Day 15 – November 26, 2007 – Toronto to Indianapolis
Up at 4am to catch 4:45 shuttle to airport
Bus all the way to crazy far away international terminal
Use meal voucher for breakfast
Finally board flight to Indy to arrive home!
Day 14 – November 25, 2007 – Rome to Toronto via Vienna
Wake up at 4am to get to airport – bus at 5:00
Crazy airport bus driver
Check in for first 2 flights
· Rome to Vienna fine
· Didn’t book us seats together from Vienna to Toronto, had to change at Vienna airport
· Vienna to Toronto – next to each other, but in middle seat group
¨ Em sits next to werewolf man for 10 hours
· Luggage takes 45 min to get off plane at Toronto and up to International Connections point where we would have to go through customs
¨ We miss our original flight because of this
¨ Ticket agent tries to rebook us to go to Chicago then Indy
Can’t get boarding passes to print so we miss all of our available options out of Toronto
¨ Ticket agent who we’ve been working with in ITPC tells us Air Canada will put us up in hotel and give us meals, and that we should just go to the ticketing counter to rebook for Monday morning
¨ Go through Canadian customs, up to Air Canada, and have to stand in line
¨ Ticket agent won’t give us hotel voucher, claims it is Austrian Air’s fault
¨ Talk to Air Canada manager, get hotel discount thing, meal voucher for the airport, and Monday morning boarding passes
¨ Get to Quality Inn hotel after crazy van ride
¨ Eat at hotel restaurant – burgers and fries
¨ Back to sleep – another early morning
Day 13 – November 24, 2007 – Sorrento to Rome
Head back to Rome from Sorrento
Stop at Autogrille for comfort stop
Stop at Autogrille for lunch
After getting back to Pineta Palace in Rome, we head downtown again
· Much better room at Pineta Palace
¨ Toilet not under sink
¨ 3 beds, bigger room, bigger balcony
In Rome
Vatican
· New Cardinals being inducted
· Wait 1 hour to go inside
· Don’t get to see Basilica – go into Cardinal meet and greet of sorts
· Leave through strange courtyards and hallways, a little lost
· Swiss Guard just gets out of your way and lets you walk wherever
Walk across Bridge of Angels
Go to Piazza Del Popolo
· Very neat fountain and two twin Pantheon looking buildings
Back to hotel area
· Eat at pizza place recommended by others in the group
¨ Pizza, salad, tiramisu, gelato
· Grocery store for more gelato
· Back to hotel to sleep – early morning
Day 12 – November 23, 2007 – Sorrento and Capri
Pack to move to hotel with rest of group
Meet others for departure/breakfast
Leave late because of strong winds in Sorrento
Take local coach to port
Take hydrofoil to Capri
Very rough ride because of the strong winds
Arrive in Capri
Take local bus to Anacapri
· Roads are very narrow
¨ Buses and taxis have to be specially made narrower than normal
· Visit Villa San Michel
¨ Beautiful views of Capri coast
· Take chair life to top peak of Capri – Mt. Solara, 1,800 feet
· Lunch at Barbosa Ristorante
¨ Spaghetti, gelato, coke light
· Local bus to middle Capri
¨ Visit gardens, both sides of island, both coasts, gorgeous
¨ Walked through alleys to see medieval buildings
· Local coach to lower Capri
¨ 15 min free time
¨ Take hydrofoil back to Sorrento early because of high winds – smoother ride this time
Local coach back to hotel
Our backpacks are missing after the transfer to the new hotel
Give us a bottle of spumante for our troubles
Walked around Sorrento, visited shops, abandoned house below street level, department store (UPIM) – closest thing to our supermarket
Purchased our wooden boxes
Walked through historical street in Sorrento, bought lemon chocolates
Repacked at hotel
Dinner with everyone in hotel
Hazelnut gelato from grocery store (Just ok)
Italian news = reading the newspaper on the television
· Traffic is animated
· Horoscopes are news
Day 11 – November 22, 2007 – Perugia to Sorrento via Pompeii
Early breakfast and head to Southern Italy
Stop for comfort stop at Autogrille
Pompeii
Lunch at yucky pizza place
Tour of Pompeii ruins
· Lots of stray dogs roaming around
Drive to Sorrento
Along Amalfi coast
We get different hotel than everyone else for first night
· Stairs flood in our hotel
Walk around Sorrento shops
Optional Dinner
· Appetizer with good cheese
· Pizza
· Pasta – white and red sauce
· Cake
· Lemon Cello – Very strong!
Stop for gelato on our walk back to the hotel
Day 10 – November 21, 2007 – Venice to Perugia via Ravenna and Assisi
Drive to Ravenna
Go to covered market, Dante’s tomb, Aryan Baptistry
Get hot chocolate
· It’s like a melted chocolate bar in a cup
Lunch at an Autogrille in the middle of the Alpenines
· Snowy up in mountains
Arrive at Assisi
Local guide and tour of St Francesco’s Basilica and Tomb
Beautiful medieval city on a hill
Drive to Perugia
Stay in Holiday Inn
Included dinner at hotel
· Pasta with truffle and sausage sauce
· Roast pork and gravy
· Potatoes
· Em’s Birthday Flan
Day 9 – November 20, 2007 – Venice, Italy
Head to Venice at 8:45am
Bus to boat, boat into Venice
Walked to gondolas for ride
· Anniversary guy serenades his wife with a song he wrote just for her
· Someone saw a rat swimming while on gondola ride
Met back with entire group for local tour
Local tour with local guide
Visited Venice glass factory for demonstration
St. Mark’s Basilica
· Absolutely gorgeous! Gold mosaic tile everywhere – no pictures allowed
· No eating in St. Mark’s Square
Free time
· Lunch in ristorante
¨ Pasta and Coke Light (very yummy)
· Walked to Rialto Bridge, window shopped on bridge and through street vendors
· Stopped into bakery for a couple of pastries
· Roamed beautiful city “streets”
· Shopped
· Visited McDonalds for restrooms
· People in St. Mark’s square buy pigeon food to encourage pigeons to land on them
Met group again, boat to bus
Bus dropped us off at the outlet mall
· Shopped in one store, bought Nike messenger bag, went to grocery
Walked back to hotel for a short rest
Dinner at hotel (Buffet style)
Back to room for the night