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Trip Reports / Europe Trip - Rome, Venice, Monte Carlo/Nice, Paris
« on: July 17, 2018, 11:51:24 AM »
As per request I will post all 4 parts of my trip report here and link to it in the individual forums.
Part 1 - Rome
This trip was booked spur of the moment (at least for me) about 2 weeks before we flew. I usually book my long trips months in advance. Being that I needed 4 seats in J on the same flight I was very limited in my options so I booked KLM: JFK-AMS-FCO through Flying Blue. I believe it was about ~60k + $250 per person (factor in that I transferred these points from Amex and received the 25% bonus so in effect it was really ~48k p/p).
Although it was a 777 with a 2-2-2 configuration I was pleasantly surprised by the comfortability and general condition of the seats and the business class cabin in general. The service was great and our FA couldn't have been more pleasant and helpful.
We ordered the kosher meal and while the appetizer portion was frozen solid:
The main was decent enough and did the job.
We landed a few minutes late in AMS and were strolling leisurely towards the lounge when we realized there was an enormous line by passport control. Thankfully the guards kept walking along the line and announcing "flights boarding before XX:XX time can come to this line" and after just 5 minutes we were directed to the much shorter so-called family line. This also meant we did not have to clear immigration in FCO airport which worked out very well since we had a tour scheduled shortly after we landed.
We stopped into the not too impressive KLM lounge for exactly 5 minutes (no time for pics) then had to walk what felt like the entire airport to get to our connecting gate. The flight was just over an hour and was the European "ghetto business" class where the middle seat of each business class row was skipped.
There is no UberX in Rome, only UberBlack or UberVan so we opted to take a regular taxi to our hotel, the Palazzo Naiadi (formerly the Boscolo Rome) which was a set rate of I think 50 or 55 euro and we managed to fit 4 people and 6 suitcases into one car. This was only possible because I had exchanged some Euro back in NY since the taxis do not accept credit cards.
We arrived to our hotel about 2PM, checked in and went straight to the Great Synagogue to meet David Walden from Rome for Jews for our 3 o'clock tour of the Jewish Ghetto. He had a bunch of groups going out at that time and luckily our tour was with David himself, and it was just the 4 of us with 1 other couple. The price was 250 Euro per couple, cash only.
The hotel was beautiful and the rooms were decent sized, especially for Europe. This was booked using 45k Marriot points(=15K SPG) + $110 per night and it was pretty centrally located, not more than a 10 minute taxi ride from almost everything we did.
Back to the tour:
David is very colorful and a great storyteller. We thoroughly enjoyed our semi-private tour with him and would highly recommend it to anyone. I won't walk you through the entire tour as there is enough info out there about all of these places, but here are some highlights, some of which I can name and some I haven't the faintest idea of:
The Great Synagogue:
In the streets of the ghetto:
The locals enjoying the scene:
Horsing around with David:
Our tour ended about 6:30 and we had some drinks at Bar Toto including their famous iced tea made with frozen lemonade. We then headed to Bella Carne for dinner down the street.
I'm not 100% sure if they offered non-Glatt meat as well, but as far as I could tell most (if not all) of the menu was Glatt. The food was very tasty while not blowing us away.
We had a 5 hour private tour scheduled for the next day at 1:30PM of the Vatican and Colosseum so we just went straight back to our hotel after dinner.
While I had inquired with both David and Micaela from Jewish Roma about Jewish tours of the Vatican and Colosseum, I was told that they did not do private tours in June and July as it is their busiest season. While we would have greatly preferred that, we chose a non-Jewish tour instead that did offer private tours.
After much research and finding that a lot of companies no longer had availability being high season and last minute, I booked through romeprivateguides.com and I have to say our guide was great (forgot her name), very informative and spoke English very well. The cost for the 5 hour tour was 546 Euro (350 for the tour and 49 entrance fees per person x 4). This included everything besides the taxi from the Vatican to the Colosseum.
Our tour started at the entrance to Vatican City at 1:30 and our guide was great about taking us only where we wanted to go and skipping what we didn't want to see. We also got to skip the enormous line circling the streets since we had booked the tour. I do have to say that our guide said something about making a reservation for 4 Euro and skipping the line as well. But I do recommend a guide since we saw all these other tourists wandering around looking completely lost and having no idea what they were seeing or where to go (audioguides and all- it's still confusing).
Once we finished Vatican city we hopped an Uber to the colosseum. We found it very fascinating and again really appreciated having a tour guide. She kept us enthralled and we were actually surprised when the 5 hours was up. I doubt this would have been the case if we were part of a much larger tour group and so that is the main reason we chose to do only a private tour.
None of us had really eaten yet that day besides for some snacks and we were starving by the time the tour was done. We took another Uber back to the Ghetto and went to Alice Pizza. They serve by weight and not slice and the pizza was incredible.
We then headed back to our hotel, had some drinks, freshened up and went back to the ghetto for dinner (like I said, just a short cab ride from our hotel).
This time we went to Su-Ghetto and I for one was too exhausted to remember what I ate but the food was very good and nobody went to sleep hungry.
The next morning we checked out at about 11 and had the hotel hold our suitcases so we could do some more touring on our last day. We walked from our hotel to the Trevi Fountain (about 15 minutes) and shopped for some trinkets in all the tourist traps along the way. The streets were packed and the sun was BAKING but it was a nice colorful and enjoyable stroll. All of the really expensive designer stores are in the blocks near the Trevi Fountain and we enjoyed browsing and even picked up a few things. Because the dollar is doing pretty ok against the Euro right now (I believe it was 1.16) we were able to get some great deals and still get the 12% tax refund as well.
By the time we were done we had to run back to our hotel, pick up our luggage and run to make our 6:15PM train to Venice. I had booked Treno Italo since it was cheaper for that day than Trenitalia although the timings were very similar. I booked the first class seats and the entire ride took about 4 hours. It was actually very enjoyable and the views were out of this world.
Next up:
Venice
Part 1 - Rome
This trip was booked spur of the moment (at least for me) about 2 weeks before we flew. I usually book my long trips months in advance. Being that I needed 4 seats in J on the same flight I was very limited in my options so I booked KLM: JFK-AMS-FCO through Flying Blue. I believe it was about ~60k + $250 per person (factor in that I transferred these points from Amex and received the 25% bonus so in effect it was really ~48k p/p).
Although it was a 777 with a 2-2-2 configuration I was pleasantly surprised by the comfortability and general condition of the seats and the business class cabin in general. The service was great and our FA couldn't have been more pleasant and helpful.
We ordered the kosher meal and while the appetizer portion was frozen solid:
The main was decent enough and did the job.
We landed a few minutes late in AMS and were strolling leisurely towards the lounge when we realized there was an enormous line by passport control. Thankfully the guards kept walking along the line and announcing "flights boarding before XX:XX time can come to this line" and after just 5 minutes we were directed to the much shorter so-called family line. This also meant we did not have to clear immigration in FCO airport which worked out very well since we had a tour scheduled shortly after we landed.
We stopped into the not too impressive KLM lounge for exactly 5 minutes (no time for pics) then had to walk what felt like the entire airport to get to our connecting gate. The flight was just over an hour and was the European "ghetto business" class where the middle seat of each business class row was skipped.
There is no UberX in Rome, only UberBlack or UberVan so we opted to take a regular taxi to our hotel, the Palazzo Naiadi (formerly the Boscolo Rome) which was a set rate of I think 50 or 55 euro and we managed to fit 4 people and 6 suitcases into one car. This was only possible because I had exchanged some Euro back in NY since the taxis do not accept credit cards.
We arrived to our hotel about 2PM, checked in and went straight to the Great Synagogue to meet David Walden from Rome for Jews for our 3 o'clock tour of the Jewish Ghetto. He had a bunch of groups going out at that time and luckily our tour was with David himself, and it was just the 4 of us with 1 other couple. The price was 250 Euro per couple, cash only.
The hotel was beautiful and the rooms were decent sized, especially for Europe. This was booked using 45k Marriot points(=15K SPG) + $110 per night and it was pretty centrally located, not more than a 10 minute taxi ride from almost everything we did.
Back to the tour:
David is very colorful and a great storyteller. We thoroughly enjoyed our semi-private tour with him and would highly recommend it to anyone. I won't walk you through the entire tour as there is enough info out there about all of these places, but here are some highlights, some of which I can name and some I haven't the faintest idea of:
The Great Synagogue:
In the streets of the ghetto:
The locals enjoying the scene:
Horsing around with David:
Our tour ended about 6:30 and we had some drinks at Bar Toto including their famous iced tea made with frozen lemonade. We then headed to Bella Carne for dinner down the street.
I'm not 100% sure if they offered non-Glatt meat as well, but as far as I could tell most (if not all) of the menu was Glatt. The food was very tasty while not blowing us away.
We had a 5 hour private tour scheduled for the next day at 1:30PM of the Vatican and Colosseum so we just went straight back to our hotel after dinner.
While I had inquired with both David and Micaela from Jewish Roma about Jewish tours of the Vatican and Colosseum, I was told that they did not do private tours in June and July as it is their busiest season. While we would have greatly preferred that, we chose a non-Jewish tour instead that did offer private tours.
After much research and finding that a lot of companies no longer had availability being high season and last minute, I booked through romeprivateguides.com and I have to say our guide was great (forgot her name), very informative and spoke English very well. The cost for the 5 hour tour was 546 Euro (350 for the tour and 49 entrance fees per person x 4). This included everything besides the taxi from the Vatican to the Colosseum.
Our tour started at the entrance to Vatican City at 1:30 and our guide was great about taking us only where we wanted to go and skipping what we didn't want to see. We also got to skip the enormous line circling the streets since we had booked the tour. I do have to say that our guide said something about making a reservation for 4 Euro and skipping the line as well. But I do recommend a guide since we saw all these other tourists wandering around looking completely lost and having no idea what they were seeing or where to go (audioguides and all- it's still confusing).
Once we finished Vatican city we hopped an Uber to the colosseum. We found it very fascinating and again really appreciated having a tour guide. She kept us enthralled and we were actually surprised when the 5 hours was up. I doubt this would have been the case if we were part of a much larger tour group and so that is the main reason we chose to do only a private tour.
None of us had really eaten yet that day besides for some snacks and we were starving by the time the tour was done. We took another Uber back to the Ghetto and went to Alice Pizza. They serve by weight and not slice and the pizza was incredible.
We then headed back to our hotel, had some drinks, freshened up and went back to the ghetto for dinner (like I said, just a short cab ride from our hotel).
This time we went to Su-Ghetto and I for one was too exhausted to remember what I ate but the food was very good and nobody went to sleep hungry.
The next morning we checked out at about 11 and had the hotel hold our suitcases so we could do some more touring on our last day. We walked from our hotel to the Trevi Fountain (about 15 minutes) and shopped for some trinkets in all the tourist traps along the way. The streets were packed and the sun was BAKING but it was a nice colorful and enjoyable stroll. All of the really expensive designer stores are in the blocks near the Trevi Fountain and we enjoyed browsing and even picked up a few things. Because the dollar is doing pretty ok against the Euro right now (I believe it was 1.16) we were able to get some great deals and still get the 12% tax refund as well.
By the time we were done we had to run back to our hotel, pick up our luggage and run to make our 6:15PM train to Venice. I had booked Treno Italo since it was cheaper for that day than Trenitalia although the timings were very similar. I booked the first class seats and the entire ride took about 4 hours. It was actually very enjoyable and the views were out of this world.
Next up:
Venice
) and before we knew it we were landing in Dubai. Our connection time was just under 3 hours (They did have a 1 hour connection but I could only find business availability on that flight). We headed straight to the first class lounge which was truly impressive and MASSIVE. It stretches the entire length of the terminal and was easy to get lost in. We scheduled our complimentary 15 minute massages and had some coffee in the lounge while we waited. Besides the numerous bars and snack spreads in the lounge there is a complimentary restaurant inside as well as a pretty large smoking area: 
. LAX-HNL in first- sat directly behind 
. We then spent an hour by the pool and then packed up and headed to the airport for our flight to HNL.