Venice Planning

Our time in Venice is largely unplanned.  We have about a day and a half there (2 evenings) and while there are some cool sites (Piazza San Marco, Rialto Bridge, Doge Palace) I expect we'll enjoy our time there strolling the along the canals and alley ways, taking a boat ride along the Grand Canal, discovering some of the sites while getting lost, and likely visiting the islands of Murano and Burano.  

Yikes - Italian train strikes?!

In my research for our trip I ran across articles about the somewhat frequent (but pre-planned/ announced) train strikes that occur in Italy.  I don't remember running in to any issues last visit - but the Internet sure is a wealth of information, and it is something I wanted to make sure we were aware of before leaving.

We've booked Trenitalia to get us from Rome to Florence, then Florence to Venice, then Venice back to Rome (with a short regional train ride to Santa Marinella for a night before back to Rome).

The following blog posts, found on Pinterest, explain where to look for info on if a strike may be coming.

https://www.italybeyondtheobvious.com/travelers-guide-strikes-italy
https://www.italiarail.com/strike-information
http://italyexplained.com/how-to-deal-with-italian-train-strikes/

As I reviewed the site today to see of upcoming scheduled strikes I was concerned to see one of our travel dates, October 15, as a scheduled national strike day.  We have an 11 am train booked to take us from Rome to Florence.

I looked at the detail, and not understanding Italian - but could tell the strike was for October 15-16 and impacted Trenitalia nationally.  My first reaction was "UGH!" and to look at rental car options or other bus options - neither of which are even remotely preferable.

Eventually I got wise enough to try to translate with google what this alert and strike detail was really saying and YAY, I think we'll be ok.  The planned strike is scheduled to take place from 21:00 (9 pm) on Saturday, Oct 15 through 21:00 (9 pm) on Sunday, Oct 16.  By that time we'll have taken our train ride to Florence and should be settled in until we head to Venice on the 18th.  Of course, we'll still have to watch close and be tuned in to what is going on as we get closer and after we arrive in Rome, but fortunately the strikes being planned and announced in advance seem to rarely change.  Whew!!

Florence planning

Our second city/stop on the trip is Firenze for 3 nights.  We'll arrive via train mid-day on Saturday, October 15 and depart the morning of Tuesday, October 18.  I recall from my 2001 visit the beauty, art and relaxation of Firenze.  It is a very walkable town with lots of amazing architecture and history.  In brainstorming how to spend our time in Firenze we'll leisurely spend the first afternoon/evening exploring the many sites of the city; the different piazzas, the Arno and Ponte Vecchio, and the Duomo.  Maybe even attend Mass in English Saturday evening at the Duomo.

The remaining two full days in Firenze we'll take advantage of some tours.  On Sunday the 16th we have an electric bike tour booked through Viator in the late afternoon.   The earlier part of our day will be left to explore the Mercato Centrale, stroll along the Arno, and enjoy the city.

Monday the 17th we'll be taking a day trip/tour with Avventure Bellissime from Firenze to Cinque Terre.  This will be an all day adventure, and we're looking forward to learning from our guide about this precious area of Italy and seeing the beautiful small towns along the sea.  

T-minus 13 days until Italy!

It has been a busy summer, and we are now about 2 weeks away from departing on our Italian adventure.  Summer brought some extra excitement as we sold our house and moved.  It's been a great change, but certainly occupied our time from late May until mid-August.  Now we are just settling in to our new home.

In the midst of our move and now getting settled this fall; all of our final planning is taking place and we are preparing for our trip.  In my research and preparation I found some fun live webcams from famous sites around the world.  Here are some from places we'll be!

Piazza Navona Rome: http://www.skylinewebcams.com/en/webcam/italia/lazio/roma/piazza-navona.html

We'll be there Thursday, Oct 14 to meet our first Walks of Italy tour around 4:45 pm Italy time; which is around 9:30 am at home.

Piazza Signoria Florence: http://www.skylinewebcams.com/en/webcam/italia/toscana/firenze/piazza-signoria.html

We'll  be there from Saturday, Oct 15 - Tuesday, Oct 18.  The hotel we're staying at in Florence is in the back left corner of this camera shot.

Piazza San Marco Venice:  http://www.skylinewebcams.com/en/webcam/italia/veneto/venezia/piazza-san-marco.html

We'll be visiting this famous Venetian site sometime Tuesday, Oct 18 in the afternoon or Wednesday, Oct 19 (or maybe both).

Gelato preview

This past Saturday evening, Ryan and I went out to dinner to celebrate our 11th wedding anniversary.  We had a nice dinner at Cantina Laredo in Mall of America and calling our name nearby was a gelato shop.  So, of course, after we had a little post dinner walk we had to stop and get a little preview of the treat we'll encounter frequently in October!

We enjoyed and shared a cup with 4 different flavors: hazelnut, tiramsu, amaretto, and peach melba.  It was fabulous - great flavor and so creamy!  

Santa Marinella - YouTube Video

I love the technology that the internet and Google Earth provide,  that lets us preview the areas we will visit.  This is a cool video I found about Santa Marinella (on our scheduled beach stop toward the end of our trip).

Planning: Roma

Rome is the first and last city we'll see on our Italian adventure.  It is a "big" tourist city, but there is so much to see here.  It should be a comfortable first stop for a number of reasons.  First, having been there before I have some familiarity with the town, and second there are a number of great tourist resources (Walks of Italy tours, hop on hop off bus, etc.) that we can take advantage of.

This trip I want to make sure we leave time to relax, wander and discover things without being on a strict agenda.  On the other hand, wanting to make sure to hit some highlights and make the most of our days in this fabulous city.  Since we are not taking a planned tour, we can really dictate what we choose to do and when.

Here is my brainstorming for our first two days in Rome.

Day 1 day/afternoon: arrive train to Termini station, find hotel, explore, maybe a hop-on-hop-off bus tour

Day 1 evening: Walks of Italy Twilight Stroll tour w/ gelato, dinner

Day 2: daytime visit Colosseum, Roman Forum, Villa Borghese, evening Vatican City w/ tix for courtyard happy hour and museum entrance.