Well, the time has come to say Arrivederci to Italy and head back home to the US. Our flight was at 3pm but we had to check out by 10am so we got all packed and were ready to go. We had a car service pick us up to take us to the airport and arrived there around 11am. Apparently too early to check in for our flight, so we had coffee at a coffee shop and waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, we are able to check in and check luggage as well. Someone in ou...

Today is our last full day in Rome before heading home to the US. We decided to leverage our Rick Steve's Rome tour guide and take ourselves on a self-guided tour of the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon and other sites in the area. Mike mapped out our quest on our cartoon map so we had an idea of where we were going After spending two days at our apartment and always walking toward Trevi Fountain, imagine our surprise when we discovered that the Spa...

A funny thing happened on the way to the Forum (and the Colosseum). Jean read the time incorrectly on the tour notice (it was military time), and so, we are riding around on the Hop N Go Bus, and suddenly we discover it's time to get off and be there! Uh oh. Luckily we were near the correct bus stop, but finding the meeting place for the tour was not easy, and we got separated. We managed to get together at the last possible moment, but everyone was grumpy be...

Early rise and shine to leave at 7am to catch a cab for our tour of Vatican City. Had cappuccino and Cornettos at the Vatican Cafe, and watched the seemingly millions of people queuing up for tickets and tours. Later we learned that 25,000 people visit the Vatican each day. One of the pictures shows the entrance to the museum, with Michaelangelo on one side and Raphael on the other. At 9 Am we met our 20 person, 3 hour City Wonders tour, guided by Francesca. ...

We said good bye to our lovely Airbnb in Positano on Thursday, May 31, at 9am. Our driver, Nello, helped us load our growing pile of suitcases, and we were off. By 10, we were at Pompeii, ready to start our guided tour with Dario. He was an amazing guide, an archeologist and historian in his spare time. He mentioned that they just found a body in a new section of the dig, and this one they will preserve in silicone rather than plaster (a new process as of 200...