Day 1 - Arrival in Rome
Shellie and I took her mom, Gwen, and several other first-timers to Italy for Gwen's 80th birthday. Besides Gwen, we had Shellie's sister, Kim, two of her four children, Sage and Orin, and our friend Deana. So, seven total people.
This is a good trip to review (along with Germany where we had six people) for when you have a slightly larger group.
The itinerary for this trip was four days in Italy, then a seven-day cruise:
We used Booking.com to find an apartment very close to the Colosseum in Rome central. I would highly recommend this extremely spacious place: Sweet Dream Cavour (on Cavour street). It had four huge bedrooms and a perfect location. The host was also very responsive and the apartment was spotless.
We arrived very early in the morning (7am) and were able to drop our luggage at the building which also houses a hotel. We also had options to drop it at a "Bounce" location where we could have stored our bags for a reasonable rate.
Colosseum
We immediately headed toward the Colosseum on foot, and though it was a little bit of a hike for Gwen, we made it. You may encounter a gauntlet of vendors on Largo Gaetana Agnesi (the street that looks down on the Colosseum grounds). My advice is to head down the stairs as quickly as possible or you may end up buying something you don't really want.
GETTING COLOSSEUM TICKETS IS TRICKY: READ HOW I DID IT HERE
While we were waiting for our timeslot we ventured around Palatine Hill and the rest of the surrounding area. The area was more controlled by barricades than the last time we were here (SEE 2015 BLOG).
Your Colosseum ticket will get you into some of the extra areas, but we didn't have much time - we walked up Via Sacra to the top. If you do, I would suggest walking through Palatine Hill - your Colosseum ticket should allow you to enter there too (the entrance is on via di San Gregorio at the base of the hill).
We really enjoyed the underground tour and then walking out on the Colosseum floor. The kids (I say kids at 20 and 26) took a lot of pictures.
Pantheon
We walked back to the hotel and formally checked in, then took a taxi to the Pantheon. You now also have to have tickets to the Pantheon, but fortunately they are super easy to get online with tons of timeslots. We comboed it with a dinner reservation in the courtyard outside the Pantheon. I would definitely recommend the Pantheon to any visitor - the architecture and the art is stunning.
To get tickets just got to the Vatican Museums website and pay the 5 euro.
Dinner
We had dinner at di Rienzo. Excellent waitstaff and great location. The first-timers got their first real taste of Italian cooking!
It was an excellent end to a fun-filled day. Tomorrow we will be getting up early to head to Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast.