Dom, Peter and I flew to Rome together. After three nights there we drove to Capannori and spent three nights there. Then we flew to Amsterdam and spent three more nights there. The reason for going to Amsterdam was so we could send Peter home on a non-stop flight to Seattle. It all worked out quite well.
Part I of the adventure covers the Italian portion of the trip. For obvious reasons I do not take a lot of pictures in Italy any more. So, I have a lot more pictures of the Amsterdam portion of the trip which will be covered in Part II and possibly Part III.
As we all know, traveling involves a lot of waiting. Peter was an excellent traveling companion. Like Dom and me, he would just open his book and read until it was time to move on.
We left Seattle on March 28 and arrive the afternoon of March 29. After checking into our apartment (a bit more complicated than it should have been due to phone problems) we walked around the historic center. The apartment where we stayed was about halfway between Campo dei Fiori and Piazza Navona, a great location. Our stroll took us to Piazza della Rotonda where the Pantheon is located.
On Saturday morning we walked over towards the Vatican and took a hop on, hop off bus tour. It is a great way to get a good overview of Rome in a short amount of time.
We hopped off at the Colosseum thinking we would visit it but the lined was extraordinarily long. It was Easter weekend so all of Rome was mobbed. The new Pope attracted a lot of visitors.
Peter at the Colosseum
Instead of visiting the Colosseum we stood in a shorter line and bought tickets to the Forum area. It used to be free to walk through but now it is a combined ticket with the Colosseum. This worked out well for us as the ticket is good for two days.
The Forum area is quite interesting. I recently read a book called A Day in the Life of Ancient Rome. It really brought the area alive for me.
Everywhere we went there were a LOT of people.
After visiting the Forum, we hopped back on the bus and rode it around some more. As it was our first day there the rest of the day is a bit of a blur. It started to rain hard as we exited the restaurant where we ate lunch so we decided not to wait in line to visit St. Peter's Basilica and instead walked back to the apartment for a nap.
On Sunday morning we walked over to the Spanish Steps via the Trevi Fountain. This photo proves I was on the trip too!
Peter and I climbed the Spanish Steps so he could see the view out over the city. Afterwards we caught the Metro to the Colosseum.
With tickets already purchased we were able to walk right into the Colosseum. Score!
It must have been quite the place back in the day.
It probably has more visitors each day now than it did in its heyday.
I always love this view over towards the Forum from the Colosseum.
After touring the Colosseum we caught the Metro to the Vatican. On the way a man and woman boarded the subway. They had a speaker on a trolley. She sang and he played the guitar (I think). It was quite the sight but unfortunately I did not get a good picture.
Walking from the Ottaviano Metro station to St. Peter's we were "swimming upstream." Easter Sunday mass had finished and the crowds were pouring out of the piazza. News reports said 250,000 attended the mass and audience following.
When we arrived at Piazza San Pietro we could not go in. The guard I spoke to said they were emptying out the square before allowing people back in. It would be about a half hour so we bought some panini sandwiches and sat on the curb to eat lunch. It was interesting watching the multi-national crowd.
We managed to hit the line just right and we did not have to wait to long to get inside St. Peter's. The piazza was full of flowers for that morning's mass. When we came out of the church, the line to enter snaked all around the piazza!
On Monday morning we packed up, picked up our car, and drove to our apartment in Capannori near Lucca. On the way we stopped to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
Peter passed on having his picture taken so that he looked like he was holding up the tower. If you look closely at this picture you will see a whole row of people posing in the "classic" Pisan manner. Double click on the photo to enlarge it.
Arriving at the apartment involves a certain amount of settling in. On Tuesday we took Peter to the supermarket (actually very interesting!) and later visited Lucca for lunch and a stroll around the town. Here are Peter and Dom in the Piazza Anfiteatro.
On Wednesday we took Peter to Florence and walked around. Here are my two guys at Ghiberti's "Gates of Paradise"--the doors to the Baptistery.
We found a wonderful spot for lunch near Santa Croce. This was the view from my seat. Obviously the weather was quite nice but we were sitting there with our coats on. This was the best weather we had while Peter was with us.
Peter and Dom both had tuna sandwiches. They were HUGE! They were so large they had to be deconstructed in order to eat them. I had a wonderful salami, prosciutto and crostini platter. It was a terrific lunch and all for less than Euros 30 for three of us.
We tried to pack a lot in for Peter but the result was that we were on the go all the time. The up side to that is that we never had time for jet lag and we slept great every night. The Italian portion of the trip was more of the same for Dom and I. However, everyone's enthusiasm level picked up considerably when we got to Amsterdam.
Part II coming soon!
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