Somehow over the 12 days I managed to lose 1 pound! Crazy given the amount of food and wine I consumed. We will most certainly go back someday. Id like to do the south part or explore the north part next time. But for now its on to planning something for next year.
Posted by
11127 posts
Were there the usual long lines to get into Caffe Tazza d’Oro? Sorry to hear the Pantheon is closed to visitors.
Posted by
Reading, PA, USA
1584 posts
I just went to the Pantheon website and all it says, besides the normal open hours, is that after Aug 6 a green pass is necessary for visitors to enter.
Posted by
Colorado Mountains, USA
7326 posts
Welcome home, and great that your trip went so well! Did you have to make adjustments to anything day by day, because of scheduling, or because of Covid procedures? Or did the 90-95% of things you accomplished all go as expected — smoothly?
Posted by
Charleston & Birmingham
4299 posts
Back in 2019, I lost 4 or 5 pounds every time I went to Europe because of all the walking. Unfortunately, I gained it back during Covid despite efforts to walk every day.
Posted by
OP
69 posts
There were only a few things we just decided to not due but for the most part it all went smoothly. Except for out train ride from Rome to Siena. That turned out to be a bad experience. Pantheon was open on the Sunday we went. Just needed to have a time slot reserved.
Posted by
Chicago
7807 posts
Yeah I just returned and lost 5 pounds after two weeks of walking more than my body is use to. We can all exercise more.
Posted by
OP
69 posts
Add in the Basilica climb (552 steps), Duomo climb (463 steps), Pisa climb (294 steps), Giottos Bell Tower (398 steps) and the Torre Del Mangia (400 steps) lol
Posted by
Minnesota 🎒
15791 posts
Yo, Kursed! Glad to hear that you had a good time! So, just 'cuz some of us spent some time on your trip plan, care to share about the "bad" train from Rome to Siena?
What were a couple of favorite things you saw/did?
Least favorite things you saw/did (aside from that train)?
A couple of things you had to skip?
Posted by
Ooltewah, Tennessee
181 posts
Happy you had a wonderful time! If I may ask, where did you get your COVID test?
Posted by
Florida, USA
225 posts
kursed30, you mention that the train from Rome to Siena was not good. What was the problem. I plan to take that train on Sept. 3.
Posted by
OP
69 posts
Well when we booked the train I would have sworn that the train went from Rome to Florence and then a change in train back to Siena. It wasn't until we were on the train that I noticed it stopped in Chiusi (sp?). After that there was a train from Chiusi to Siena. Well after trying to figure it out I finally asked the guy at the ticket counter and he said there were no trains from Chiusi to Siena and that we had to take a bus......Not a big deal but it turns out the bus stopped at every freaking town on the way and it took 2 hours to get there. After we arrived in Siena at the train station, we couldn't find the bus to the city center and the guy working was zero help. After we finally found it, we couldn't get the ticket kiosk to work. We finally just got on the bus with no tickets and nobody said anything. All this lead us to being late to meeting our host so now we had to carry our luggage around until we could check in. It was a humbling experience. But Siena was awesome so..
We skipped a few museums in Venice. By the time we got there and went through the Doge and the Correr Museum we were museumed out lol. Of all the places we visited I would have to say I liked Venice the least. Not sure what it was. I mean it was cool and all and our room was right on the grand canal but I just didn't feel it. Maybe if it wasn't at the end of our time I would have liked it more. I'd still visit it again though. When I first got to Florence I hated it. I was expecting a bigger Siena. I though it was way to commericalized with new shops and stuff. I grew to love it before we left. Our room was literally right on the Piazza della Signora. Our day trip from Siena to Volterre and San Gimignano with a wine tasting was awesome. Our guide picked a very nice place for our tasting. Rome is Rome. A giant open air museum. Our place was down the street from Colosseo in a quite part of town. Once I figured out the metro and bus stops it was open season and we went everywhere. If I did it again I would probably spend more time in less places but since this was a once in a lifetime thing for my mom we fit is a lot of stuff. She is 74 and she hung with us until about our last day in Florence and she started to feel it but she did great. I wish I could share some pictures.
Posted by
OP
69 posts
Oh and we did our covid test at the train station in Venice. It took almost 3 hours and we got there at 8am. Not the most organized thing if seen. lol