Itinerary Overview

The next day, Thursday, is Jasmine’s birthday.  We will need to leave early the morning, tour the Milan Cathedral (the Duomo) and climb up to the top of the Duomo.  Visit the world’s first shopping mall, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II.  We can rest in the afternoon before going out again later in the afternoon.

Late afternoon and evening is reserved for celebrating Jasmine’s birthday/ possibly an evening out with Gigi’s classmate.

On Friday morning, we will check out of the apartment and store our bags at Milano Centrale before heading to Cenacolo Vinciano (Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper”).  We will then head back to Milano Centrale for the train to Verona.

Friday, 22 June 2018

Verona will be a short stop while en route to Venice.  We will visit Casa di Giuletta (featured in the movie "A Letter to Juliet"), Verona’s Cathedral Complex, and Verona’s ancient arena - a well preserved Roman arena which now serves asVerona’s opera house.  We then board the train for Venice.

Fri to Sun
22-24 June 2018

We should arrive Venice in the late afternoon.  We will be staying at an apartment about a 10 minute walk from Venice’s Santa Lucia Train Station (Stazione Santa Lucia).  Once settled, we could explore the city and head to St. Mark’s Square to catch the evening’s golden hour.

We will need to get out early the next morning to avoid the throngs of tourists that come in from the mainland and from the cruise ships.  We could explore St. Mark’s Basilica in more detail; visit the Doge’s Palace; and visit the Rialto Bridge.  We could also explore the less travelled neighborhoods inside the city.  In the evening we can return to St. Mark’s Basilica to attend the evening Vigil Mass.

The next morning, we can get another early start before we need to check out and board the train for Rome.  We will likely need to leave for Rome around noon.

Sunday to Wednesday. 24-27 June 2018

We should arrive Rome mid-afternoon.  Our apartment is a short taxi ride from Roma Termini (Rome’s Central Train Station).  We will be living close to the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps.  After settling in to the apartment, we should go our late afternoon to tour the neighborhood, and maybe the Pantheon.  The app, Rick Steves’ Audio Europe has good walking tours of both the Pantheon and the history of our neighborhood.

On Monday, we could head on to towards the Vatican.  We could spend the morning around the Colosseum area before it gets too hot.  However, we will need to be at the Scavi entrance to the Vatican not later than 1 pm.  The Scavi tour starts at 1:30 pm and will last about 1-1/2 hours.  The tour exits directly in the Basilica so we could explore the Basilica and make it up to the cupola without having to go through another security check.

After that, we could return to our neighborhood to party.

On Tuesday, we could return to the Vatican for a visit to the Sistine Chapel.  Once that’s done, we could pick up our tickets for the Pope’s General Audience the next day.  We could then explore other parts of Rome.

Don’t forget to buy Vatican souvenirs!  Also, something unique to do is send postcards from the Vatican Post Office with Vatican Stamps!

On Wednesday, unless the apartment owner let’s us check out late, we will need to store our bags in Roma Termini before we head for the Pope’s General Audience.  We need to be there early to get into a good position.  The audience starts at 10:30 and should end by noon.  From there, we can return to Roma Termini and get ready to board our train for Florence.

Wednesday to Friday, 27-29 June 2018

We should arrive Florence mid-afternoon.  Our apartment is within walking distance of the Florence’s Viale Filippo Strozi Train Station.  We can rest until late afternoon/early evening to stroll around Florence.

On Thursday, we can do some more extensive exploring of Florence

Friday, 29 June 2018

We will leave Florence as early as possible to make it to Pisa before the heat of the day.  In the “Field of Miracles” where the Leaning Tower of Pisa is located, we will also need to visit the Duomo (Cathedral) and the Baptistry.

Depending on what time we arrive in Pisa, we should have more time to explore other areas.  Pisa is primarily a university town.  We’ll see quite a few college students and a lot of college hangouts.

We will need to leave Pisa shortly after lunch to make it to La Spezia

Friday to Saturday, 29-30 June 2018

La Spezia will serve as our base for exploring the five towns of the Cinque Terre. Our apartment will, once again, be very near the train station. Once we’ve settled in, we’ll catch the train to the Cinque Terre villages so we could have dinner and catch the sunset before heading back in for the night. The prettiest town is reportedly Vernazza – we could probably view the sunset from there.

Again, we’ll need to leave relatively early to check out of the apartment and store our baggage at the La Spezia train station.

Saturday morning, we return to the Cinque Terre, this time by boat, to spend a more leisurely day and explore the towns, sample the seafood, and maybe go for a quick swim.  We return to La Spezia in the late afternoon to catch the train to Milan airport.  We will not be staying at a hotel, but there will be lounges and resting areas in the airport where we can take showers before boarding our flight home. 

Sunday, 1 July 2018

We fly home.