Italy-My Family Vacation

At the conclusion of my previous story, I mentioned that my friend, Amy, and I took separate trains to meet our families after the bike trip.  This may not sound like a big deal, but I am not a solo traveler.  I want to be a confident solo traveler, but that is something I have not accomplished yet. I have attended talks/webinars about solo travel, I have read Beth Santos’ book Wander Woman about solo travel, I have read books about women who have had amazing solo trips around the world, and I am working my way through the Backpacking Badass training about being a confident, competent, solo backpacker.  The idea of being able to backpack or take a trip to anywhere anytime I want, without having to coordinate with others’ work schedules/PTO, being by myself in the quiet wilderness or wandering through the streets of a city in a foreign city, feeling confident and competent, is very appealing.  But the truth is, I would probably be crying and shaking the entire time. I can be confident and brave when I travel with others, even if I am the one that is doing the planning and organizing.  In fact, I really like planning and organizing a trip.  But the idea of being by myself in unfamiliar territory turns me into an anxious mess.  So casually saying Amy and I took separate trains may have been a bit misleading. 

Anyway…I did manage to get on the correct train, and after an anxious ride during which I checked, double checked, triple checked the stops, I arrived in Rome.  The train station in Rome is at the airport.  I went out to the taxi line to get a ride to my hotel for the night.  When I was reading tips about international travel, one tip was to always get the price of the trip prior to getting in the taxi.  So being the confident, solo traveler that I was at that moment, I asked the driver about the cost of the ride.  He gave me a fee, put my suitcase in his trunk, and off we went.  When we arrived at the hotel, I gave the driver a euro bill that covered my fee plus a generous tip.  He reached down between his door and his seat, and he held up a bill that was worth half of what I had given him.  I thought he was trying to give me change, so I indicated that I did not need change.  He started shaking the bill at me, and I finally figured out that he was asking for more money.  He was saying that the bill he was holding was what I had given him.  I knew that was not true, so I told him I had given him the correct fee.  He continued to shake the bill at me, getting louder about insisting that I give him more money.  I should have just left the taxi, but my suitcase was in the trunk and I was afraid if I got out of the taxi, he would drive off with my suitcase.  I finally gave him more money.  He got out of the taxi, got my suitcase out of the trunk and drove off. I was very upset and shaky when I got to the registration desk at the hotel. I was also furious-with the driver for ripping me off and with myself for giving him more money.  That experience didn’t exactly inspire confidence in my solo traveling aspirations. 

My friend, Vicki, who was joining my family for part of our vacation, was meeting me at the hotel.  My family was arriving in Rome the next day.  Vicki and I booked a stay at a hotel that had previously been a monastery, called Domus Sessoriana. 

All of the rooms are converted from the cells in which the monks had lived. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it was pretty much just a hotel room.  My only information about monks comes from movies, but if they had decent rooms with private bathrooms, maybe it’s not such a bad gig.  Except for the itchy robes.  And the frequent meals of thin soup. And the isolation.  And the no talking….People who don’t know me well think I’m quiet.  People who know me well would agree that I would last maybe half an hour with the no talking thing.  And that would be pushing it.

The Domus Sessoriana is next to the Basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, which contains relics from the cross of Christ, including a piece of wood believed to be part of the cross, a nail, and a thorn from the crown of thorns.   

We had booked tickets to attend an opera that night.  The opera was showing at the Baths of Caracalla. The Baths of Caracalla were the city’s second largest Roman public baths. They were likely built between AD 212-217 and fell into ruin after AD 530. They now have sightseeing tours of the ruins, and they host concerts, operas and other special events. 

We saw the opera Carmen.  I brushed up on the story because I thought it would all be in Italian.  I know very little about opera, and did not realize Carmen is a French opera, so everything was in French.  But they had the words in both Italian and English on a big screen, so it was very easy to follow the story.  It was a beautiful night to be outside watching an opera.  We had a wonderful time. 

The next day, Vicki and I set out to find the Airbnb I had booked for our time in Rome.  Soon, my family arrived and we started our Italy family vacation.  We had about three days in Rome before we were to leave for Florence, so, as usual, we tried to stuff as much as we could into those three days. The first day, we just walked around the area near our apartment. We saw the Ponte Sisto Bridge.

We ran into a parade.  It looked like some sort of religious celebration, but we had no idea what the occasion was. 

We went to the grocery store and the bakery, stocking up on food to have in the apartment.  We scheduled a food tour for our first night.  When the food tour started, we were unsure if this was going to be a good experience.  The lady who was doing the tour, Emma, seemed kind of nervous.  We later learned that this was her very first tour.  She ended up doing an incredible job.  When the tour was over, we were trying to figure out how to get back to our apartment.  Emma started giving us directions about which bus to take, and then she said she would just go with us, since she lived nearby.  When we got off the bus, she walked us to our apartment!  She joined the kids (young adults) that evening for drinks, and she met us for dinner the next night.  We had made a friend in Italy!

I will admit, I am not a history person, so when I travel, I will research beforehand to try to figure out what it is I’m going to see.  In case there is someone reading this that is willing to admit that you just memorized the history stuff for tests and then quickly forgot it, I will add a little information about the popular attractions in Italy that we visited.

The next day, we went to the Colosseum, which is the largest amphitheatre in the world, made of stone and concrete. It was built between 72 A.D. and 80 A.D. It could seat 50,000 spectators, and hosted events such as sporting events, gladiatorial combats, and animal hunts.  There are many underground passages in the Colosseum.  Two thirds of the Colosseum has been destroyed, mostly by vandalism, earthquakes and fires. 

We went to the Roman Forum. The Roman Forum was the political, religious and cultural center of ancient Roman life.  It is home to many ancient ruins, including the Temple of Vesta, the Arch of Titus, and the Temple of Saturn.  It is rumored to contain the burial site of Romulus, the founder of Rome. 

We enjoyed these tourist activities, but it was incredibly hot.  Italy was experiencing one of the hottest summers in history that summer.  The following day, we had tickets for a Vatican tour.  My son, Ryan, had been up all night vomiting, because, well, it’s not a Hall vacation until someone throws up.  He insisted he was ok to go on the tour, so off we went.  Again, an incredibly hot day.  Our tour guide was not the friendliest person in Italy. She was friendlier to a family in our group that was clearly not from the US, so we thought maybe she did not like Americans. That’s ok. We didn’t care much for her either. We did enjoy our visit to the Vatican.

We went to the Trevi Fountain that evening. The Trevi Fountain was commissioned by Pope Clement XII to display the power and influence of the Catholic Church in Rome.  You are supposed to throw coins into the fountain to ensure that you will return to Rome.  I threw three coins in because I wanted to keep going back to Italy.  I’m kind of surprised Greg threw in a coin.  He does not typically want to visit a place more than once. It was peer pressure, I’m sure. He looks so excited… and a little concerned when my third coin went in. Watch this video to see how excited he really was.

I have since read that there is a myth that if you throw one coin, you will return to Rome, if you throw two coins, you will fall in love with an attractive Italian, and if you throw three coins, you will marry that person. I was just trying to increase my chances of getting to return to Italy.  I didn’t get to know any attractive Italian men on the trip.  Which is fine.  I think I’ll hang on to Mr. Enthusiastic. 

That night, we ate at a restaurant that my daughter Sarah had heard about. It was a little family owned restaurant.  It was a little hard to find, because we had to walk down several winding streets, but it was very worth it. The food was served family style.  The host/waiter’s mother was the cook. She came out of the kitchen to our table with a huge bowl of pasta. Everyone was given a serving, except Greg, my husband.  After everyone had some pasta on their plates, she took the huge bowl, still filled with pasta, handed it to my husband, and patted his stomach.  She then handed him a fork and a spoon. She didn’t speak any English, but I think we all understood that she expected Greg to finish off all that pasta! We all had a lot of fun that night! 

The next day we packed our bags and took the train to Florence.  Read my story next time for more about our Italy trip.

Tips:

1. The good thing about trains is if you get on the wrong one, you just get off and get on the one going the other way.  But that’s hard to remember when I am traveling by myself and shaking in my seat.
2. If you want to stay in a hotel that used to be a monastery, you can find one at domussessoriana.com.  The price was very reasonable.
3. If you are by yourself and have only a small piece of luggage, I would keep it in the seat with you when you ride in a taxi, rather than putting it in the trunk. Then the taxi driver cannot drive off with it after he tries to scam you.
4. Another taxi tip would be to take a picture of the bill as you’re handing it to the taxi driver.  I was completely taken by surprise by this scam, and certainly did not expect him to reach down and switch bills on me.
5. I don’t remember which company we used for our food tour, but I highly recommend food tours.  They are a great way to see part of the city you’re staying in, and, in my experience, the food has always been great.  Many of them will accommodate food preferences or restrictions, such as allergies or a vegan/vegetarian diet.  And maybe you’ll make a new friend.
6. A great book to inspire and inform you about solo travel is Beth Santo’s book, Wander Woman.
7. You can book a Colosseum tour by going to thecolosseum.org.  I recommend a tour. Of course, that could just be my lack of history knowledge talking.  But I wouldn’t have known what I was looking at without the tour.  There are several from which to choose, some that allow you to go in the underground tunnels. 
8. You can get tickets for the Roman Forum at www.colosseumdiroma-tickets.com.  We did not do a guided tour, but guided tours are available.
9. We booked our Vatican tour through Get Your Guide at www.getyourguide.com.  
10. The myth about finding and marrying an attractive Italian if you throw three coins in the Trevi Fountain apparently is not true.  Which was a good thing in my case.  I’m just hoping throwing three coins tripled my chances of returning to Italy.
11. For a delicious authentic Italian meal, friendly people, and great atmosphere, check out Ristorante Der Pallaro.

And the journey continues…..