Golden Days in Italy

  EPILOGUE When I've been asked by friends and family about our trip, I've said this:  I had high expectations for the trip, and they were exceeded.  It was not just a home run, but a grand slam! Our travel agent, Maria, was extremely helpful. She gave us good ideas and even better advice, none better than being willing to spend a little more to travel with Tauck. The itinerary was well thought out and quite manageable for almost anyone. The accommodations earned their acclaim with their aesthethics, central locations, helpful staffs, excellent restaurants, and ambiance. Having our luggage dependably -- and almost magically -- transported from place to place was remarkable and gratifying. And the people ...!  Our Tauck tour guide, the other Maria, was knowledgeable, attentive, well organized, and very helpful. And she and Tauck could adjust quickly and nimbly when things went awry, e.g. , a monsoon on days we had planned to do walking tours of a town. Our 3 local Ita...

  HOMEWARD BOUND For the last time we had our coffee and breakfast in the Aleph's restaurant.  Several of our group had already left for the airport, while others were sleeping in because they'd stay another day in Rome. In fact, when I first entered the restaurant, I was the only soul from our Tauck group there.  I'll miss having a cappuccino each morning! Soon after breakfast Susan and I rolled our bags down to the lobby, met our driver, and began our journey home. It was harder leaving than I expected, though probably not in the ways one might think. I meant that literally. Traffic in Rome this Sunday morning was quite heavy, and there appeared to be a daunting amount of construction resulting in detours.  Our driver drove us around in circles for awhile, muttering to himself, before we finally found a break and headed about 20 miles  out of town  to Leonardo da Vinci - Fiumicino Airport. It was a bit of a zoo as we tried to find where we should che...

SISTINE CHAPEL AND VATICAN MUSEUM Tonight would be the "icing on the cake" of the tour -- an after hours, private tour of the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museum.  It had been a long, hot day, but after a quick shower and change of clothes, I was more than ready for the evening.  We rode the bus back to the Vatican and had a light (by Italian standards) dinner outdoors at a little restaurant next to the Museum.  (This is reportedly unusual. Apparently Tauck had guilt-tripped the Vatican over the postponement of our scheduled visit which had resulted in moving up our planned farewell dinner.) Having had our sustenance, including wine, we entered the Museum and immediately began enjoying the sculptures and artifacts.  Then we entered the Sistine Chapel with our group along with 4-5 other Tauck groups, each with our own guide. (I was shocked at how small it is.) That meant that we were there with about 140 people rather than the thousands one is typically herded throu...

  COLOSSEUM AND ROMAN FORUM One place that I felt was as essential to see as any we had seen in Rome so far but was not on our Tauck itinerary was the Colosseum.  When I realized this as we planned the trip, I went online and scheduled a tour of the Colosseum and Roman Forum for the afternoon we had on our own in Rome,  i.e. , today.  To me the iconic image of the Roman Empire has always been the Colosseum, which is almost 2,000 years old.  It was built as an amphitheatre over a 10 year period beginning in 71 AD by the Flavian emperors. As a pagan empire the notion of gladiators -- of human combatants fighting and killing animals and each other -- was appropriate.  Those "games" continued until 404, when Rome had become Christian. The structure has survived lightning strikes, fires, and an earthquake, and there have been numerous renovations. It's still standing. The Roman Forum The Forum, which was constructed beginning in the 8th Century BC adjacent to th...

  ST. PETER'S BASILICA Fortified with our morning caffeine we boarded the bus for an early start for the Vatican.  The crowds were already assembling at St. Peter's Square, but we beat most of them.  It was surreal to see in person what I had seen throughout my life in pictures, on TV, and in movies. The scale and magnitude of St. Peter's exude power and majesty ... which I guess is the point.  But the artistry of the architecture is breathtaking. It seems impossible not to be awestruck by the many nearly 20' tall statues, which were created in the early 1600's, gazing down on the Square.  Then when you walk in and turn right, wade through the throng, you walk right up to Michelangelo's  Pieta . Wow! From there the immensity of the Basilica, which is filled with sculptures, paintings, ornate ceilings, and the baldachin (a bronze canopy designed by Bernini in 1623) over the spot which St. Peter's Tomb lies beneath just leave one slack-jawed.  As we lef...

  ROME:  THE SPANISH STEPS, THE TREVI FOUNTAIN, AND THE PARTHENON        PLUS CASTEL GANDOLFO Following breakfast in the hotel restaurant we put on our most comfortable walking shoes and set out with our Italian guide for Rome. Within a half mile we had reached the Piazza di Spagna , including the church of Trinita dei Monti (built in 1586), the Spanish Steps, and the Fontana della Barcaccia (built in 1627-9 by Bernini and his son). Even though we had set out around 9:00, the crowds had beaten us there.  It was worth working around and through the throng; it felt like holy ground. The flowers (apparently azaleas) on the steps were brilliant.  An impressive start to our tour of Rome! We then walked several blocks to the Trevi Fountain, one of the most popular tourist attractions in Rome. It has appeared in at least 3 movies, one of which inspired the Sinatra song "Three Coins in the Fountain." Predictably there were throngs of people packed aroun...