Cindybelle's Bella Notte TR COMPLETE!! - UPDATED 10/19 With Prices! - Page 13 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
OK, Cindy, I finally found time to enjoy your TR, and it's been a wonderful time doing so. I am planning a trip to Italy (really!), so I was excited to see so much. I think I may just print out your TR and make notes on it for when I go! Keep it coming, I'm loving every word!
__________________
Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
did you bring me one of those handbags? no? oh, well, i guess you will just have to take me over there and show me where to get one for myself...ha ha ha
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
OK, Cindy, I finally found time to enjoy your TR, and it's been a wonderful time doing so. I am planning a trip to Italy (really!), so I was excited to see so much. I think I may just print out your TR and make notes on it for when I go! Keep it coming, I'm loving every word!
Sharon, I'm shocked to hear I've been somewhere you haven't been! Delighted to share lots of details with you. I have become a real Rick Steves believer in planning trips to Europe myself -- at least to Italy. It is SO tourist-friendly, you'll be blown away.
did you bring me one of those handbags? no? oh, well, i guess you will just have to take me over there and show me where to get one for myself...ha ha ha
The price on my handbag was 110 Euros (about $165) -- and while I you, Sheri, let's face it -- not THAT much
Of course, there were no price tags easily seen from the doorway, but since it was love at first sight, I would have probably paid $265. As it was, I told Robbie we were getting a good deal here -- we saw handbags for a ton more money than that!
Yes, I'll be happy to take you over there and show you. In fact, here's the shop where we made our purchases:
"Our" shelf is on the right, third one from the top. That shop had a lot of good stuff in it.
.
The price on my handbag was 110 Euros (about $165) -- and while I you, Sheri, let's face it -- not THAT much
Of course, there were no price tags easily seen from the doorway, but since it was love at first sight, I would have probably paid $265. As it was, I told Robbie we were getting a good deal here -- we saw handbags for a ton more money than that! .
One of our favorite days from the trip was Monday, September 7. Back in the U.S., that was Labor Day. In Firenze, it's the Eve of the Virgin Mary's birthday -- but you'll have to wait until the END of our day to find out the significance of that.
Since many of the Firenze museums are closed on Mondays, we chose that day to spend in Pisa. Now, other travelers before us said, "You don't need to visit Pisa," or "Once you've seen the Leaning Tower, there's not much else there." We took a 1-hour train ride to Pisa that morning after breakfast -- and we're glad we didn't wait until later in the day, because we found LOTS of cool things in Pisa. We didn't go back to the train station until 18:00 (6:00 p.m.) because Pisa was so .
For one thing, the interior of the Cathedral next to the Leaning Tower is WAY more glorious, way more colorful, way more than the interior of our beloved Duomo in Firenze. Don't get me wrong -- we do love the Duomo in Firenze, both the colorful exterior and the much more austere (relatively speaking) interior. But the Cathedral in Pisa -- well, see for yourself.
By the way, I didn't make reservations for any of the Pisa attractions beforehand. We arrived around 10:30 a.m. and took a cab to the Leaning Tower, and then stood in a fairly short line to purchase tickets. My advice to anyone going is to buy the "everything" ticket -- I think it was only 2 Euros more per person to get admission to ALL the museums, the Cathedral, the Baptistry, and the Leaning Tower than it would have cost just to do one or two of those. And we are SO GLAD we saw all that we did.
Here are some of the dozens of interior shots we took of the "Chiesa Cattedrale di Pisa" that Monday. And there's no way to express the enormous scale of this building. You really do have to BE there.
Another gorgeous floor:
Robbie's favorite thing in there was this one enormous painting:
But there's really no "bad side" to this cathedral. Here's a portion of the ceiling:
Lot of catching up to do on my part Cindy, but I love the TR so far. I've been to Italy twice in 1995 and most recently in 2006. The former was my first trip to Europe. Well done with the reporting, decriptions, detail and photos. I'm surprised this never came up during the DOD tour while we were waiting in line for TOT or something.
In Rome I stayed at the Hotel Quirinale, which is a very Italian style hotel in Piazza Republicca. It is just down the street from yours.
This brings back so many great memories as I've been to all three Italian cities, although Firenze and Roma was back in 1995, but remember them well. The first time was an American Express tour. It was quite good with a great overview, but a bit touristy at times. In 2006, I took one of the best trips ever and that a Village Italy Tour, run by Europe Through The Back Door. That's Rick Steves' Tours. I'm a huge supporter of his programs and travel philosophy. It covered Northern Italy. Will tell you more at another time, but here's the link to it. Rick Steves' Europe 2010 Tours: Village Italy in 14 Days
Also, include me in the Official CindyBelle and Friends Passporter Extravaganza In Italia!
__________________
October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Ok, I'll grant you that - the interior of the cathedral is quite something. We went to Pisa as part of our daytrip from our Disney cruise and we only had an hour or so in Pisa, so we just did the photos by the Leaning Tower and some other photos, as we didn't have time for anything else. I have to confess I would've been one of the ones telling you not to spend much time there, as it didn't do much for us.
Ok, I'll grant you that - the interior of the cathedral is quite something. We went to Pisa as part of our daytrip from our Disney cruise and we only had an hour or so in Pisa, so we just did the photos by the Leaning Tower and some other photos, as we didn't have time for anything else. I have to confess I would've been one of the ones telling you not to spend much time there, as it didn't do much for us.
No apologies necessary, Cheryl -- in fact, what we've found since talking to the "Pisa nay-sayers" since our return is that ALL of them had just an hour or two in Pisa, so at most they climbed the Leaning Tower. (Which is worth climbing, and I'll share more about that later.) At first glance, this is a too-touristy town -- I mean, they've got that one claim to fame, right?
Maybe it's because we went at a time that wasn't as crowded, but we were pleasantly surprised that the souvenir stands, while fairly tacky with their Leaning-Tower coffee mugs, were pushed well away from the historic buildings.
So what ELSE is worth seeing in Pisa? Believe it or not, one of our favorite things was a Cemetery Museum! Yep, it's full of gravestones, sarcophogi, other sculptures, and amazing murals that are being slowly restored. (No one knew about the murals until WWII, when a bomb blasted away part of a wall, revealing incredible murals that had been covered over with all kinds of stuff for centuries.)
This headstone reminded me of Sheri (Skateycat) for some reason. Sheri, did you pose for this?
I don't know if you can tell from my photos, but this is an open-air museum. It was lovely and cool inside because of the cross-breezes.
All these archways are open to the outside.
When we wanted to get off our feet, we sat on a bench and watched the painstaking restoration work. It was fascinating and fun -- hearing male and female voices chattering in Italian while working on their individual parts of the mural.
See the shoeless feet on the top right? She was swinging her legs while she worked, which the four of us up.
Now, this reminded me of the closing scene of Snow White:
In Rome I stayed at the Hotel Quirinale, which is a very Italian style hotel in Piazza Republicca. It is just down the street from yours.
In 2006, I took one of the best trips ever and that a Village Italy Tour, run by Europe Through The Back Door. That's Rick Steves' Tours.
Also, include me in the Official CindyBelle and Friends Passporter Extravaganza In Italia!
Dave, how wonderful to hear from you! As soon as I read "Hotel Quirinale," I thought, "Hey, didn't we walk past that every time we went from Hotel Nerva to the Colosseum?" That is TOO coincidental!
And be grateful I DIDN'T tell you about my plans for Italy when I met you in May -- I would have bugged you to death -- especially now that I know you've been on one of Rick Steves' "Through the Back Door" tours. I'm curious to hear more about that sometime.
And consider yourself "on board" if we ever get a PP group together for a trip to Italia!
.
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Delighted to share lots of details with you. I have become a real Rick Steves believer in planning trips to Europe myself -- at least to Italy. It is SO tourist-friendly, you'll be blown away.
you, Sheri, let's face it -- not THAT much
PassPorter Guide Author
.
than the interior of our beloved Duomo in Firenze. Don't get me wrong -- we do love the Duomo in Firenze, both the colorful exterior and the much more austere (relatively speaking) interior. But the Cathedral in Pisa -- well, see for yourself. 
Linear Mode
