Our Italian Adventure: From Rome to Venice

Mama Mia! Talk about an empty nest.

My wife and I have gotten fairly used to being Empty Nesters during the school year, but figured we’d get both our college boys back for the summer. Not exactly this year, because our oldest son Jason spent two months of it in Venice, Italy for a school project.

He joined about 25 fellow students from WPI collecting research and putting a report together for a mandatory college requirement course. We were so excited for him to go abroad and really experience living in another country.

Of course, this also meant that we’d have to go visit him to make sure everything was okay. Right?

So yeah, Allie and I booked a trip to Italy, starting in Rome and ending in Venice, where we’d check in on Jason.

Getting Our Bearings

We made it to Rome bright and early on a Tuesday morning. By the time we landed, got our luggage, waited on a super long line for a taxi and took nearly an hour drive to our hotel, we were most definitely jet lagged and out of it.

But that’s okay. Our detailed itinerary called for our first day to be nothing more than trying to stay awake for as long as we could.

We settled in, took a short nap and then started walking around town. First order of business was food! We grabbed lunch at a really cute little panini shop. This was my first taste (literally) of Italy’s infatuation with the other white meat: pork.

I asked for the specialty, which was guanciale (a.k.a. “pork cheek”). Crispy, salty and full of flavor, it was insanely delicious. Allie went for a more traditional panini (for us Americans at least), getting turkey with all sorts of veggies and cheese. Hers was darn tasty too.

And when I say “panini,” I’m not talking about the white bread sandwiches we have over here in the US that someone basically puts on the grill and squishes down. These are legit paninis, overflowing with meats, veggies and cheese on an unbelievably amazing homemade bread.

Yeah, Europe most definitely knows how to do fresh bread right.

As we sat outside the tiny panini shop enjoying our lunch and a bottle or two of Pelegrino, we stared across the street at… well… some crazy old ruins.

I can’t even tell you what this place was. Most likely it was a church, but we didn’t have time to check inside. We were just awed that a gorgeous ancient ruin like this with huge marble columns was just another building on a regular street.

We started walking and ran into some very familiar faces.

I have zero idea why Superman, Spidey and yes, E.T., were hanging out in an Italian candy store, but hey, I wasn’t complaining.

Our next big stop was the insanely crowded Piazzi Venezia square. I swear it was like 97 streets intersecting at one spot with zero traffic lights and gobs of people walking everywhere.

Yet, somehow Rome makes it work.

The spotlight of this area was a ginormous building with statues, columns and monuments mixed in.

I know, that photo doesn’t look real. Especially the sky.

But it definitely is real. It’s actually the Altare della Patria, a monument honoring Italy’s first king Vittorio Emanuele II. It was built to commemorate Italy’s unification in 1861. (See, my blog can be fun and educational.)

We also found out there’s a Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It seems an unnamed body of an Italian soldier who died in WWI is preserved and honored here.

That’s about as much history as Allie and I gleamed from this place, as we showed up at the gates just five minutes before closing. We managed to get inside the gates but by the time we climbed all those steps just to get near the entrance of the building, it was officially closed.

Guards ushered people along, re-iterating that it’s closed. But to exit, you had to go all the way up and cut through the building and all the way around the back. Which, as it so happens, brought us to a pretty breathtaking view.

Yes, this was my first glimpse of the Colosseum, the site I was most excited to see on our trip. (Next to our son, of course.)

It really was breathtaking. Again, just seeing an entire city mixed with trees and then some huge famous ancient relic in the middle of it all was pretty surreal.

We waited a few minutes for the crowd to clear so we could get our first touristy shots before heading all the way down to the exit.

When in Rome… Hit the Colosseum!

I figured by our second day, we’d still be jet lagged but much more functional, so I booked our first official tour for the afternoon. If you only have one day to visit Rome, I highly recommend visiting the Colosseum.

FYI:I booked all of our tours through either Tripadvisor or Viator. And I am most definitely glad I did, because it helped us skip big lines, ensured we had tickets to each event, and most importantly, coordinated our way through a foreign country with a very foreign language.

The other advantage of going through a tour is that your tour guides will share all sorts of unique tidbits of information.

Did you know the Colosseum is not the building’s real name? Uh uh. It’s actually called the Flavium Amphitheater. (Amphitheathvm Flavium)

After finding our way inside, we made it to the interior entrance. Yes, the one that leads right out onto the arena. Honestly, it felt a bit like walking through the tunnels out onto Yankee Stadium for the first time.

What we saw was just magnificent.

Pictures most definitely do not do it justice. The arena floor of the Colosseum was no longer there, but that means you can see everything that was built underground. It’s where the animals, gladiators, weapons and stage props were all kept.

Take note of the trap door floor on the left side…

To my dismay, this wasn’t a trap to drop unsuspecting gladiators into a vicious Rancor pit. (That’s a Star Wars reference for you not in tune with The Force.) It was actually used to raise up animals (such as bloodthirsty lions) onto the arena floor to face and devour gladiators.

All in the name of sport, of course.

While a lot of the Colosseum has since fallen away or been stolen (such as all the white marble that used to adorn a large portion of the interior), there’s still a tremendous amount left.

This place is enormous. And one of the cooler bits of trivia we learned is that most of the events that took place here were free to the townsfolk. Free entertainment sponsored by so-and-so, kept the people happy and entertained, while also greasing the political wheels of whoever was vying for power.

Here’s a view of the arena from the opposite side of the Colosseum.

Selfie at the Colosseum. Achievement unlocked!

The only complaint I’d give about this tour (and all tours in general), is that you’re on a limited time table. We did have about 20 minutes to explore the upper levels on our own, but that really wasn’t much. We barely got to walk around and had literally 45 seconds to race through the gift shop.

If you’re anything like me, you know the gift shop is the best part of any attraction.

 

The Hottest Hangout in Rome — The Trevi Fountain

On one of our days exploring the busy streets of Rome, we stumbled upon a real busy square. Restaurants, stores and more gelato shops than you can count surrounded the area. But in the middle was a large pool of water with some pretty impressive statues behind it.

Turns out, this is a famous spot called the Trevi Fountain.

Built in the 1700s, this fountain has a few myths tied to it. It seems you can help predict your future by tossing coins over your left shoulder into the fountain.

If you throw one coin in, you will one day return to Rome. Toss two coins in and you will one day return to Rome and fall in love. And if you throw three coins into the fountain, well, then obviously you will return to Rome, fall in love and marry that person.

This must be pretty accurate because tons of people were standing by the fountain tossing lots of coins over their shoulders.

No, I didn’t toss any. But I took a selfie with the woman I fell in love with and married.

The fountain was beautiful and all, but I don’t understand why the area was so mobbed. At all times of day and night too.

It really felt like Times Square in NYC to me. Just gobs of people standing around taking pictures, with loads of stores and restaurants in the area catering to tourists.

We Climbed Mount Vesuvius

I may have been most looking forward to visiting the Colosseum before we headed to Italy, but looking back now, I think the absolute highlight had to be our Mount Vesuvius tour.

Located on the Gulf of Naples, Mount Vesuvius was roughly a three-hour bus ride away. So yes, we got up super bright and early for this tour. It was a long day for certain, but so absolutely worth it.

The bus heads up a ridiculously windy, narrow road. Yes, we needed to pull over at times to let other cars pass us as they came down the mountain.

The bus takes you pretty high up the mountain and then it’s a moderate hike by foot up to the top. It’s a series of about 3 or 4 switchbacks (i.e. zig zags) up the side of the mountain. The first few are pretty short, but steep. So yes, we stopped to rest.

A lot.

You’re so high up, you are practically in the clouds looking out at the gorgeous view all around.

The last zag was longer than the other 3 combined, so it took us quite some time to get up. But when we did, it was well worth the view.

Yes, it’s big.

Really big.

And yes, we smelled a bit of sulphur and even saw a little bit of steam coming up from one area.

No worries, our tour guide assured us that they would’ve been notified at least a few days in advance of any sort of eruption. (Spoiler warning: There was no new eruption.)

There were actually 3 small “rest stops” near the top selling snacks, souvenirs and, of course, wine.

We finally took a seat at the very tippy top. No wine for us but we did guzzle down a Sprite and Fanta.

It was really crazy being on the very top of such a historic volcano.

Even better, though, our bus stopped about halfway back down the mountain at a restaurant called Kona, where we grabbed some lunch. We each got our own margherita pizza. And while I’m a big fan of toppings, I have to say this simple tomato, cheese and basil pizza was THE best tasting pizza I have ever had in my life.

The cheese…

The sauce…

The…l k;jlaasf… sorry. I apparently drooled on the keyboard there for a second…. But you get the picture. Amazingly fresh ingredients made for a literally mouth-watering meal.

We had successfully climbed Mt. Vesuvius and lived! On to the second half of the tour…

The Ruins of Pompeii

It’s impossible to sum up Pompeii in just a few words. (And this post is already crazy long.)

There are so many things to see and it’s only a fraction of what’s available. Artifacts and areas are constantly being updated and rotated in and out. What’s really nuts is that they are still digging out new things every day.

We walked around the streets, seeing things like an oven (above) that stood up pretty well over time.

A number of water fountains were located throughout the city and our guide shared some interesting facts about the intricate irrigation system of Pompeii. Loads of underground pipes worked their way through the entire city, with some filling up these fountains.

The face on this particular fountain was used as a marker. Rather than words to label different buildings or areas, pictures were used. Just imagine hanging with your friend on a Friday night in ancient Pompeii. Where are you going to get together?  “Let’s meet over by the wolf water fountain.”

The streets were also big enough for both pedestrians and chariots. There were even holes on the side of the street to lock in the chariot’s wheels so they won’t roll away.

See those small white rocks in between the larger grey ones? Those are pieces of marble, intentionally placed in there by the people of Pompeii.

Any guesses why?

At night, they didn’t have lights for any visitors, so the granite would reflect off of the moonlight and give a clear enough path for anyone out traveling.

At the center of it all was a town square complete with impressive statues.

Then there were various temples…

And a huge statue keeping an eye on some of the ruins currently under construction.

A museum housed all sorts of incredible finds, including a number of “bodies” on display. These are actually casts made from calcified ash that was left in the shape of these poor victims.

As you’d expect, the museum was chock full of pottery, vases, weapons, statues, tools and all sorts of artwork.

My favorite part of the above art is in the lower right corner…

You can see some small images carved in there. Know what those little drawings are?

Just like kids today, the children of Pompeii loved doodling on the wall.

You could easily spend a week in Pompeii alone and still not uncover all that it has to offer. If you are interested, I definitely recommend a tour because it is crowded. Like Disney World crowded.

Even with a tour, we still found ourselves waiting a little bit at times. I can’t imagine the lines we would have been stuck on without our faithful tour guide.

The end of the day, we hopped back on the bus, drove all the way back to Rome and called it a night.

Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel

For our last day in Rome, I had booked us on a tour of the Vatican Museum that included the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica. It was about a 20 minute bus ride from our location, so not too bad at all. And I have to say, it is definitely worth the trip.

Before you even start your tour inside the museum, you get some gorgeous views outside. That dome in the background is the top of St. Peter’s Basilica. More on that later.

I think I was most in awe of how green and lush the grass was outside!

The Vatican Museum is pretty darn huge. In fact, it’s enormous. We barely scratched the surface of the Vatican Museum and we must have seen thousands of stunning works of art.

What’s really funny is that despite it being so immense, it was still jam-packed with people. The crowds were continuously being herded from one room to the next by security. You barely had time to really look at anything before you were rushed to the next room.

But even just walking down a hallway was an experience.

This room was actually a lot less crowded than others! But look at the beautiful patterns on the floor, the sculptures on the sides, and the intricate paintings on the ceiling.

Seriously, you could spend hours alone just in this room looking around.

It is most definitely overwhelming walking through the Vatican Museum. I mean there’s one room lined with dozens of tapetries of different maps of Italy. We’re all pretty spoiled today with Google Maps, while here they sewed giant wall-sized tapestries of the world.

Our tour also included entry into the Sistine Chapel, which was one of the highlights of my trip. Just seeing that famous Michelangelo painted ceiling wowed me to no end. It’s way more involved than I ever expected, and I didn’t know that Michelangelo also painted a huge Last Judgement scene on the front wall. Learning the story behind his artwork here was a definite advantage of taking the tour.

Our day ended with entry into St. Peter’s Basilica which seemed like the size of a local mall. It felt like there were dozens of churches within this one building. Not to mention the artwork, the columns, the domes, the painted ceilings, and so on. In fact, the building itself was one magnificent piece of art.

Upon exiting, we found ourselves in the famous St. Peter’s Square. It’s mind-blowing to think that during certain times (such as when a new pope is picked), this enormous open area is overflowing with people.

Whether you’re religious or not, visiting the Vatican is a truly fascinating experience.

At last… Venice

Our last few days in Italy were spent in Venice.

The canals truly are something else.

And it took Allie all of 30 seconds to master the public transportation schedule (instead of buses or subways, there are water shuttles called The Vaporetto). Between that and walking over a zillion small bridges, we managed to see a good portion of Venice.

My birthday happened to fall on the Sunday while we were there so we spent the day over on the island of Murano (a short 15 or 20 minute boat ride from where we were staying).

Murano is famous for its beautiful colorful glass. There were plenty of Murano glass factories on the island selling high-end pieces along with the usual necklaces, vases, glasses and trinkets. We saw a short glass-blowing demonstration in one of the factories which I always find fascinating.

Unlike the main island of Venice with tons of touristy shops selling the same exact little glass figurines, Murano had dozens upon dozens of glass shops yet they all had their own unique products for sale.

We couldn’t resist this little glass mini-schnauzer which reminded us of our dog Ace.

And there was no way I was leaving this island without a glass figurine of Spider-Man!

It was my birthday so yes, I had to have some gelato.  I mean, I’m only human.

For our last day in Venice (and on our vacation overall), we just walked to areas we hadn’t seen yet. We were meeting Jason for dinner after he was finished working for the day.

We found a few comic book shops but nothing that really impressed me too much. (Rome’s were better in this fanboy’s opinion.)

Our stomachs started rumbling, so we stopped for lunch at a cute… uh.. Italian restaurant. We ate outside on the sidewalk next to the canals.

I had a beautiful lunch date (notice her Murano glass necklace) and some really good food.

Allie went for the margherita pizza, while I went for the “small” calzone.

We killed the afternoon walking off our lunch and eventually met up with Jason. The entire impetus for our 8-day trip was finally here.

On the last night of our vacation.

We may have only had a few hours with him, but meeting up with Jason in the area he spent the past two months in was absolutely THE highlight of our trip.

We took him to a really nice dinner and then went back to his apartment for a tour. It was much bigger than I expected and had an unbelievable feature…

After climbing a narrow circular staircase to the roof, you walk out on a nice-sized, beautiful terrace with a spectacular view of the city and the water. We happened to walk out just as the sun was setting.

And just like that, our Italian vacation was over.

We packed most of our stuff up, went to bed and got up super early to make it to the airport on time. We kissed Venice goodbye and after a long plane ride eventually made it back home to play the crazy game of jetlag.

All in all it was an amazing trip. I loved every tour we went on. Overall I’d say the food was hit or miss. It was either kind of “meh” or mouth wateringly delicious. I highly recommend avoiding eating in any touristy areas as the food was pretty average at best.

Eating is also a very different experience in Italy. All ingredients are super fresh, which means they have so much taste to them that you don’t actually need a lot of spices. Not once did I add salt and pepper to a meal. Even just a plain old spaghetti with marinara can be a life-changing experience.

I can’t wait to start planning our next trip abroad… once I catch up on sleep that is.

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Interested in touring Rome? Book tickets before you go:

Colosseum with Arena and Ancient Rome Tour

Skip-the-Line Group Tour of the Vatican, Sistine Chapel & St. Peter’s Basilica

Skip The Line Pompeii Guided Tour & Mt. Vesuvius from Sorrento