|
Post by Lilystar88 on Mar 23, 2019 11:57:02 GMT -5
On holiday! For ten days. Staying in Florence for 6 night then going to just out Rome for 4.
What should I do?
Current plans are
Florence -- see the Uffizi gallery, maybe another church and perhaps some gardens?
Rome -- Vatican. Maybe on a Wednesday to see a papal audience? Also might want to see the Pantheon.
Also, a beach, a wine tour and Bologna are in my sights. Ooh, and Pompeii maybe.
Any other suggestions? I won't have a car but the public transport seems to be sufficiant.
|
|
Bisexual
Borker
really poofy, sorry
|
Post by Borker on Mar 23, 2019 12:53:04 GMT -5
Oh how fun! My grandpa and aunt live in Florence, and we visited them last summer, so here’s some of the fun stuff we did that might be fun for you. Get tickets prior if you’re going to the Uffizi. I’d also recommend seeing David at the Academia, but get tickets prior. I would recommend the Duomo, aka the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. We did this really fun pizza/gelato making class where you get on a bus and go to the outside of the city, on this hill, it’s called San Miniato. They teach you how to make proper Italian pizza and gelato! You make dough, pick all your pizza toppings, and they show you how to flip your pizza in the air. The gelato part they have a variety of flavors you can make, and in the end you get to taste everyone’s gelato, and of course eat your pizza. They also had this really big doggo who was super cute. If you haven’t been to Florence before, I thought I should mention the carabinieri, or military police. They are different from the normal police. They have military uniforms and guns, I remember seeing them walking around outside the Duomo. I asked my dad what I should tell you about them, and he said “Obey instructions.” When we were there, they didn’t talk to us though, so your probably fine, just wanted to warn you. This is my moms preference, but she only gets purses in Italy, because she’s picky and can’t find the right one in the states. We visited a couple nice shops, but ended up finding the same purse she got 8 years ago in an open air flea market. I also like those open air flea market places because sometimes you can find some cool leather bound notebooks with the Florence insignia on it, which makes a nice gift for some (or for yourself). Also, our favorite gelato place is called Grom. It was my favorite when I was little and when we recently went back to Florence there was one right across from our hotel! It was so good, but that may be the nostalgia factor lol Uh, I think that’s it. I hope this was helpful (:
|
|
|
Post by *Faith* on Mar 23, 2019 16:54:15 GMT -5
Cool! I wish I could go to Italy one day. Have fun!
|
|
|
Post by Lilystar88 on Mar 23, 2019 17:07:57 GMT -5
Oh how fun! My grandpa and aunt live in Florence, and we visited them last summer, so here’s some of the fun stuff we did that might be fun for you. Get tickets prior if you’re going to the Uffizi. I’d also recommend seeing David at the Academia, but get tickets prior. I would recommend the Duomo, aka the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. We did this really fun pizza/gelato making class where you get on a bus and go to the outside of the city, on this hill, it’s called San Miniato. They teach you how to make proper Italian pizza and gelato! You make dough, pick all your pizza toppings, and they show you how to flip your pizza in the air. The gelato part they have a variety of flavors you can make, and in the end you get to taste everyone’s gelato, and of course eat your pizza. They also had this really big doggo who was super cute. If you haven’t been to Florence before, I thought I should mention the carabinieri, or military police. They are different from the normal police. They have military uniforms and guns, I remember seeing them walking around outside the Duomo. I asked my dad what I should tell you about them, and he said “Obey instructions.” When we were there, they didn’t talk to us though, so your probably fine, just wanted to warn you. This is my moms preference, but she only gets purses in Italy, because she’s picky and can’t find the right one in the states. We visited a couple nice shops, but ended up finding the same purse she got 8 years ago in an open air flea market. I also like those open air flea market places because sometimes you can find some cool leather bound notebooks with the Florence insignia on it, which makes a nice gift for some (or for yourself). Also, our favorite gelato place is called Grom. It was my favorite when I was little and when we recently went back to Florence there was one right across from our hotel! It was so good, but that may be the nostalgia factor lol Uh, I think that’s it. I hope this was helpful (: Ahh thank you thank you! This is actually massively helpful cause honestly, I can't see all the sights -- I'm going to be spending days in Florence, sure, but I also want to go to either Bologna or Sienna and day trips to wine tours in tuscan fields or beaches and hikes...so I think I might just do Ufizzi and I was wanting to do the duomo as well. I'm not super super huge on sculpture and feel like I wouldn't appreciate Michelangelo's David enough to justify spending and waiting in line to see it for 2 minutes or whatever it is...however, the birth of Venus, yes, I'd appreciate that. Thank you so much for the food recommends though! That's a big reason I'm going to Italy too. And I love shopping and markets and things (it's my favourite part about the fringe festival). And yeah I heard about the different police forces...nerve racking to be around police with guns...but I'll get used to it. Were there any good parks or gardens in Florence city centre you visited? Or hikes/wine tours that you went on?
|
|
|
Post by Lilystar88 on Mar 23, 2019 17:10:30 GMT -5
Cool! I wish I could go to Italy one day. Have fun! It's easy for me cause I'm UK based. No faffin' with visas or anything (though I did get travel insurance because brexit), but flights were only, like $400 for two people return
|
|
Bisexual
#e0a8ff
Name Colour
🎃❅❖.Şp໐໐kฯຟiຖ໓.❖❅🎃
THIS IS THE THRILLLLLLLLLLERRRRRRR, THRILLLERRRRR NIIIIIGHHHHTTTT 🎃
|
Post by 🎃❅❖.Şp໐໐kฯຟiຖ໓.❖❅🎃 on Mar 23, 2019 17:59:43 GMT -5
Number one thing I remember when I went to Italy like 6 years ago. Take pictures! Okay but do see the David. There's a line to get into the art gallery but not a line to see the sculpture.. I recommend seeing it because the David looks very different compared to how you see pictures of it. I didnt imagine the sculpture to be so huge! While in florence I believe it's been mentioned to check out the Santa Maria cathedral. Check out the giotto bell tower too! It takes some stamina because of the stairs. But it's really a sort of life time experience to climb it. There's a lot of history you can see just by trekking to the top. And the view once you reach it is amazing. There's a little boar statue called Porcellino in florence. Do go see it and rub its snout. It means you'll come back to florence one day 😊 Make sure to try all sorts of restaurants that you're able to. I recommend hitting up at least one gelato shop. I've never had gelato since my trip and honestly miss it so much. Try and see the sistine chapel in every way that you can! Coming up close to the "last Judgement" is a very surreal experience. It's the most epic piece of art I've ever seen. I recommend going to Pompeii and getting a tour guide for it. The artifacts you can view are interesting. And well, the entirety of the place is awesome. Learning the past of the place and seeing the way life was before the reckoning is eye opening.
Honestly like.. all churches and any big buildings you can find, are worth seeing. The architecture is something else. The art inside. Just general exploring is great too. These cities have a lot of history so you'll find all sorts of sculptures and artifacts all over. Even the fountains you find are so unique and particular. Being from Canada I've never seen anything quite like it. I loved my trip to Italy.
|
|
|
Post by Lilystar88 on Mar 23, 2019 18:23:10 GMT -5
Number one thing I remember when I went to Italy like 6 years ago. Take pictures! Okay but do see the David. There's a line to get into the art gallery but not a line to see the sculpture.. I recommend seeing it because the David looks very different compared to how you see pictures of it. I didnt imagine the sculpture to be so huge! While in florence I believe it's been mentioned to check out the Santa Maria cathedral. Check out the giotto bell tower too! It takes some stamina because of the stairs. But it's really a sort of life time experience to climb it. There's a lot of history you can see just by trekking to the top. And the view once you reach it is amazing. There's a little boar statue called Porcellino in florence. Do go see it and rub its snout. It means you'll come back to florence one day 😊 Make sure to try all sorts of restaurants that you're able to. I recommend hitting up at least one gelato shop. I've never had gelato since my trip and honestly miss it so much. Try and see the sistine chapel in every way that you can! Coming up close to the "last Judgement" is a very surreal experience. It's the most epic piece of art I've ever seen. I recommend going to Pompeii and getting a tour guide for it. The artifacts you can view are interesting. And well, the entirety of the place is awesome. Learning the past of the place and seeing the way life was before the reckoning is eye opening. Honestly like.. all churches and any big buildings you can find, are worth seeing. The architecture is something else. The art inside. Just general exploring is great too. These cities have a lot of history so you'll find all sorts of sculptures and artifacts all over. Even the fountains you find are so unique and particular. Being from Canada I've never seen anything quite like it. I loved my trip to Italy. Bringing my Cannon EOS 600 with me And I'll keep that in mind, but money is an issue with me so I don't know...Also, I gotta keep a light schedule cause I'm travelling with my cousin who faints if she does too much (it's a chronic illness thing....it's weird but I don't want to deal with Italian a&e if she faints from doing too much) But yeah no, I wish I could see all the churches and all the art...gah, 10 days is not long enough!
|
|
|
Post by Saint Ambrosef on Mar 24, 2019 12:02:44 GMT -5
I am currently studying abroad in Rome and pretty familiar with Italy by now, so I’d be happy to answer any questions you have
|
|
|
Post by Lilystar88 on Mar 24, 2019 16:31:45 GMT -5
I am currently studying abroad in Rome and pretty familiar with Italy by now, so I’d be happy to answer any questions you have Well I am so, so going to take you up on this offer. Especially about Rome. In some ways its more difficult because we've got less time, more to see, and we're staying further out (about 1 and a half hours away from roma termani by public transport...I think our resort runs a shuttle service though). Have you had any experience with visiting the vatican at all? If possible I'd love to go on a wednesday so I can see a papal audience then go through St Peters and the Sistine Chapel, but don't know if a day would allow for all that. I've still got to keep in mind I'm travelling with my cousin who has special needs. Apart from that I wanted to see the Pantheon, but couldn't pick anything else out of ancient rome that I'd really, really want to see. There seems to be so much in every website and guide book I look at. Anything to see apart from that that's really essential? Bare in mind I'll probably have only one day in rome city centre. The other thing I was wondering was the travel services. We're flying to Pisa, taking a train to Florence, then a train from Florence to rome, hopefully getting the shuttle bus from roma termani to this resort place then when when we leave we need to get to rome ciampino airport for 9 am in the morning... So, from what I can tell, once we get to a train station we can find a self service ticket machine, change the language to English (I'm trying to pick up some Italian from duolingo and things like that but it's not going to be anywhere near fluent by the time we go) and book a ticket. How does it work for booking tickets online? Do we need to collect them at the train station? Are there hidden costs like seat reservations once we get on the trains and things? We'll be relying on trains A LOT. How is Rome Ciampino airport to get through? Fairly straightforward, or should we give ourselves extra time?
|
|
|
Post by Saint Ambrosef on Mar 25, 2019 2:12:05 GMT -5
I’ve actually been to the Vatican many times because I’m a devote Catholic. My big advice there is to go early like right when it opens to avoid the major crowds— especially the security line to get in, it can get really long around peak tourist times. Totally worth it though, it’s way bigger than you think it is. Please be respectful since it is a center of worship for many: no more than whispers, no shorts and no bare shoulders (security actually wont let you in if you dress that way). Definitely check out the incorrupt saint bodies, there are several.
If you desicated a whole afternoon to just the Vatican and its Museums, you could take a nice leisurely pace. See if you can book museum tickets in advance since I think they only let in a certain amount of people per day/at a time. Definitely worth the visit, it’s one of the finest in the world. The Sistine chapel is part of it.
Just outside the Vatican walls is a favorite gelato shop of my college’s students for decades call Old Bridge. They give you a hefty portion for your money. Also general advice: gelato should not be more than two or three euro for small/medium sizes. Sometimes shops will surcharge if they think you’re tourists.
Public transport is very good, don’t be scared of it. There are just two main metro lines that cross the city but also many buses. A metro ticket is 1.50eu for 100minutes.
Check out the Trevi fountain and throw a coin in— its tradition and means you’ll come back to rome someday (I’ve thrown a coin three times in my life and so far its worked lol). Walk by the Coloseum at least to enjoy its size, and the Roman Forum. They’re a combined ticket but imo the coloseums isn’t necessarily any cooler from the inside. Those are all in one area and easily accessible by metro. Capitoline and Palantine hill have amazing views of the city, and the Capitoline museums has been described by my art teaher as one of the best in the world, so check it out if you have time. Those are the highlights. Although why only one day in the city?
Took a train from Rome to Ancona and it was pretty easy. Check to see if your train is a high-speed direct train (i.e. just Florence to Rome with no stops) or a regional train. Regional trains have no seat reservations and you can buy them at the station the day-of for cheaper than online. High speed direct trains have assigned seating im pretty sure so probably better to buy those online in advance; I’ve heard other students having to sit in the aisle because it was all reserved seating and there were none left. Regardless, yes, all train stations have self service ticket kiosks in English so don’t frett.
Ciampino airport is down the street from my campus. We used it once to go to Budapest, and it is a TINY airport. Only like 10 gates, one terminal. So very easy to get through. Two hours would be plenty of time. Are you getting to Ciampino by public transport from Termini? Because it’s the way I always take to campus so I can explain how to get there.
|
|
|
Post by Lilystar88 on Mar 26, 2019 16:16:32 GMT -5
I’ve actually been to the Vatican many times because I’m a devote Catholic. My big advice there is to go early like right when it opens to avoid the major crowds— especially the security line to get in, it can get really long around peak tourist times. Totally worth it though, it’s way bigger than you think it is. Please be respectful since it is a center of worship for many: no more than whispers, no shorts and no bare shoulders (security actually wont let you in if you dress that way). Definitely check out the incorrupt saint bodies, there are several. If you desicated a whole afternoon to just the Vatican and its Museums, you could take a nice leisurely pace. See if you can book museum tickets in advance since I think they only let in a certain amount of people per day/at a time. Definitely worth the visit, it’s one of the finest in the world. The Sistine chapel is part of it. Just outside the Vatican walls is a favorite gelato shop of my college’s students for decades call Old Bridge. They give you a hefty portion for your money. Also general advice: gelato should not be more than two or three euro for small/medium sizes. Sometimes shops will surcharge if they think you’re tourists. Public transport is very good, don’t be scared of it. There are just two main metro lines that cross the city but also many buses. A metro ticket is 1.50eu for 100minutes. Check out the Trevi fountain and throw a coin in— its tradition and means you’ll come back to rome someday (I’ve thrown a coin three times in my life and so far its worked lol). Walk by the Coloseum at least to enjoy its size, and the Roman Forum. They’re a combined ticket but imo the coloseums isn’t necessarily any cooler from the inside. Those are all in one area and easily accessible by metro. Capitoline and Palantine hill have amazing views of the city, and the Capitoline museums has been described by my art teaher as one of the best in the world, so check it out if you have time. Those are the highlights. Although why only one day in the city? Took a train from Rome to Ancona and it was pretty easy. Check to see if your train is a high-speed direct train (i.e. just Florence to Rome with no stops) or a regional train. Regional trains have no seat reservations and you can buy them at the station the day-of for cheaper than online. High speed direct trains have assigned seating im pretty sure so probably better to buy those online in advance; I’ve heard other students having to sit in the aisle because it was all reserved seating and there were none left. Regardless, yes, all train stations have self service ticket kiosks in English so don’t frett. Ciampino airport is down the street from my campus. We used it once to go to Budapest, and it is a TINY airport. Only like 10 gates, one terminal. So very easy to get through. Two hours would be plenty of time. Are you getting to Ciampino by public transport from Termini? Because it’s the way I always take to campus so I can explain how to get there. Ugh sorry this took so long for me to reply to. But thank you, so much of this information has been really helpful -- esp about the vatican. I'm actually taking my first communion this easter (nb; I'm an adult convert, not an eight year old) so I'm really excited to see the vatican. It's good to know I could see all the museums in one day. Still questioning about whether or not I should go on a Wednesday for a papal audience though (but that way I can't see the gardens/where St Peter is buried so I'm debating what I should do) Either way, definetly will book tickets. Also will check out that gelato shop, thank you! And yeah, basically, we'll be doing a lot of activity and sight seeing in Florence and tuscany. I want to go out on hikes and wine tours and go to beaches some days and things, so I was hoping since we have (slightly) nicer accomidation when we're in Rome that we would be relaxing a bit more while we're there, spending some days at the place we're staying rather than in the city itself. That being said, we're doing the vatican one day and Rome the other. Also my cousin can't do a lot. She'll faint, basically. And duolingo has not taught me how to explain to doctors in italian that she has a weirdass rare condition yet so.. And yes, we will be going from termani to ciampino via public transport. Probably suitcases in tow. I take it it's possible to get from one to the other pretty easily?
|
|
|
Post by Saint Ambrosef on Mar 26, 2019 17:35:11 GMT -5
That's amazing!! Congratulations on your conversion and welcome home!
I am actually attending a papal audience tomorrow, so I'll be able to tell you what to expect if you choose to go. However, from the way our Chaplain described it, they're packed and entrance to the Vatican probably won't be possible--I'll get back to you on the definite. So if you only have one day for the Vatican then you probably couldn't do both.
You can get into the burial crypt under the floor for free. However, if you want to see the actual burial tomb of St. Peter, you have to do the Scavi Tours. They only allow 250 people a day in the original necropolis that was buried as a foundation for the first Constantinian basilica (later replaced with the Baroque Vatican we know today). You have to sign up ahead of time and it's thirteen euros. 10000% worth it-- my university booked several tours way ahead of time for us students (tours are a max of 12 at a time) and I was lucky enough to go twice because the last tour had some empty spots. It's amazing. They take you on a tour through the ancient pagan necropolis 20 meters beneath the Vatican, with an archaeological expert explaining how they discovered it. It's a 70min tour. The tomb of Peter is indeed directly below the main altar (actually three altars built upon each other from the three different churches over time). You'll be able to peak inside his tomb and see his bones (jaw and hands, iirc). It's the closest you can possibly get to him, just a few meters.
Termini to Ciampino is definitely doable but give yourself a good amount of time. Take the orange (A) metro line to its southern end station, Anagnina. It dumps you out in a big bus station. From there, take either platforms one or two (one labels itself as to Ciampino Airport, but platform two takes you right by it as well). Your metro ticket works for the COTRAL bus within 100min of when it's first scanned at a metro station; after that you have to pay for a separate ticket but it shouldn't be more than 1.50eu. Alternately just slip on the bus with the crowd, Italians don't care hardly. The COTRAL buses can often be late, or infrequent at more inactive periods of the night/morning. If you don't already, download the Moovit app. It gives real-time updates of public transport in most major cities, and it'll be able to tell you if the bus is really late or if there's an alternate bus coming sooner you can catch. Just make sure you keep and eye on a GPS map so you can see where you're close to the airport and can push the stop request button, because they only stop if someone on the bus requests it or if someone is waiting at the station. It takes about half an hour to get from Termini to Anagnina, and then twenty minutes on the bus to Ciampino. But give yourself plenty of time in case the bus doesn't come for like, forty five minutes. Worst case scenario if it's gonna be really late, call a taxi from the bus station. Suitcases shouldn't give you any trouble.
To summarize: From Termini take the Orange line to Anagnina, take bus platform 1 or 2 (to your left when you exit), and watch for your stop.
English is pretty prevalent in places like restaurants, shops, tourist locations, train officers, but don't expect random Italians on the street or bus drivers to speak it.
Can I ask when you're going to Italy?
|
|
|
Post by Lilystar88 on Mar 27, 2019 8:02:41 GMT -5
Ahh thank you <3 I honestly do feel like I am home; my extended family is catholic but my mum didn't raise me catholic (was Episcopalian then like, ???) and I became a christian 7 years ago. It's been a long, convoluted and sometimes painful journey but I started going back to mass with mum in August and when I spoke to the priest about converting in February he said that he'd feel okay letting me take first communion at easter, so I'm excited. Nervous though; standing up in front of everyone and things, but worth it though to finally be a part of the oldest church in history.
And yeah no I figured it would be really busy and while I'm actually a huge fan of the pope (think the work he's done bringing the church back to being a loving organisation as intended by christ is really important) it might be quite un-intimate considering how many people are there.
But the tour sounds amazing -- I think I might do that plus seeing the museums in the day we go to the vatican.
And the public transport info is fantastic, thank you. Worst case scenario we will just call a cab, it'll be the end of our holiday and if we're out of money I'll cry to my mother on the phone and she'll bung me a tenner.
And I'm trying to learn some italian via duolingo and my mother did four years in highschool, so I'll see if she can help, so it'll be enough to show that I wasn't arrogant enough to come to a country and make no attempt with the language but it won't be enough for an actual conversation.
And May 29th to June 6th. So, not deep tourist season, but close enough for it to be a little crowded.
|
|
|
Post by Saint Ambrosef on Mar 27, 2019 18:05:21 GMT -5
Thats super cool! I take it you were baptized when you were young then. When is your first reconciliation?
So I went to the papal audience today. I got within a meter of Papa Francesco as he rolled around the aisles in his popemobile which was SUPER AWESOME, one of the coolest moments of my life. There was a papal blessing at the end and I got my St. Ambrose medallion blessed! But it was a long ordeal. In order to get good seats right at the railing we left campus at 6:30, got there at 7:30, which was two hours before the actual audience. So if you wanna get close to the Pope, it's a big time commitment. The Vatican is closed off during the audience so theoretically you could go afterwards once they opened it back up, but it'd be a long day. If you really wanna see the Pope but don't mind distance, you can go to St. Peter's Square at 12:00 daily to see him from his little window above the square reciting the Angelus with the crowd.
I think you mentioned you're from the UK, so as a word of warning, Italy gets pretty hot in the summer-- even in June it can get up to 32C / 90ish F, so just be prepared for heat. But there's a good chance it will only be like low 80s F tops
To be honest, it's gonna be more than a little crowded in early June. Tourist season in Rome never really ends, but even now in late March it's starting to pick up. But it won't be intolerable. Just be really careful of pickpockets, and street hawkers are everywhere.
|
|
|
Post by Lilystar88 on Mar 28, 2019 6:40:03 GMT -5
Well, yes. Christening was Episcopalian but I came back to faith through a ministry that was run by the daughter of a baptist minister, which meant she recommended I go through an adult baptism as well. So I've had two.
Looking back I'm actually really glad I did it. I'd spent years away from being a christian so when I came back to faith it really was new again and the baptism felt like more of a personal commitment, and it's held me strong in times of trial kind of thing.
But I'm not exactly sure when first confession will be because the priest did say he wanted to do me with the children, but then he changed his mind. So I /think/ it's going to be after the easter holidays (after the 13th) but I'm not sure. At my next RCIA class I'll ask him.
And ahh it sounds amazing! But probably a really long day. Thank you for the info though. I'll talk to my cousin and see what our plans are -- we might end up doing the vatican in two days who knows.
Our airbnbs have air con and I've been abroad a few times so I'm used to it -- lots of ice water, cool showers and the like. But thanks for the heads up.
Any tips on how to avoid pickpokets though? I was planning to take minimal things out with me -- just my phone and credit card and passport in the big cities (was thinking of keeping my DLSR for when I'm out in the countryside?). Take it hand bags are a big target? I tend to put stuff in a pouch in my bra most of the time instead (crude, I know, but it's really hard to steal something right next to a boob)
|
|