Italy 2012

Trip Introduction

We celebrated our 15th Wedding Anniversary the summer of 2012. Our gift to each other came later in the year when we took a nine-day guided tour visiting three cities in Italy: Rome, Florence, and Venice. The Trafalgar tour was designed with days filled with prepared tours in each city and a second day at each location where we were on our own, if we chose not to purchase optional excursions. We enjoyed our time in such a beautiful place and appreciated not having to navigate the traffic and vehicle restrictions.

Identification of some of the buildings in random photos made with the help of Google Lens seach engine in 2024.




Tuesday, 09/11/2012 – Heading East

We finished packing and headed to Julie's workplace around 8:30a where we could leave the Escape in a covered garage; one of her coworkers was nice enough to drive us to the airport. Once we got checked in, we headed to the gate and waited for our first flight from Des Moines to Chicago which left around 11:30a. We had a little over 3 hours in O’Hare, so we had lunch before heading to our gate. Our next flight was the big one; eight hours from Chicago to Frankfurt, Germany. The plane did not have in-seat entertainment, at least in Economy Class, so James read a book while Julie completed several word searches before going to sleep for a while.

A power strip on a counter is filled with charging cables to cameras, battery packs, phones, and audio players
Making sure everything's charged for the trip



Wednesday, 09/12/2012 – Arriving in Rome

We landed in Frankfurt around 6:30a and we realized German efficiency does not apply to airport way finding signage or people movement. We exited the 747 by walking down some stairs onto the tarmac to board a bus. This took us through several tunnels and around buildings before dropping us off at our "gate". We headed up an escalator labeled "Terminal A" and customs to stand in line. After getting our passports stamped, we walked to the gate on our boarding pass. Our flight to Rome didn't depart until 10:45a and after sitting at the gate, we went to check the monitors. As it turns out, Frankfurt didn't assign or announce gates until 90 minutes before departure. We wandered around some more and once the flight time was within range, we ended up back at the gate we went to first.

We weren't able to sit next to each other on the flight to Rome as we both had window seats on opposite sides of the plane, and nobody wanted to swap. After landing at Rome's Fiumicino airport around 12:40p, we found the transfer driver for our tour company and waited for the next transfer to the hotel which left at 3:30p. We arrived at the Hotel Anglo Americano at 4:45p and were met by our tour director. 25 hours after leaving our house we finally got to use a non-public toilet. We only had 45 minutes to "freshen up" before the whole group headed out for a "Welcome Reception" which included a little tour and a lovely pizza supper where we got to know some of the other people on the tour. We learned about half our group was from Australia and there was a couple from Canada. We had quite a bit of fun meeting the people on the tour and returned to the hotel around 8:30p. We promptly brushed our teeth and collapsed into bed by 9p, a functional 32 hours after having last actually slept in a horizontal orientation.




Thursday, 09/13/2012 – Rome With the Group

On Thursday we had breakfast with the tour group before jumping on the coach at 7:45a for the ride into Vatican City. As part of the tour, we had timed tickets to enter the Vatican Museums. We learned some of the lines can take several hours to just try and get a ticket so having the tour group get them ahead of time was great. We met a local guide and were given small receivers with earbuds so the guide wouldn't have to shout and disturb others. As part of our Trafalgar experience, we skipped a large part of the museum, but we were able to see the smaller “Bramante Staircase” which is not open to the public. The spiral “staircase” was, in reality, a ramp allowing horses and small carriages to travel to upper levels of the Vatican complex. The stairs offered great views of Rome. The portion of the museum we did get to see contained many beautiful pieces and was, itself, a work of art. The ceilings and frescos were amazing. It was difficult, but James did follow directions and did not take any photos in the Sistine Chapel.

After leaving the museum, we had some free time to see the Basilica di San Pietro (Saint Peter’s) and grab a bite to eat before getting back on the coach. At 1p, we headed into the historic center of Rome. We drove past several sites before we arrived for our visit to the Colosseum. The space was amazing and thinking about the scale and number of people who could have been there when it was in use is mind boggling. After a group picture, we returned to the hotel and had free time for the late afternoon and evening. As we wandered around, I’m not sure how we didn’t get lost, we ended up finding the Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon. We ate at a small restaurant near the top of the Spanish Steps before heading back to the hotel. By the end of the day, James had taken over 225 photos.




Friday, 09/14/2012 – Rome on Our Own

We had the option to take an added cost excursion to Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast but elected to spend the day on our own exploring more of the Italian capital. This also gave us a chance to sleep in. After taking some pictures at the Four Fountains (an intersection with ornate fountains on the buildings at each corner), we headed to Piazza Barberini and the Spanish Steps. Part of our Trafalgar tour included access to one of the hop-on-hop-off tour buses and we rode that for a while passing Rome's main train terminal, the Colosseum, and exiting near the Circus Maximus. The circus was undergoing a conversion into a large park, so some areas were fenced off. We were able to walk around other areas and see some ongoing archeological study areas. We had a bit of a laugh at a bus that was stuck on a side street and couldn't pass between two parked cars, but the line of people behind it meant it couldn't back up either. We made our way back toward the Flavian Amphitheater (actual name of the Colosseum) where there we found ruins of the old Roman Forum and places where various Popes had torn old Roman structures down to reuse the stone in new facilities thus removing signs of the power of the old empire.

We found a stop for the hop-on-hop-off bus and continued its circuit until we arrived at Vatican City. We took some photos in St. Peter's Square before heading over to Castel Sant’Angelo (Castle of the Angels). There is a connector from the Pope's private quarters to the castle and this site played prominently in Dan Brown's book Angels and Demons. After touring the castle grounds, we returned to the hotel, stopping for Gelato and to browse for souvenirs along the way. We ate supper and ended our day relatively early so we could get our bags organized as on Saturday the tour group would be leaving Rome for Florence. We also needed to type our notes for the day and look at some of the 233 pictures.




Saturday, 09/15/2012 – To Florence via Assisi

We had our suitcase out for the bellhop by 8a and headed to breakfast with the group. We boarded the coach and were ready to leave by 9a, however, a truck was blocking our exit so the driver, with the assistance of one of the hotel staff, backed the coach 500 feet up the hill so he could get out another way. We rode for several hours, James taking pictures all the way, until we arrived at the UNESCO World Heritage Site town of Assisi. This is the home of St. Francis of Assisi and the home of the Franciscan order of the Catholic Church. There is a small Basilica that houses the remains of St. Francis and is a pilgrimage destination for monks of that order as well as nuns who belong to the Poor Sisters of Clair. A much larger Basilica stands nearby, that is the public face of the order where formal ceremonies are held. There is a large monastery attached to the facility to house the many pilgrims that visit. We had free time to tour the Basilica and the town before heading down the hill to visit the Basilica di Santa Maria Degli Angeli (Saint Mary of the Angels) located in the valley below Assisi. The church marks the site where St. Francis died inside a small chapel he helped restore. The Basilica was built around the chapel, so it is freestanding at the crossing of the nave and transept of the church. These two churches were the inspiration for Franciscans traveling with the Spaniards when settling California and are the name sakes for the cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles. From here we traveled onto the City of Florence arriving at our hotel around 6:45p. While we were on our own for supper, we joined a small group including some of the Aussies, the tour guide, and the couple from British Columbia for a fun night at a local restaurant. We returned to the hotel around 10p having laughed the evening away. A mear 199 pictures were taken on Saturday.




Sunday, 09/16/2012 – Florence With the Group

We got up around 7a hoping to beat the crowds to the breakfast area and met the group at 9:20a for our visit with a local guide to the Galleria Academia associated with the University in Florence. This is where the original statue of Michelangelo's David is housed; it was moved inside to reduce deterioration from environmental factors (pigeon poo). We then continued to the square in front of Florence's Cathedral and Baptistery. This Cathedral is a little unusual because there is extensive decoration on the exterior while the inside is quite plain. This cathedral is also known for its dome which was the largest of its time since the fall of the Roman Empire. There is a detached bell tower standing in the piazza near the main entry. The baptistery is famous for the pair of bronze doors which face the cathedral; they are known as the Gates of Paradise and are incredibly detailed. From there we continued our walk to the Piazza della Signoria where the Palazzo Vecchio (palace) for the ruling family of Florence is located. It was outside of the main entry to the castle that the statue of David originally stood, and a replica now stands, surrounded by many other statues later rulers placed to try and distract peoples’ attention. Our tour continued along some city streets before ending at a leather shop where we were given a brief demonstration about how leather is worked to create various items. There were some very nice pieces that we resisted the urge to purchase.

From this point we had free time for the rest of the day, so we found a small cafe and had a bite of lunch before getting in line for the Uffizi, a museum with Renaissance art that is housed in part of the buildings attached to the castle. We spent a couple hours walking through the exhibits and James was able to take some good pictures from the outdoor seating area of the cafeteria on the third floor. We then worked our way back to the hotel to rest. While there we looked at a couple of maps and decided that we wanted to walk to the river before turning around at Ponte Vecchio, or the Goldsmith's Bridge. We returned to the hotel, stopping for Gelato along the way, and turned in for the night. With time in museums, it was a slow day with only 91 pictures taken.




Monday, 09/17/2012 – More Florence and Pisa

There was an optional excursion Monday morning to San Gimignano, a hillside town with lots of towers, but we decided to sleep in. We still got up around 7:30a to make sure we got breakfast and then headed back to the Cathedral. There were two options for our morning exercise, climb the dome, or climb the bell tower; the bell tower won because the line was shorter, and James thought it would have less of a "confined space" feeling to it. We paid our 6 Euros each and headed up the stairs; there were 3 intermediate landing areas, but after 447 steps and a couple rest breaks, we made it all the way to the top. After taking lots of pictures, and resting a few minutes, we headed back down to the piazza where we found the closest cafe and bought some bottled water. We didn't have anything with the tour group until 2:30p so we wandered back towards the Ponte Vecchio looking through shops along the way. In a shop on the bridge, we found a pair of earrings Julie liked, but the taxes were so complicated that we decided not to get them and then bought gelato to get over the stress of it all. We worked our way back to the hotel since it was getting close to 1p, and we wanted to rest before our afternoon excursion. We stopped in a McDonald's so James could get French fries to make sure they still made them right in Italy and then picked up a sandwich and pizza at a local pizzeria to eat at the hotel.

At 2:30p most of the group boarded the bus for a side trip to Pisa. We rode through the mountains along the west side of the country and into the fertile valley that was formed by rivers depositing silt as they ran into the ocean. Our Tour Director had arranged "special" transport for us from the bus terminal to the Fields of Miracles where the cathedral, baptistery, cemetery, and famous leaning bell tower are located. The special transport was a tram that looked like a small steam train she called a "choo choo" since "it didn't run on rails so you couldn't really call it a train." We spent almost an hour walking around and taking pictures returning to the coach and heading to the "Be My Guest" dinner in the cellars of a winery just north of Florence. The food was prepared by the people who live there and operated the winery. We arrived back to the hotel around 10:30p, a little later than planned, and had to get things packed for our coach ride to Venice the next day. The picture count ticked back up to 181.




Tuesday, 09/18/2012 – To Venice via Bologna

Since this was a travel day, we got up and had our luggage out by 8a before going to breakfast. We decided this was the day we would sit in the front row of the coach. Our route took us through Bologna where we stopped for a guided tour of the historic area looking at the Cathedral and some spaces in the university, one of the oldest in Europe. We had some time to walk around the city center and get lunch (with gelato) before continuing to Venice. This part of Italy was relatively rural; we saw several farmers working fields of various crops. Once we arrived on the outskirts of Venice, we had to transfer from the motor coach to a boat to get to the hotel.

All our luggage went on a different boat with the only Porter company; they have quite a monopoly getting 10 euro per bag plus tip. They only take the bags to the door of the hotel and then head back to the bus terminal. We got settled into our room and then went back downstairs to go on the only optional excursion we participated in. We divided into three groups, got on water taxis, and then traveled down the Great Canal to the docks near St. Mark’s Square. We walked around the square for a bit before being divided into groups of four for rides on Gondolas. After the prosecco and singing gondolier, we returned to the hotel for supper with everyone. We had fun talking with our friends before heading to our room for the night. 256 was the picture count on Tuesday.




Wednesday, 09/19/2012 – Venice With the Group

After breakfast, we left the hotel at 8:55a taking a water taxi to St. Mark's square. From there our Tour Director showed us some interesting hidden markers while walking us through some of the back streets of Venice. We had a little over an hour of free time which we spent looking in some of the local shops. We then boarded another water coach and visited Murano, one of the outer islands known for its glass blowing shop, where we saw a demonstration of different styles of working glass. We had browsed their shop, finding the items to be fairly expensive, before we headed back to St. Mark's Square. Since we were not participating in the optional excursion in the afternoon, we disembarked and found a place for lunch with another couple from the tour.

It started to rain as we finished eating so we decided to visit the Doge's Palace (Palazzo Ducale) Museum. It was very beautifully detailed and had more interior ornamentation than some of the churches we'd visited. It was also interesting because Venice had been a very rich city state and so, like the Louvre in Paris, the building had been expanded and remodeled several times to "keep up with current styles." This meant some rooms were more decorated than others and it was clear where the old decorations had been covered with new. We spent a couple hours there waiting for the rain to stop before hitting a few more shops and returning to the pier to catch our ride back to the hotel. We arrived at the hotel around 5p and rested a little bit before heading out for gelato and some shopping. After quite a bit more walking, we ate supper and shopped a little more as we returned to the hotel. A slight decline to 225 pictures.




Thursday, 09/20/2012 – More Time in Venice

Once again, we left the hotel a little before 9a after eating some breakfast with friends. Again, we boarded water taxis and headed down the Grand Canal but stopped near an outdoor market area near the Rialto Bridge. There we met another local guide who walked us through some more of the back streets of Venice, talking about the history of the city and showing how different events had affected the way of life in the city. The walk ended at St. Mark's Square where the group was let loose with four hours of free time. We stood in line to see the inside of St. Mark's Basilica; we were amazed at the mosaic tile work on the walls and ceilings. We paid 5 Euros to get access to the Loggia (balcony) area of the cathedral which has some beautiful views of the square and the opening out to the lagoon. The second level also had some displays about the restoration work that was being done in other areas of the building. After exiting the basilica, we walked around to the opposite side of the square and found a nice cafe to have lunch before looking through more of the area’s shops. We found a wonderful gelato place and decided to return to shops we had visited the day before so we could purchase some souvenirs. At 3:30p we rejoined the group returning to the hotel. We had a 6:45p reception with everyone on the tour which again turned into a lot of fun conversation and joking. We had to say goodbye to our Tour Director that evening because she had to fly out of Venice very early Friday morning to meet another tour group in Rome. Another slip in photographes to 189.




Friday, 09/21/2012 – Heading Home

It was finally time to return home, which meant a long day of travel. We rose at 7a to grab breakfast and by the time we ate and finished getting things packed for air travel, it was time to put our bags in the hall and go downstairs. There were eight of us from the tour on the same 30-minute water taxi ride from our hotel to the airport on the mainland. We got to the airport plenty early and hung out with one of the other couples who had the same flight from Venice to Munich, Germany. Our flight was a little late leaving Venice, but we got to Munich in plenty of time to hit the Duty Free store and spend all but 2 Euro 20 of the cash we had left. Again, we had to pass through an Immigration point where they checked our passports, but we did not have to deal with any luggage. Our flight from Munich to Chicago was on a slightly smaller plane than the Eastbound version and took 9 hours. Once we landed at O'Hare, we passed through Immigration, claimed our bags, passed through customs, received boarding passes for our flight from Chicago to Des Moines (for some reason the machine in Venice couldn't issue them when we first checked in), and then put our two checked bags back on a conveyor since they were already checked through to Des Moines. We then boarded the train between Terminal 5 (International) and Terminal 1 (United Domestic) so we could again pass through a security screening, just in time to get to our gate and sit for 5 minutes before boarding for our last flight. We got back to Des Moines pretty much right on schedule and we figured we would soon be relaxing in our own bed with our own pillows. That's when only one of our checked bags came out and we learned that somehow, magically, the second bag which was next to the first on the conveyor at the customs drop off, did not make it onto the plane to Des Moines. The airline promised to deliver it the next day once the first flight from Chicago to Des Moines arrived. We were both very disgusted, but after being awake for 22 hours at this point and realized there was really nothing the people we were talking to could do about it. We took a cab to Julie’s work where we got in our car and drove home. After 23 hours of being awake, we got home and fell asleep in our own bed. As expected, a slow picture day with only 35.




Other Notes:

Our second bag was delivered about 12:45p Saturday afternoon.

We also created two different displays to remind us of our wonderful trip to Italy.