"Are these underwear yours?" DIS Viking Italian Sojourn 2018 TR *COMPLETE* 10/14 New TR Link!

Looking forward to reading about this trip. Italy is at the top of my travel bucket list. I heard about this cruise on the podcast, but just couldn't make it work. I'll have to live vicariously through you!

I truly hope you can make it there one day! Such a beautiful country.
 
Day 1 Continued: Thursday March 22nd

After our first stop at the Trevi Fountan, the next place we wanted to go was the Pantheon and the Piazza Navona so we started walking in what we thought was the correct direction.


We found this great piazza with nice views, but we had no idea what it was or where it was in relation to where we were actually trying to go.

Then we came upon a place our step on guide for our ABD trip had taken us, but again, we had no idea where it was in relation to the Pantheon!


We ended up inside a church that had a reproduction of Jesus’ burial cloth on display, so that was kind of a cool detour.


We weren’t getting any closer to the Pantheon, but we were getting hungry. So we stopped inside a pizzeria to get something to eat. At this point, I was getting super annoyed because the new no-show socks I had bought for this trip were slipping off the back of my feet and bunching up inside my shoes, so I kept having to stop and fix them. I was hoping it was just because I had been wearing them for a long time so they were a little stretched out because I had only brought one pair of walking shoes and only that same style of socks for the whole trip! Eventually I figured out I was wearing them inside out (*facepalm*) and that there was actually something on the sock to help stop them from slipping off, and it was much easier to walk around after that!

We each got a Margherita pizza and shared some water, and enjoyed the Whitney Houston’s greatest hits CD they were playing inside! It was a little funny at first, but I really didn’t realize how many of her songs I knew and loved until that meal! Lol

That pizza really hit the spot! And despite the issues with my socks, it had me reenergized and ready to keep exploring.


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We finally got ourselves going in the right direction and made it to the Pantheon! This was one of those things we had done on our busy day touring Rome with ABD, but had only been able to spend very few minutes exploring at that time, so we were looking forward to seeing it at our own pace today.

I should also mention the weather…it was COLD! This day it was in the low 40s and super windy, so we felt a little underprepared with what we had packed. At almost the last minute, just a few days before we left, I had hopped on Amazon Prime and ordered myself a fleece headband/ear warmer for this trip, and it was probably the best $9 ever spent as that thing definitely came in handy many times!!

But anyway…back to the Pantheon.

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Once inside, we put on Rick Steves’ audio guide and shuffled around listening to him describe the highlights to us. The only one I can remember right now is Raphael’s tomb.


Continued in next post...
 
Day 1 Continued: Thursday March 22nd


From there, we were able to get over to the Piazza Navona pretty easily. I didn’t really have anything in particular I wanted to do there, but I had just enjoyed the atmosphere there last trip, so I wanted to see it again this time while we were nearby.

We were starting to get pretty worn out by then from a long night on the plane and walking around for a few hours, so we decided to head back to the hotel and hoped our room would be ready when we got there. We passed the Pantheon again along the way.


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We stopped in a few shops along the way too, like this woodworking shop.

And a toy store that had this huge Lego pirate outside of it.


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Before this trip I had asked my DS if he had a little action figure or stuffed animal he wanted us to take with us to take some photos with on our trip, but then we had forgotten to get something from him! So after taking this photo, I thought instead it might be fun to take a silly picture each day to send to him and let him know we were thinking of him. It ended up being harder to do during the cruise than I thought since the internet was not that great, but he enjoyed them when we got home.

Thankfully, our room was ready when we arrived back at the Bernini Bristol, and even better, our luggage had already been brought up for us! I don’t know if they renovated the rooms since last time, or if we just got a better one, but it seemed nicer than the one we had stayed in on our last trip.


We took some much needed showers and took a break from all of the walking we had been doing, but did everything we could NOT to fall asleep! We wanted to try to stay up until a somewhat normal bedtime so that we could be on Italy time as quickly as possible. We had time to video chat with DD (DS was still at school), then around 5 we were ready to head back out. The only place we really had in mind was the Disney store, then we planned to have dinner somewhere close to the hotel and get to bed.


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They had these huge apple decorations in the hallway, so I thought this would be another funny pic to send to DS.


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We made it to the Disney store pretty quickly since it’s not far at all from the hotel, but unfortunately there wasn’t much in the Italy-specific merchandise to get for the kids.


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Last time we had gotten a great t-shirt for DS of Mickey on a scooter in the colors of the Italian flag and I had gotten a shirt of Minnie’s bow in the Italian flag colors. Nothing was really jumping out at us though, so we looked around the rest of the store. I found this Rapunzel carry on bag that I said we should get for DD, but really wanted for myself.


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Side note…I ended up getting this bag for myself in the end anyway! :love: It went on sale on Disney’s site, and I got it for cheaper than it was in Italy, so it worked out well. And instead of this one for DD, she picked a Minnie Mouse one she wanted.

DH ended up spotting the clearance rack and we got this adorable purple Rapunzel dress for DD for €8,50!

After making our purchase, we headed back to the hotel and looked at the menus for a couple of places nearby and ended up choosing what I’m sure was a touristy restaurant, but we just wanted something to eat that was close to our end destination, so it was fine. I got lasagna, which wasn’t the best but it was okay.


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DH picked the better dish getting the fettuccine limone. It was pretty simple, just fettuccine in a cream and lemon sauce, but I tried some and it was really good! Better than my lasagna, for sure.


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After dinner, we were really feeling the exhaustion, so we made the quick walk back to the hotel.


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After changing into pajamas, we were in bed and asleep before 8 pm! Might have even been closer to 7:30 if I’m being honest. We did set an alarm for 10:30 pm so we could wake up and video chat with DS for a few minutes when he got home from school. Italy hadn’t done their daylight savings time yet, so for the first couple of days, we were only 6 hours ahead of our family back home. I had worried that getting to sleep for just a couple of hours and then waking up would make it hard to fall back asleep, but not even close! After talking to DS for a few minutes, we were out for the rest of the night in no time! And just as well, because we had some early morning plans for the next day.

UP NEXT: Sunrise Over Rome
 
Enjoying the report! Thought it strange though that there was no mention of gelato. ;)
 


So many beautiful pictures!

Glad you had an enjoyable lunch!

No show socks and I have a struggling relationship as well :rotfl: Glad you realized what the problem was though and that it didn't affect the rest of your walking! Did you end up going with the Skechers Go Walks??

I love those Mickey/Minnie statues at the Disney store!

I'm sure you all were pooped! Glad you were able to get a solid night of sleep!
 
The TR and pictures are awesome. I agree about the cold. I struggled with what to pack as I have two closets worth of winter coats but they are extremely bulky. As the temperatures looked like it wasn't getting warmer I made a last minute purchase on the recommendation of friend who knows I hate to be cold and bought a packaway Jacket from LL Bean. Best money spent in a long time! It was so light but so warm and I could pack it away and fit it in my bag so there was no walking around with a heavy coat over my arm. I'm getting one for my husband. Here is the jacket. Beth

https://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/119...&page=women-s-primaloft-packaway-jacket&csp=f
 
I continue to feel that Dustin has missed his calling. I presume that he is happy with his regular job but he really should do photography on the side.... He has such a great eye for composition. Keep the pics and trip report coming.

Chris
 


Looks like you took the reverse of our walk - we went from Piazza Navona (actually started at Campo Di Fiori) to the Pantheon to the Trevi Fountain and eventually to the Spanish Steps. You should have used your Rick Steves' guidebook and you wouldn't have gotten lost! We loved using Rick Steves when we were there, but we didn't bother with any of the audio guide stuff.

Only Primi, no Secondi? And no wine? Doesn't seem very Italian... we drank wine like water there!

I am trying to remember we arrived in Rome on a red-eye getting in around noon Rome-time. I think we stayed up past 7:30 though! We didn't do all the things you did though - it was mostly get to the hotel and go get some dinner. I wouldn't have had the energy to walk around Rome like that!
 
Really enjoying the report, and the gorgeous pictures! I love watching Rick Steves when he's on!
 
I am really enjoying your trip report and the beautiful pictures....thanks so much for sharing. I cannot wait for the next report.
 
Enjoying the report! Thought it strange though that there was no mention of gelato. ;)

Glad to hear you're enjoying it!

I know, we were way too low on our gelato quotient for this part of the trip. Womp womp. We made up for it on the cruise though!

So many beautiful pictures!

Glad you had an enjoyable lunch!

Thank you!

Finding food on our own was actually something I was a bit worried about because on our ABD we had so many included meals that we hardly ever had to worry about eating on our own. But I think we did okay for ourselves this time. We ended up in some touristy places here and there, but I was ok with it. lol

No show socks and I have a struggling relationship as well :rotfl: Glad you realized what the problem was though and that it didn't affect the rest of your walking! Did you end up going with the Skechers Go Walks??

I was VERY glad we figured it out (well, actually, DH did!) on the second day because I was really upset thinking my entire trip was going to be this struggle. I could barely walk a few steps before the socks were slipping down!! I had worn them a lot at home and had no problems, but I think the difference is that EVERYWHERE at home is flat whereas in Rome, many streets were on an incline. Yes, I did do the Go Walks! Once I got the sock thing straightened out, they were actually very comfortable shoes and held up for the whole week. They were the only shoes I brought aside from a pair of black flats to wear to dinner once we got on the cruise ship, so I'm glad it didn't take long to figure out the problem.

I love those Mickey/Minnie statues at the Disney store!

I'm sure you all were pooped! Glad you were able to get a solid night of sleep!

The Disney stores are totally worth visiting just for the cute decor!

We were soooo exhausted. I think I could have fallen asleep on a bed of rocks at that point lol

The TR and pictures are awesome. I agree about the cold. I struggled with what to pack as I have two closets worth of winter coats but they are extremely bulky. As the temperatures looked like it wasn't getting warmer I made a last minute purchase on the recommendation of friend who knows I hate to be cold and bought a packaway Jacket from LL Bean. Best money spent in a long time! It was so light but so warm and I could pack it away and fit it in my bag so there was no walking around with a heavy coat over my arm. I'm getting one for my husband. Here is the jacket. Beth

https://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/119872?feat=primaloft packaway-SR0&page=women-s-primaloft-packaway-jacket&csp=f

Thanks so much Beth!!

I bought the jacket I did in preparation for weather in the 50s to 60s, not 30s and 40s! That was a big knock to my preparation. And I had a thin fleece I threw in my suitcase (thank goodness) but it wasn't really thick enough to add much warmth unfortunately. Nice find on the LL Bean jacket! Thanks for the link!

I continue to feel that Dustin has missed his calling. I presume that he is happy with his regular job but he really should do photography on the side.... He has such a great eye for composition. Keep the pics and trip report coming.

Chris

You are too sweet! He has definitely grown in his photography skills, and I love the material he gives me to work with to make the TRs complete. Such a great souvenir to have such beautiful pictures to remember our vacations.

Looks like you took the reverse of our walk - we went from Piazza Navona (actually started at Campo Di Fiori) to the Pantheon to the Trevi Fountain and eventually to the Spanish Steps. You should have used your Rick Steves' guidebook and you wouldn't have gotten lost! We loved using Rick Steves when we were there, but we didn't bother with any of the audio guide stuff.

We didn't have a book, unfortunately, just a few podcasts DH had downloaded before we left. That would have been a good idea! I think we left the hotel a little too confident that we remembered where to go and decided to just wing it until we realized we had no clue where we were going. lol It wasn't too bad though, I don't mind being a tiny bit lost in Rome and stumbling across beautiful artwork and architecture.

Only Primi, no Secondi? And no wine? Doesn't seem very Italian... we drank wine like water there!

We saved the multi-course meals for the cruise. I just couldn't eat that much, no matter how much I wanted to!! There will be a distinct lack of wine in this TR as neither of us are big wine drinkers. :duck:

I am trying to remember we arrived in Rome on a red-eye getting in around noon Rome-time. I think we stayed up past 7:30 though! We didn't do all the things you did though - it was mostly get to the hotel and go get some dinner. I wouldn't have had the energy to walk around Rome like that!

On our 2014 trip we arrived around midday as well, and it was perfect. We did okay just walking around in the afternoon, doing the food tour that night, and I think we were able to stay up until around 10 pm or so. This time, getting in as early in the day as we did was really tough. We didn't want to nap, but we were both completely exhausted after only getting a few uncomfortable hours of sleep on the plane. But our only other affordable flight options would have gotten us in late afternoon to early evening, and we definitely didn't want to give up that much time in Rome pre-cruise. It was a struggle all day not to give in to the exhaustion!

Really enjoying the report, and the gorgeous pictures! I love watching Rick Steves when he's on!

Thanks so much, Heidi! We watched a lot of Rick Steves before both this trip and our 2014 trip. He's very informative and entertaining! What a nice job to have...

I am really enjoying your trip report and the beautiful pictures....thanks so much for sharing. I cannot wait for the next report.

Thanks for following along!
 
Just found this TR - great start! I'm loving all the pics from Rome (brings back such good memories from a trip we took a few years ago) and I'm looking forward to reading all about the Viking cruise. :goodvibes
 
I continue to feel that Dustin has missed his calling. I presume that he is happy with his regular job but he really should do photography on the side.... He has such a great eye for composition. Keep the pics and trip report coming.

Chris

Now your making me blush.:blush: Thank you for the kind words Chris, it means a lot to hear that. I do tend to put a lot of time into this photography hobby so it's always nice to hear when others appreciate it.

I don't typically post my photos anywhere esle so the only feedback I receive is through @khertz trip reports. Since I tend to be my own harshest critic and usually only see the flaws, it's refreshing to see the love from those that read her TR's and take the time to comment. I mean Kristy tells me they look good all the time but that's what she is supposed to say. :rotfl2::rotfl:


I may not comment on them all but I do follow along with all the TR's and read all the comments. Thank you to those who commented so far on the photos I took.:thumbsup2
 
Thanks for the update - enjoyed it! The Pantheon is definitely something we didn't get to at all and based on these pictures I am sad about that - really cool and impressive!

Its funny/interesting how we were in the same hotel but our room looked totally different than yours (orientation of bed, closet vs wardrobe, color scheme, etc.

Sorry there wasn't much in the Disney store (or at least not much Italy specific)

DH's dish does look pretty good - definitely looks very fresh vs typical Italian food you get in the States

and like others have said, great pictures by @DDuck4Life - especially the evening ones (I think that is really where you can see a big difference with someone who knows what they are doing)
 
I'm loving the TR! Funny I'm reading it in the kitchen and my new handyman installing hardware asks, "so have you been to Italy?" So ironic. Apparently, he just got back from a Venice-Florence-Rome trip!
 
We were over at Epcot Wednesday and wandered through Italy (among other stops) where we had fun chatting with CM's about our recent trip. In the mask shop we spent some time talking with the guy who's company makes the masks on display there. He's from Venice and his company is located there. Our niece couldn't resist one of the masks.
 
Enjoying the report! Thought it strange though that there was no mention of gelato. ;)

Jen G (my sister for those that know her) commented on my lack of FB posts about gelato on this trip.

Now your making me blush.:blush: Thank you for the kind words Chris, it means a lot to hear that. I do tend to put a lot of time into this photography hobby so it's always nice to hear when others appreciate it.

I don't typically post my photos anywhere esle so the only feedback I receive is through @khertz trip reports. Since I tend to be my own harshest critic and usually only see the flaws, it's refreshing to see the love from those that read her TR's and take the time to comment. I mean Kristy tells me they look good all the time but that's what she is supposed to say. :rotfl2::rotfl:

I may not comment on them all but I do follow along with all the TR's and read all the comments. Thank you to those who commented so far on the photos I took.:thumbsup2

Your photos are excellent. I posted some to my FB. I am still doing work on my photos from my river cruise trip- very behind. hope to catch up soon.
 
Just found this TR - great start! I'm loving all the pics from Rome (brings back such good memories from a trip we took a few years ago) and I'm looking forward to reading all about the Viking cruise. :goodvibes

Thanks for joining in! I'm excited to share the cruise portion, as we got to do some really incredible things in some of the ports.

Thanks for the update - enjoyed it! The Pantheon is definitely something we didn't get to at all and based on these pictures I am sad about that - really cool and impressive!

Too bad, but that's always a reason to plan another trip in a few years. :thumbsup2

Its funny/interesting how we were in the same hotel but our room looked totally different than yours (orientation of bed, closet vs wardrobe, color scheme, etc.

It looked completely different from our room in 2014 too.


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I wondered if they had renovated the rooms, or if they are just that vastly different.

Sorry there wasn't much in the Disney store (or at least not much Italy specific)

I guess I get it, since people shopping there are probably Italians just looking for Disney stuff for their kids. lol But the Mickey scooter shirt was such a great find last time, I was hoping for something similar this time for the kids.

DH's dish does look pretty good - definitely looks very fresh vs typical Italian food you get in the States

Yes, the pasta was so fresh! It was really delicious.

I'm loving the TR! Funny I'm reading it in the kitchen and my new handyman installing hardware asks, "so have you been to Italy?" So ironic. Apparently, he just got back from a Venice-Florence-Rome trip!

Thanks!

Haha how totally random. I find myself being vague when patients ask me if I had a nice Easter because I don't want to sound like a jerk saying, "Yes I spent it in St. Mark's in Venice! How was yours?" lol

We were over at Epcot Wednesday and wandered through Italy (among other stops) where we had fun chatting with CM's about our recent trip. In the mask shop we spent some time talking with the guy who's company makes the masks on display there. He's from Venice and his company is located there. Our niece couldn't resist one of the masks.

I've never noticed the masks in Epcot, I'll have to make sure we look for that next time we are in WDW! I'm usually too busy making a beeline for Via Napoli. :rotfl:

Jen G (my sister for those that know her) commented on my lack of FB posts about gelato on this trip.

Yes, I kept commenting to DH that I wanted some so bad, but I was just too cold to think about eating gelato!!
 
Day 2: Friday March 23rd

Despite getting to bed early the night before and sleeping heavily, we still weren’t ready to get up when our alarm went off at 5:30 am! But with only one more morning in Rome the following day and something already planned for that time, this was our one and only morning to go to the Trevi Fountain at sunrise. So we pulled ourselves out of bed and put on a bunch of layers because the temperature was in the low 30s, then headed out the door to walk to the Trevi Fountain.

The streets were EMPTY that early in the morning. It was kind of nice to get to walk side by side on the narrow sidewalks (we usually ended up single file so people could pass us on the other side) and to not have to worry about dodging traffic as we walked.


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When we arrived at the fountain, there were only a handful of other people around, so it was nice to get to take it all in without the sea of humanity that usually seems to be surrounding it.


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We each took a photo standing in front of it, but with DH’s skills, it’s like we were standing right next to each other.


After our quick jaunt to the fountain, we headed back to the hotel to warm up and have some breakfast.


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While at breakfast, we finally were able to be reunited with some of our Viva Italia friends! There was a group of about 6 of them plus Kevin & John, so we swapped arrival stories (some people traveling with us had run into some flight issues with a snowstorm hitting the Northeast at the same time many people were trying to fly out) and discussed everyone’s plans for the day. We were heading out for a Colosseum tour, but many other people had signed up for a day trip to Orvieto that Kevin & John had orchestrated. It was really tempting because we had enjoyed Orvieto a lot on our ABD trip, but in the end there was just too much we wanted to do in Rome to spend a whole day away in Orvieto.

After breakfast, we relaxed in the room for a bit until we were ready to leave for our Colosseum tour. We ran into Pete on the elevator who told us about his surprise side trip to Romania a couple of days before. Very cool!

We decided to walk to the Colosseum for our tour. It was about a 30 or 35 minute walk, I think, which is a little long but we knew we could sightsee along the way. We walked past some construction/refurbishing going on.


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One of the street corners we passed had an interesting fountain on it.


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We had time to look into a church that I just tried to find on Google Maps but I can’t figure out which one it was, but it was beautiful. Unfortunately it was one that didn’t allow photos inside.


The tour we booked was the Express Colosseum Tour with Gladiator’s Entrance and Special Arena Floor Access through City Wonders. It was a tour company we had used on our last trip for a tour to locations featured in the book Angels & Demons by Dan Brown. We had really enjoyed that tour, so when we were starting to look at things we might want to tour again this trip, we went back to City Wonders to see what options they had. We had visited the Colosseum with ABD, but it was just too fast for me. I was looking forward to having a nice chunk of time dedicated to just the Colosseum. The tour was about 1.5 hours and included optional access to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill after the Colosseum.

We had a little bit of time before we had to check in, so we walked around the outside and dodged people left and right asking us if we needed tickets.


Our meeting point was across the street near the Metro station, so we arrived around 9:45 am for our 10 am tour. They check in everyone at a central location, then break you up into smaller groups that leave staggered as they fill up. We were placed in Cecilia’s group and departed a little before 10 am to walk over to the Colosseum.

She talked first a little about the outside of the building and how in the beginning, there were marble statues in all of the arches around the top rim. She also showed us a spot where they had added on a support wall.


Here’s Cecilia as we waited for someone to come let us into the Gladiator’s Entrance down onto the arena floor.


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Getting to go down to the arena floor was something we had not been able to do on our ABD, so when we were looking for tours to book, this was something that jumped out at both DH and I. DH took a video of us walking in.


Cecilia told us about how there is still only one section of the original seats left, which were easy to view from down on the arena floor.

Continued in next post...
 
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Day 2 Continued: Friday March 23rd

We moved up to the next level after that to continue the tour. We saw remnants of some original columns.


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Only some of the original ceilings are still visible.


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So much of the marble and statues were taken to build St. Peter’s Basilica, so it’s kind of sad to think we’ll never get to see this in its original glory.

We around the top level and got to look across to where the original gladiator’s barracks were located.


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Then we had some free time to go take photos looking down on the arena floor.


After our time inside the Colosseum, Cecilia took us outside to the Arch of Constantine.


After that, she brought us to the entrance to the Roman Forum. Because access was included with our tour, so was able to get us right through security and into the Forum area before she left us, as the rest of the tour was self-guided at that point.

The one spot I remembered from last time and we both wanted to check out was the grave of Julius Caesar. He was actually cremated so it’s not really a burial site, but there is a little altar you can still view.


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Cecilia had told us where the restroom was located, so we headed off in that direction because I’m pretty much always on the lookout for one. lol

Once we found them, the women’s line was REALLY long. But I stuck it out and it took about 10 or 15 minutes for me to go through because there were only a handful of stalls. Meanwhile DH went around taking some more photos before coming back to meet me.


We had another tour planned for late afternoon, but there was still some exploring we wanted to do before then!

UP NEXT: Eating Italy
 

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