May 11, 2007
This day dawns early, much earlier than my travel partner would like to encounter. We had to take a taxi to the Orly airport as the metro was not operating early enough for us to make a 7:00AM departure for Rome. We awoke and were already dressed and packed before our wake up call was received…late. Arriving in the lobby we found the lights all out and the front desk attendant asleep under covers on a sofa over in a corner. Groggily he asks “What time is it?” This is the same guy who only minutes before called our room to wake us. Apologizing to my wife for his attire, he sheepishly puts his shirt on and calls the cab for us.
We arrive in Rome at 8:55 with no major delays, and take a bus from the airport to the Termini Station. Now experts, we quickly board the correct bus and head back for one more night at Hotel Rosetta. This time we are in an adjacent building, a much larger room with a private balcony, and keys to allow us unfettered access.
As this was our initial destination upon our arrival to Europe, we had only one major task left to accomplish in order to call our Rome experience a complete success, so we head off to the Vatican. To our shock we really didn’t know where we were so we got off the bus thinking “We’ve got to be in the area”. As it turns out we were and we meandered the streets surrounding it eventually coming up on St. Peter’s Square. We crossed it quite lazily this time as the full day sun was proving more than a little sticky. We had nearly convinced ourselves that we could call the trip a success even without the Sistine Chapel, but decided to walk over and see the line, just for kicks. To our dismay there was literally no line at all. We walked right in the entrance and stood 2nd or 3rd in line to get our tickets.
The Vatican is a wonderful museum that we should have experienced earlier in our trip. By this point we are so weary that we are nearly punch drunk from looking at paintings and artifacts. We did not fully appreciate it I am confident, but it was a fantastic site and I was quite happy we decided to venture over to look at the line. The Sistine Chapel was crowded as you might imagine, but we stayed for some time just enjoying the work and trying to absorb the magnitude of what was before us.
Upon leaving we decided to head back to the room to get cleaned up for one last night out on the town. After a brief nap we dressed up and headed out to do a little shopping and to find a nice place to enjoy the evening. We first took a detour to the Trevi Fountain again but quickly saw that most of the shops were already closing for the evening. We made our way past the Pantheon again, and eventually back to Piazza Navona. We ate at a sidewalk table right on the front row. Near the end of our meal we were joined by a large party celebrating the wedding of one from the group. They had a great time with the wait staff and especially the trinket vendors trying to hawk their wares. Heading back to our room we already began to look back wishing our trip weren’t coming to its end.
May 12, 2007
The following morning we quietly packed the last of our belongings and headed out to the bus stop, each of us lost in our own private thoughts. Arriving at Termini we again take the Leonardo Express to the airport to begin the long trip home. The balance of the trip was uneventful and I’ll spare you the details of our arrival in Boston and a 16-hour (planned) layover in Trenton. We have close friends in New Jersey so the night in Jersey was quite palatable, and the seaside dinner with friends proved a silent buffer to help our bodies and minds readjust. We must hereby apologize to Dave and Annie as they got the full brunt of every compelling detail which was still fresh in our crowded minds.
I’m sure that many will ask why we didn’t visit this site, or why we didn’t do that, but don’t forget this trip was at the onset purposed to be a scouting trip for longer stays abroad in the future. For this reason we think it served us well.
I could recount tale after tale of the kindness and generosities of the people we encountered. Numerous times we were given directions, sometimes without asking, and helped out of our situation when we were at wits end. An older gentleman at the Termini Station helped me purchase train tickets from an automated bigletterie and explained the subtle nuances when it didn’t work properly. It will have to suffice to say that as in all our travels, it is often the people you encounter that make one’s journeys an experience to remember.
Many have asked which city was our favorite, or conversely which did we dislike the most. It has been a major frustration that no city emerged head and shoulders above the rest or beneath for that matter. We thoroughly and immensely enjoyed each stop for quite compelling, and yet uniquely different reasons. Now, at the end of our travels and looking back fully in retrospect, we still confidently state that Florence was our favorite, though the jumbled mass at the top is so close it is difficult to separate. But all the other cities and experiences were so compelling that with the following ranking of our personal preferences, it must be understood that none ranked below a ‘9’ on our scale of 1-10.
1. Florence -We loved everything about it, the people, art, architecture, and the food.
2. Castiglione Fiorentino –If we eventually move to any European destination, this gets the nod.
3. Venice –What can you say, there is no other city like it on earth.
4. Nice –We’ve said it before, we’re beach bums, so Nice was Nice!
5. Rome –I loved the people, food, and art, but above all the history is overwhelming.
6. Paris –This is more a reflection of the absolutely fascinating itinerary we undertook. Can you believe we list Paris as No. 6?
Best tip for anyone preparing for a trip to any major European city, or at least the ones we traversed, comfortable shoes, and comfortable walking shoes are not the same thing. Get comfortable “walking” shoes. That is to say shoes with good arch supports. You will need them. We took along a pedometer to measure our steps just to see how much walking we would do. In conclusion we found that we averaged over eight miles a day, excluding days on board the trains. Now we think we know why Europeans are generally thinner than Americans.
Even though this summary may seem lengthy to some, the brevity of it cannot begin to recount the excitement we experienced at each destination, nor can my limited vocabulary and poor writing skills sufficiently describe the beauty of each awesome site we encountered. We will undoubtedly return some day, but first I have a hunger for sand between my toes! Arrivederci!
