Travel Log: Italy 2009 Edition

My goal for vacation blog posting was to offer a trilogy with a little something for everyone. First, an update on Evelyn (mostly for grandparents, let's be honest). Second, a bit of travel logging; some tidbits about where we went and what we saw for people who enjoy that sort of thing, which I offer up below. Thanks go out to John, who kept a scrupulous record. I actually removed some of the details in the below, but his vision still comes through, I think, in the to-the-point descriptions. Third, and most difficult, I'm planning a final installment on my thoughts and impressions of the trip. We'll see. In any case, in answer to the questions "What did you do?" and "Where did you go?" I present the following:

Wednesday, March 18th 2009
- 10 PM ET: JFK to Madrid on Iberia

Thursday, March 19th
- 11 AM GMT: Arrive in Madrid from JFK
- 11:40 AM GMT: Madrid to Rome on Iberia
- 2:10 PM Italy Time: Arrive in Rome from Madrid
- Waited a long time to retrieve luggage, while Italian police with drug dogs sniffed us and our fellow passengers
- 4:00 PM Shuttle from the Rome Airport to the "Executive Hotel" in Rome, near the Villa Borghese- Night walk, including...
- Spanish steps (Spanish embassy to Italy), beautiful and very old set of steps leading to magnificent embassy building
- Trevi Fountain (large fountain powered by Rome's aqueducts in Baroque style)


- Gelato at Giolitti near Piazza Capranica (our favorite gelateria in Rome)
- Piazza Navona with Bernini’s Four Rivers fountain
- Dinner at al Bric near Campo del Fiori
- Tartufo (“death by chocolate”) at Tre Scalini in Piazza Navona

Friday, March 20th

- Free breakfast at hotel
- 8:30 AM: Galleria Borghese in Rome. Magnificent sculptures and paintings. Notable Bernini statues include: David, Pluto e Prosperpina (w/ Cerberus), and Apollo and Daphne
- Pantheon (temple for all faiths, dome w/ incredible architecture, 20 ft solid walls at bottom and 5 ft at top, perfect sphere)

- Note: Emma is mildly obsessed with elephants

- Roman Forum (main square of ancient Rome anchored by arches near capitol building)

- Palentine Hill (includes prison where Peter was held)

- Coliseum (gladiator battles to the death)

- Sistine Chapel (build up is incredible and includes Rafael works. Michelangelo painted the Sistine chapel over four years and it almost killed him.)

- St Peter's Basilica. Truly massive church in Vatican. St Peter's tomb is there. Inscriptions are 7 feet tall and include. Dove and surrounding ornamentation by Bernini, a pope's real body is on display (the "good pope")

-Pizza while waiting for a restaurant in Trastevere to open for dinner, then dinner at Trattoria da Lucia (excellent gnocchi)

Saturday, March 21st

- Free breakfast at hotel

- Catch train from Rome to Florence

- Settle in at De la Pace Hotel

- Go to Duomo, hike the 400+ steps to the top of the dome (indoor and outdoor view)

- Walk across the river via Ponte Vecchio (only bridge across the Arno River Germans didn't destroy during WWII)

- Hike up to San Miniato w/ monks singing and a great view of Florence

- Linger on the way down to watch the sunset from the Piazza Michaelangelo

- Dinner at Trattoria da Sergio with amazing gnocchi and traditional Florentine bisteca (steak)

Sunday, March 22nd

- Sleep in until 11:40 AM (thank you again, Laurel)

- 12:30: Go to Uffizi gallery, the U-shaped museum featuring chronological exhibition of Florentine painting, starting with medieval and ending with the renaissance / realism

- Lunch in the Piazza della Republica

- Gelato at Perché no (our favorite in Florence; we heard Vivoli was good, too, but couldn’t ever catch it when it was open)

- 4:30: Academia, featuring Michelangelo's David

- 6:45 night walk, including audio tour

- 8:00 dinner at Pizzeria Dante

- Gelato at Perché no again (it was that good)

Monday, March 23rd

- Breakfast at hotel

- Catch train to Siena

- Spend the day in Siena's main square (Il Campo)

- Climb to the top of the bell tower looking out over Siena

- Eat Gelato, lunch, read

- Catch train back to Florence

- Dinner in Campo San Spirito

Tuesday, March 24th

- Breakfast in hotel

- Catch train to Venice

- Go to Hotel Olimpia (the prettiest of the three hotels we stayed at)

- Walking around in Venice

- Saint Mark's Basilica, treasury

- Lunch at a sandwich shop

- Dinner at al Pesador, a fantastic restaurant along the grand canal just north of the Rialto bridge with an intimate upstairs dining room with arched brick ceiling and great canal view (even from the bathroom!)

- Short video on history of Venice on hotel TV, obviously initially written in Italian then later translated into English

Wednesday, March 25th

- Ate breakfast at hotel

- Water bus tour through the Grand Canal

- Tour of St. Mark's Square

- Lunch near St. Mark’s

- Boat tour to three islands in the Venice lagoon (Murano to see glass factory, Burano for colorful fishermen’s huts and lace making,

and Torcello with oldest church in Venice)

- Gelato at the La Boutique del Gelato (best gelato in Venice)

- Dinner again at al Pesador (same place as Tuesday night)

- Romantic walk home through streets of Venice

Thursday, March 25th

- Ate breakfast in hotel

- 9:15 AM Caught boat to Airport (Andre)

- 12:30 PM Iberia flight from Venice to Madrid

- 4:55 PM Iberia flight from Madrid to JFK

- 8:25 PM Arrive at JFK

It was a wonderful trip in terms of pacing. We did the tourist's checklist of sites in Rome and Florence when we were still fresh, then slowed down the pace the last day or so in Florence and in Venice. Out of all three (four including Siena) cities we saw, I probably liked Venice best, and if I were to return to any of them, would love to do a weekend there. Maybe a classical music trip? Venice, Salzburg, Vienna?

Any restaurant specifically named above is (in our humble opinions) worth visiting if you're in the area. Especially the gelaterias. Also, we downloaded Rick Steves' audio tours to our ipods for several sites. Neither of us really wanted to spend the time and money on in-person tours, but these allowed us to set our own pace and they were free!