Today was our "free day" to do what we wanted in Rome, so Kathy and I, Sam and Virginia, and Elaine and Dave started walking around. Ended up back at the Campo del Fiore area where the merchants were all set-up in the square. I bought some small souvenirs. We ended up walking around looking for a gelato shop (like there isn't one every 10 feet), and we ended up at some ruins in the middle of town. There were a lot of cats milling around and Sam joked, "looks li...

We took taxis to Vatican city to meet up with our tour guide that we had at the Coliseum, Francisco. There was a very lonng line of people waiting to get in to see all the sights, but we were a tour group so we had an appointment so didn't have to wait very long. We received radios and earphones so we could hear Francisco since it was extremely crowded. Went through several halls of the Vatican Museum on our way to the Sistine Chapel. No photos are allowed in t...

Took a tour of Rome with our van driver, Franco, a retired police inspector, who had a great sense of humor, and spoke English very well. We went by the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which is called the "wedding cake" building because it is so stunningly ornate. He pointed out the steps where single women walk up on their knees and pray for a husband at the top. I said, "let me out", and Franco said "no need, you can be my 3rd mistress!". We arrived at the Arch of...

Off the cruise ship and onto a bus for the one hour ride to Rome for four days. Got to the hotel around 1130 am and our rooms weren't ready, so we stowed our suitcases and went exploring. Kathy and I took off to some local shops and bought some leather goods and souvenirs. Then, we found the Campo de Fiore (field of flora) area, which my cousin Barb had told me about. There we found the statue of Giordano Bruno, a Dominican friar who was burned at the stake in...

Off the ship at 0830am to do a land tour with our travel director to Florence (Firenze). Two-hour van ride with Ilanya, our cute little Italian driver. She kept apologizing for her poor English, which was perfectly fine. We saw the marble quarries in the mountains outside of Carrara, and through the Tuscan countryside to Florence. It was a complete mad-house in Florence, tons of people and this is the "off-season". I was in the van with Emma and Jim, and Gail a...