David and Stacy went to Rome in 2000.

Click here for a great page that give information about the different churches in Rome. Click here for a map of the largest extent of the Roman Empire. Click here to see the population of Rome throughout the ages. I give this information so that you can appreaciate the power and glory that was Rome.

These are Stacy’s notes on our trip. David converted then into something like English (and has made some parenthetical comments). David took 3600 pictures, most of which are NOT seen here :-). Bob took several thousand (of which he passed along many) and Donald took some pictures. These pages have pictures from all three of us. For those of you who just want to see some pictures of us, but not wade through all of the pictures, just click here.

Our itinerary changed sometime between when we bought the tickets and the day we flew. The route was TUS –> DEN –> Toronto –> Rome. The change meant that we had to depart about 30 min earlier. There were no problems except no vegetarian meal for Stacy (Stacy does not eat chicken and a vegetarian meal helps with this). The cabin attendant blamed it on Expedia, but somehow we didn’t have this problem on the flight home and I didn’t do anything differently. We took the train from the airport to the center of Rome for €28.

The taxi ride from center of Rome to our apartment was €24 (it should have been around 5). We found that there are several unscrupulous cab drivers in Rome.

Monday (day 1), we saw the Pantheon, Santa Maria sopra Minerva - a gothic church with Catherine of Siena’s tomb, Piazza Navona, and ate at Mimi & Coco’s vinoteca. Don, Rosalva, Stacy and David then took a night walk north of our appartment.

Tuesday (day 2), we saw St. Peter’s Basilica, the papal tombs, the Vatican museums, the Raphael rooms and the Sistine Chapel. Stacy was happy for her mirror (to look at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel without having to bend her neck). Stacy & David each walked around the neighborhood to the east of the Vatican. David and I walked to Augustus’s mausoleum and the Ars Pacis museum. Then, we walked to the Campo di Fiori, found a great bakery and bought a meringue that was huge. Then, we explored the neighborhood between our apartment and the Tiber River. We had dinner based upon a recommendation from someone in New York at a restaurant named Luigi’s. Among other things there was excellent, melon & prosciutto, pasta e fagioli, and veal. Dessert was labeled “drowned ice cream” and it was gelato with brandy poured over it (VERY good).

Wednesday (day 3), we waited in a bit of a line and visited the Colosseum. Unfortunately, the Domus Aurea was closed, but we did see workmen entering it. Bob, Lee, Don & Rosalva went on to visit sundry churches. David and I chose to do A LOT of walking. First, we visited the enormous Baths of Caracalla (the largest ever made). Then, walked to Pyrimide to get on the Metro/train. The idea was to visit the basilica St. Paul outside the Walls, but since we worried about having enough time in Ostia Antica, we decided to do this on the return trip and stayed on the train until the stop for Ostia Antica. We then walked to the excavation site for the old port city for Rome. We had lunch at the cafeteria. There was a sign saying “Do Not Touch (Sleeping) Dogs”. We walked all around Ostia Antica (This site has not been built upon since it was the port of Rome. People have stolen stone from it, but an amazing amount is still there) and there was no time to visit the basilica on the way back. Luckily, we were having dinner in the apartment, so no more walking once we got back.

Thursday (day 4), we tried in the morning to visit St. Paul outside the Walls. There were a lot of priests on the Metro with us, and walking towards the basilica. We got to the entrance and were told it was closed until 1 PM. We suspected this was associated with the end of the Vatican’s Year of the Priest. We met everyone else in Piazza di Compodoglio and got some nice views overlooking the Roman Forum. We then went and looked at ruins in the Forum and on Palatine Hill. Lunch was unmemorable except for the dimples in our waitress’s cheeks. Next, was a visit to the Crypta Balbi (part of the Museo Nazionale Romano) which covers the period between Roman times and the Renaissance. We then returned to the lunch restaurant to enjoy a drink they called a “cremolata” which was coffee for me and lemon for Bob & Lee. Seemed like a thickened version of a Dunkin’ Donut coolattas, I suspect egg whites. Then, visited the Gesu church which was the original Jesuit church. Sometime later, the church was “baroqued” (one of the ‘problems’ with Rome is that it has been a rich city for most of history, thus most of the old stuff has been ‘improved’, which in the case of converting buildings to the baroque style is NO improvement). David and I stopped at the bakery on the way home to buy cookies and pastries. Dinner was at a highly recommended pizza joint near our apartment. The line had been too long another evening. Apparently making the guide books allows the service to be bad, the pizza to be mediocre and the atmosphere to be very rushed. David and I did try something on the menu labeled calzones. The innards were what you’d expect in a breakfast burrito, but tasted good. It didn’t help that the waiter insisted I was Mexican, but at least he didn’t ask me for my papers. This was the first day my ankle wasn’t huge and swollen and covered in itchy red welts - maybe because we took a cab almost everywhere? We also did laundry today and hung it on the line to dry. A Vatican pigeon blessed David’s shirt.

Friday (day 5), we walked over to the Vatican for a gardens tour. On the way, it was quite apparent there were hundreds, if not thousands, of people in St. Peter’s square all dressed in white. Later, it turns out this was the conclusion of the Year of the Priest. The tour of the Vatican’s gardens was pretty but the guide mostly spoke about a few buildings - many of which we’d heard about during the museum tour. We saw the English garden, the French garden, the Italian garden, several fountains and the altar from Lourdes. Jasmine is blooming everywhere in Rome - it smelled great. David & I left the others and went to meet up with Dan & Christy at their apartment. The Metro ride there was packed - possibly due to a strike (many trains were canceled)? Their apartment was not in a residential area, but fronted a much quieter street than our apt. We visited the crypts of the Capucchin monks below the Monastery. Between 1528 and 1870 the monks used bones to decorate a few rooms (We were not permited to take pictures). It was weird bone art. Dan’s comment was that he could go for some ribs. Instead we opted to find a gelateria that was recommended and visit some of the touristy sites. The gelateria had huge servings of 3 flavors, I got vanilla, chocolate and honey. Dan tried alcohol and coffee flavors and David got all licorice - good, but way too intense a licorice for me. We ate the gelato in front of the Trevi fountain with hundreds of other tourists. Spanish steps, Pantheon, Piazza Navona were also visited. Stopped at our favorite bakery for a tart and stopped at the grocery store for milk, water and limoncello. Don, with help from others, had made a beef/mushroom/wine concoction for dinner. It was excellent. So were the tart and the limoncello.

Saturday (day 6), I attempted to go see basilica St. Paul outside the Wall and was successful. I crossed the river near our apt. and hopped on the #23 bus which took me through the neighborhood of Trastavere and then right to the basilica. It began raining, mass was occurring when I arrived and there were almost no tourists. It was very nice, but I had no camera. They have a decent website with pictures, http://www.vatican.va/various/basiliche/san_paolo/index_en.html. I then took the Metro and went to the Villa Borgese - a large park reminiscent of the Boston Common. I accidentally took someone else’s lunch as my own and then had some annoying bicyclist pervert nearby as I tried to eat. Ditched the pervert by walking near some uniformed people and hopping on a bus and then getting off at the next stop. Walked around much of the park. They had boats and bicycles to rent. There was a huge field and big screen TV set up for FIFA FanFest. The Italians are nuts about their soccer (football)! I ended my wander at the Borgese museum where I waited for Bob, Lee & David. While Stacy was doing this, Bob, Lee and David went to the Castel St. Angelo. The (Villa Borgese) museum itself had some excellent sculptures by Bernini and others, and then some boring paintings by famous people. The taxi ride back to our apartment was hair-raising and I unfortunately was riding shotgun. We had dinner at Luigi’s again and then David and I did the Colosseum and Forum at night (to take night pictures) and walked back to the apartment along the river. Several people also had the same idea. We never joined Donald and Rosalva at the Irish Pub to watch the USA vs. England World Cup match.

Sunday (day 7), after Donald and Rosalva left for the airport, we went to Catacombs Domatilla. Then, walked to Catacombs San Callisto. We walked along a “fake” Appian Way to Quo Vadis, but didn’t visit. While weighing taxi/bus options to get to the next destination, a man came down the street walking his sheep. We caught a cab to Piazza della Repubblica and had lunch at a cafe. We went to the Palazzo Massimo alle Terme (part of the Museo Nazionale Romano) and saw statuary, frescoes, mosaics, and coins. Bob even found an abacus in Roman numerals. There were coins in a vault in the basement. The statuary were set up chronologically. It was interesting to see how the craftsmanship changed over hundreds of years, and also the facial expressions. Walked across the Piazza to the museum of the Baths of Diocletian with a cloister by Michaelangelo. Then the S. Maria of the Angels & Martyrs church built into a portion of the baths that we also visited on Friday. Today, someone was performing on the organ. Before dinner, I napped and was roughly awakened by a group of people marching/performing down the street outside our window. Africans were dressed up in Kanga cloth and banging on drums while tourists videotaped them. Dinner was leftovers at the apartment and some excellent limoncello. David and I then went in search of gelato but it was a long walk. All around us restaurants were open for dinner and the Italians were enjoying the evening, but only as we approached Piazza Navona area were there open gelaterias.

Monday (day 8), after Bob & Lee departed for the airport, we took the #64 bus to meet Dan & Christy at a coffee shop in Termini. I got a Marachino because the name sounded interesting. It literally translates as Moroccan. I was served a shotglass with half thick coffee and half foamy cream with chocolate powder sprinkled on top. It was really good and kept me awake for a long time. We picked up the rental car, they had upgraded us to an Alfa Romeo 159 (We were supposed to get a VW Gulf or equivalent. When we are with Dan and Christy we get GOOD upgrades, the last time in Italy we got a Jaguar). When Dan turned on the car, there was a dummy light saying “water in gas filter”. We called the rental car desk, and they said it was OK to ignore this error and just drive the car. We drove out of Rome to Tivoli to visit Hadrian’s Villa. After a lot of walking around Hadrian’s Villa, we drove to Salerno and had trouble finding our hotel. We called what we thought was our hotel and they said they had no reservation for Elliott. They suggested that there were two websites: albergosalerno.it and albergosalerno.com. The former is in Milan, and the latter is in Salerno. It became a real possibility that we had booked 4 nights into a hotel in Milan! We arranged to stay at the Salerno hotel for not too much more money and it turned out to be rooms on the BAD side of the Grand Hotel Salerno, a four-star hotel. The bad side meant that we did not face the ocean. We checked in and then walked to a bar for dinner. The problem was that everyone (including the cook) was watching Italy play Paraguay in the World Cup.

Tuesday (day 9), we asked the hotel about breakfast and were pointed to a room where a buffet was set up. No one asked our room number or asked for payment, so we assumed for the remainder of our stay that breakfast was included. However, parking (at € 0.50/hour) was not included. We drove to Naples. Dan did an admirable job of driving around. We even found a parking garage near the Archeological Museum (Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli). After parking the car and walking over to the museum, we found that it was closed on Tuesdays so we instantly decided that today was the day to drive the Amalfi Coast. Unfortunately, all of the guide books and maps for this had been left in the hotel room. We ate lunch in Sant’ Agnello (just outside of Sorrento), overlooking the water. We drove from Sorrento to Salerno and stopped at a few pull-offs and towns. We walked into Amalfi and had gelato and visited the Duomo. We drove up to Ravello, a nice hillside town. We had dinner in Maiori. People were watching Brazil vs N. Korea, but that didn’t affect dinner as much as the intermittent rain, although our restaurant had retractable awnings. We found a great new entrée: alice marinati. There was a brief power outage. We drove to Salerno in the dark with one headlight.

Wednesday (day 10), we drove to Naples but now the garage we had used yesterday was “completo” (full). Dan and David dropped off Christy and Stacy and hunted for a parking place. They returned about an hour later, but claimed that they were successful. We then decided lunch before doing the museum would be best but the museum’s cafeteria was closed. We found a sandwich shop and had HUGE sandwiches made by two old guys that took great pride in their sandwich making. We sat in the park and enjoyed half of our excellent sandwiches - the remainder was eaten later in the afternoon. The museum displayed the Farnese collection, which featured a lot of statues that had undergone “restoration”. There were also items found in Pompeii excavations and a scale model of the Pompeii site. The museum had several closed sections including the mosaics and the “secret room”. We then had to retrieve the car, which turned out to be buried in some side street with many “no parking” signs and no room to turn around (Dan and David had not been too worried because the street was too small for a tow truck). Luckily, the car was still there and not booted. Dan managed to extract it and because of one-ways was forced to drive on these narrow, pedestrian-clogged roads. It soon became apparent that perhaps we were driving through a market. Since we were following other cars, David insisted that we were on a real road, but the Neapolitans drive through red lights, why would the presence of another car mean that our route was valid? We did eventually end up on a real street, and it turned out to be going exactly the way we wanted to leave the city, and we soon were on the autostrada right where we got off. Then, we noticed that we could actually see Mt. Vesuvius quite clearly because the sky was no longer murky. We decided that this would be an excellent time to get a great view from Mt. Vesuvius. Happily (for Stacy), the walking part was closed at 5 PM so I did not have to hike to the summit. We were able to get a view towards Naples from the parking lot at the top. We drove back to Salerno and got stuck in a parade right off the exit ramp. We don’t know what happened on the 16th of June - Google was not helpful in this regard. Investigated the underutilized roof deck of our hotel and had sushi for dinner. They served miso soup with clams and no tofu and again the S. Africa vs Uruguay soccer didn’t seem to affect dinner.

Thursday (day 11), we drove to Herculaneum, and spent the entire morning walking around. Saw many buildings and frescos and mosaics. (Herculaneum was destroyed by mud. This encased and preserved the city, including the woodwork) Had lunch in an upstairs restaurant - how the waitress carried food up the (tiny) spiral staircase was a feat. Drove to Pompeii and then spent the rest of the day walking around until they closed. (Pompeii was destroyed by hot ash, which destroyed the wood, but preserved other things better) The day was clear again and it was frightening to see just how close Mt. Vesuvius was to the town of Pompeii (The forum of Pompeii was aligned so that Vesuvius was above and behind the main temple). Had dinner in Salerno at Pinocchio restaurant and again had excellent food including alice marinati and veal scaloppini. Also, tried meloncello which was a creamy, cantaloupe-flavored liqueur. We stopped for gelato at a place that had very odd flavors along with the usual. I had plasmon and cioccolato nero, the former tasted like ‘Nilla wafers and the latter like dark chocolate fudge. According to Dan’s pedometer, this was a 9.5 mile day.

Friday (day 12), we drove to Rome and found the hotel with no problems and they had our reservations. Then, Dan drove into Rome and returned the car to the parking garage near Termini - without any one-way mishaps. We had lunch at a restaurant with a more exotic menu than we had seen previously, such as hare and wild boar. I tried the Bucatini all'Amatriciana since that is a classic Roman dish and I had not yet had any on this trip. Dan and Christy were going to visit Palazzo Massimo since we made it sound so appealing. David and I went to visit a park I had visited last year and yet didn’t know what it was. It’s Villa Aldobrandini (http://www.villa-aldobrandini.it/). On the way, David saw some churches that intrigued him because they were several feet (40) below street level, so we visited these also: San Vitale and Santa Pudenziana. Then, we visited Santa Maria Maggiore (aka The Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major). We met Dan and Christy at the Beehive (http://www.the-beehive.com/) where we looked into options to returning to our hotel by the airport. They hooked us up with their car service who charged the airport flat fee of €40, so that worked out well. For dinner, we returned to Mimi and Coco’s vinoteca but had mostly appetizers and salads for dinner. Dan and I also had our last gelato in Rome.

Saturday (day 13), we had almost no line checking in for our flight and security wasn’t bad at all. Dan and Christy arrived too early to check-in and we said goodbye at the airport. Flying home was long, but uneventful until we arrived in Tucson and Stacy’s luggage did not. The baggage person said the luggage was in Denver. It would arrive tomorrow and they’d deliver it to our house.

Sunday (day 14), Stacy’s luggage arrived (why you should always choose United over British Airways) and we spent the day unpacking.

There are some QuickTime movies in with the pictures.  If you can not read the QuickTime files, then Get a Mac or go to the Apple QuickTime page.

When the QuickTime VR windows open, click in the window and while holding down the button, move the cursor around (have fun).