Cindybelle's Bella Notte TR COMPLETE!! - UPDATED 10/19 With Prices! About This Page:

[cindybelle]

Originally Posted by skateycat

INCREDIBLE shots, cin....just love them...wow, i really wish i could have gone with you...i definitely think you need to organize a pp tour of churcha-churcha and fooda-fooda in italy!

Sheri, this is a good introduction to some tips I'm ready to give anyone who wants to travel to Rome. There's not much I would do differently other than possibly forego the Borghese Gallery, and if we'd hit that in the morning instead of in the afternoon, I would probably not even say to skip that if you have three days.

First, who wants to hear about money? I spent about $3,500 for EVERYTHING -- that's my air fare (almost $1,000), my share of meals, entrance fees, train tickets, souvenirs, gifts -- everything. Considering we were in Italy for 10 days, with 2 travel days, I don't think that's bad at all. Yes, I had to save up for it, but boy was it worth it!

Speaking of money -- using ATMs to get Euros was quick and easy. All our hotels offered cash discounts. Rick and I ended up using cash for everything over there -- which is nice, because neither of us will be receiving a large credit card bill anytime soon. The ATM fees aren't bad at all.

Second, I believe that anyone who's good at planning a group WDW vacation will be naturally good at planning a trip to Italy. A lot of the same issues apply: you'll be tempted to do too much (because you're paying all that money), but you need to build in some "down" time. And if things don't go your way, look around and find something else to do. It works in WDW, and it works in Rome!

After reading my Rome part of this TR, you may be thinking, "Cindy overbooked this -- they did too much every day." Well, guess again!

The four of us had had many conversations about what we "must do" and what we'd "like to do, time and energy permitting." If anyone wanted a rest, we all seemed to feel that way and we rested.

Here's what was on our itinerary for Rome:

Wed, Sept. 2 - arrive Rome 08:30; take taxi to Hotel Nerva. (I didn't know how tired we'd be, so I purposely left the rest of the day blank.)

Thurs, Sept. 3 - 09:00 reservation (prepaid) at Vatican Museum/St. Peter's Basilica.

Fri, Sept. 4 - "Ancient City" - see what we can of the Colosseum, Forum, Pantheon, Palatine Hill (time and energy permitting).
15:00 (3:00pm) - reservation for Borghese Gallery. Pay upon arrival.

That's it! Now, under our "would like to see" you find these things:

• St. Peter-in-Chains Basilica (Paul)
• Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain (all)

So, what DIDN'T we do? We never did Palatine Hill, and we didn't do an organized tour of the Colosseum or the Forum -- but we felt great about what we saw on our own.

Now you understand why all four of us left Rome absolutely delighted with all we'd experienced in three days. You've just got to know your priorities and then roll with the punches.

That said, Sheri, I would be happy to planna-planna a PP trippa-trippa to Italy!
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[skateycat]

ha ha ha....you rocka-rocka.....he he he

[chezp]

Originally Posted by cindybelle

Pam, I know what you mean. Our primary focus was on Florence (Firenze), and that's our favorite part of the trip -- but Rome was incredible, and I can certainly imagine spending a week or longer there. If you enjoy travel, I encourage you to visit Rome. Like us, you can easily take a train to Florence, which is smaller than Rome and definitely pedestrian-friendly. (We could have stayed a month in Florence and still not seen everything there.)

As great as Rome sounds, can you imagine what my Florence descriptions and photos will be like? Just wait and see!

Oh wow, having been to both - I can imagine.

[DouglasE]

Cindy,

We share a similar mindset when it comes to travel. I definitely make a list putting my absolute MUST SEE or DO at the top and work my way down. Of course, the top of my list for Rome would be gelato! Although, I am very lucky here in Philadelphia. An Italian couple run an incredible gelato place that uses only fresh ingredients. It is a definite treat. It's on the pricey side but worth it.

Another way in which we travel similarly is that I pack a lot into a day. I go into energizer bunny mode. I have to! There's always so much to see and not enough time to see it all. Even though I would love to revisit a destination I realize it is highly unlikely, especially with my income and all the incredible places to visit in the world.

I'm just impressed with how quickly you are churning out updates to your trip report.

Keep it comin'!

[MGW]

Holy Crap! That's about all I can think about when looking at your Vatican pictures, and then I feel guilty for saying that about a religious area! Do they have 3 day passes? 'Cause I know DH and I would spend way too much time in there. We spent 6 hours at just the American History Museum in DC and still didn't see it all.

Just to be in the presence of such ancient structures would give me goosebumps.

Can't wait to read all about Florence!

[cindybelle]

Douglas and Melissa (that last two messages above this one in the thread) -- you both made me smile and laugh. We are definitely on the same page.

Douglas, I assure you I had gelato every single day we were in Italy -- and there was one day (or possibly two days) when I had gelato TWICE IN ONE DAY. Robbie and I kept our heads in "swivel mode" for any interesting looking gelaterias. Whenever we were hot and/or tired, we would drag the guys over to buy some. And we all enjoyed every lick!

Melissa, your "holy crap!" response really made me laugh. As I mentioned before, Paul and Robbie are devout Catholics. Rick and I were both raised Lutheran, and I'd have to say Rick has definitely slipped a ways. He joked with Paul that he (Rick) might "burst into flames" when entering St. Peter's Basilica or the many other Catholica-Catholica places we visited throughout Italy.

I don't have Paul's photos yet, but I know he took a photo or two of Rick putting his foot "over the line" in a comically hesitant manner. In fact, while the four of us were writing postcards while in the Vatican, Rick wrote one to Paul and Robbie that said, "Just in case I burst into flames, I want you to know I had a good time on vacation with you."

Melissa, if I had one more day in Rome, I think I would spend at least half of it at the Vatican Museum. We ended up skipping most of the Raphael rooms (incredible paintings) because we wanted to make sure we got to St. Peter's Basilica, where we ended up spending nearly 3 hours. So if you and your husband are art lovers, you can't go wrong at the Vatican Museum. I don't think they offer a 2-day pass, but you can investigate it at Vatican Museums - Official web site

[Wendyismyname]

Just catching up Cindy. Really, really beautiful. More! More!

[goofysdtr]

Wonderful TR, Cindy! You've seen so many amazing things already . . . I'm looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip!

[cindybelle]

OK, my lunch hour isn't over yet, so I'll post just a few pics. Robbie had her first train trip ever --how is it that she did so from Rome to Florence???? I mean, really -- how lucky can you get!

Our train got in around noon, and then we took a taxi to B&B Il Bargello. I'll post photos of that a bit later in the week -- it's a wonderful place to stay, with only 6 sleeping rooms and lots of comfortable, shared space. After checking in, I asked Alison (the assistant manager) to recommend a good place for lunch super-close to the B&B -- it was probably close to 14:00 (2:00 pm) by this point, and we were famished. She replied, "Gusto Leo is just around the corner, and it's quick and good."

Gusto Leo's entire front is open to the street, letting in the delightful, cool air. (We had immediately noticed the lack of humidity in Florence, and there's almost always a cool breeze blowing, even on a sunny day like this one.)

Now, at the entrance to Gusto Leo, they offer samples of their homemade sangria. This is a tasty beverage served on the rocks (and ice cubes are handed out in skimpy proportions in Italy), so Paul, Robbie and I each ordered one. They were enormous!





Now, in my defense, please realize how tired and thirsty I was. Also realize that Paul drank his Sangria and probably half of Robbie's, whereas I chugged my entire drink all by myself. Here's where I admit to everyone in PassPorter Kingdom that I am a cheap drunk.




Want more proof? I can barely remember doing this:



Well, I was tired and my eyelids didn't want to stay open, and the straws seemed to help get me a little closer to . Now maybe all of you will understand why Cindybelle did NOT have a margarita when she attended "Heather's Margarita Meet" at WDW in May!

We enjoyed a delicious lunch -- remember the photo of the pizza I showed you several pages ago in my "Food" section? Well, that's what Paul & Robbie split that day at Gusto Leo, and Rick and I begged for scraps. (Well, Paul & Robbie MAY have given us slices, but as you can see above, I was hardly in a position to understand much of anything at this point.) I got a beautiful salad that I shared. I remember Rick got an Italian beer, and probably a pasta dish. All I know is that we all LOVED the food there -- so much so that we went back two more times during our stay in Firenze!

But you don't care about any of that, do you? You want to see Firenze's famous Duomo, which we walked all around (it is so enormous, there's no way my photos can show you that). Later that day, we also went inside.



Yes, the sky was really that blue.

Just one more photo outside the Duomo, and then I have to get back to work. This will have to tide you over -- I'll come back eventually, I promise. How's THIS for a door???



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[chezp]

Isn't the Duomo just amazing? I remember that door - that is quite something. Looking forward to more...

[cindybelle]

Found this small B&B in Rick Steves' Florence 2009 book. (One of his assistants stayed there in 2008 and raved about it so much that he visited it. Their business has really been brisk ever since -- glad I booked it in January.) They only have 6 rooms to let. It became our cozy home-away-from-home.

As Rick Steves had warned, the B&B is up three full flights from the street, with no elevator in this 15th century building. We were all huffing and puffing by the time we reached the B&B’s floor (especially Paul and Rick, who dragged the check-on luggage ). The lower floors appear to be untouched, but such a beautiful third floor!

Managers Gabriella (a Canadian ex-pat) and husband Massamo (who is an Italian architect/structural engineer) lease the third floor and did all the restoration work personally. Beautiful wood ceilings and tiled floors, with comfortable furnishings, a shared living room (including a computer with Internet access and a book-swap library) and kitchen (where you can help yourself to snacks and juice anytime) for the residents of the six sleeping rooms, as well as a rooftop terrace offering wonderful views of the red rooftops of Firenze and a slice of the famous Duomo with accompanying cool breezes.

The "Rick Steves cash discount" price was right, too -- 100 Euros/night (about $140 U.S.). So glad we stayed there 5 nights -- we hated to leave.

And once I started noticing all the Mickey Mouse stuff in the shared kitchen, I KNEW I would like this place.

Here's the cozy living room, where we'd send messages on PP or Facebook to our friends back home. Sorry it's a little blurry. The steps go up to the rooftop terrace.





Some of the Mickey Mouse touches in the shared kitchen, where the Brits (Nigel & Mary, from the Salisbury area) would fix tea and then join us on the roof:











As soon as we entered the kitchen, I noticed the magnet holding up the notice on the refrigerator.





Turns out Gabriella loves Disney.


The rooftop terrace:






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[cindybelle]

Originally Posted by chezp

Isn't the Duomo just amazing? I remember that door - that is quite something. Looking forward to more...

Cheryl, I delight in sharing more photos of the Duomo. It's difficult to choose -- I took a gazillion!







As you're walking the streets surrounding this massive structure, you'll see "slices" like this one:






We kept pinching ourselves -- I still don't quite believe I was there to feast on such magnificence every day and every night. Incredible.




A little history lesson here: The cathedral’s claim to artistic fame is Brunelleschi’s magnificent dome—the first Renaissance dome and the model for domes to follow.

The Cathedral is the fourth largest church in the world, after Saint Peter’s in Rome, Saint Paul’s in London and Milan Cathedral. It was built in phases from 1296 to 1461 and was consecrated in 1436 by Pope Eugenius IV.

The Cathedral’s exterior has white marble from Carrara, green from Prato and pink from the Maremma. There is a Romanesque flavor on the sides and the lower outer sides of the tribunes which have blind, rounded arches; the doors and elegant double light windows are oval and therefore Gothic in appearance. The dome is Renaissance, and while the front façade is disguised as Gothic, it’s actually 19th century. The 14th century façade was demolished in 1587. It took centuries of arguing before the 19th century façade completed the Cathedral.

The oldest part of the building is found on the exterior’s right side, in the area beside the Campanile: a relief of the Annunciation, under which is the date 1310.



OK, kids, that's all for today!

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[skateycat]

great great pics and updates. as usual, i am in awe of all of this. i can't even comprehend something THIS magnificent!

[Colexis Mom]

More fantastic pictures!

[lauriep]

Great updates, Cindy. Florence is such a wonderful, dazzling place, but oddly homey as well! I love the comic relief photo of you propping your eyes open.