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Rome Review - How we covered all of Rome in a day on our own


VirtualRain
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Beautiful photos, Virtualrain. Thank you for sharing.

Wow! The op has quite the schedule. I would have been absolutely pooped! :D

We spent 10 days in Rome on our last trip and still did not see all we wanted to see (of course, we are nutty history buffs and, for us, Rome is a history lovers paradise).

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Thanks for all the fantastic information on your day in Rome. Can you help us decide what to do. We are visiting Rome in May on our own whilst on Liberty and then we are visiting Rome in July with our two girls aged 12 and 10 on Oceana. We would like to visit attractions/tourist spots that our kids will not be interested in during our visit in May and in July visit attractions with our girls. We do not want long days and feel taking the train would be our best option so we can please ourselves when we wish to return to the ship. In July I would imagine lines for things will be long and it will be very hot. Kids get bored easily so would like to tailor this visit around them. I know they would like to see the coliseum and the trevi fountain any other suggestions would be good. I thought they might enjoy the hop on hop off bus.

 

Our girls have visited Rome twice, on a port stop when they were ages 15 and 11 and for 3 days precruise when they were 17 and 13. Based on their preferences, I suggest you try to reserve the Underground Colosseum tour when you visit. Also, try to go inside the Pantheon. If you have time, visit inside St. Peter's Basilica and then climb its dome. I also agree that the Hop on Hop off bus would limit the time you have for visiting the attractions.

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Originally Posted by wantocruisemore I had a cross body camera bag, the size of a large purse. I went everywhere, including through security at the Vatican Museum. Absolutely no problems. But we're scheduled for the Scavi Necropolis tour this coming June so for that visit I will likely switch and take something smaller. The word is that things that pass through security at the Vatican may still be considered too large for that tour. As for pickpockets, we all used cross body bags and paid attention. I actually used the camera bag for my purse. I noticed when we were at Trevi there were a couple of police officiers in the crowd surveying around. My guess is to discourage pickpockets. My DH was not allowed to carry his wallet in the normal back pocket area. I took care of everything in my bag. Here's the bag I have: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Lowepro+...&skuId=1180556 Yes, thanks for sharing, this link is very helpful :)

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  • 2 weeks later...
Thanks to many for the kind words, it is indeed a bit of effort to post this kind of info, but I spent many more hours absorbing others info on here so it's the least I can do to give back to this great community.

 

I also dont expect this kinda DIY tour is for everyone and as others have said, easy to modify to your own liking.

 

I should point out that it's not as aggressive as it may sound. It certainly wasn't rushed. I would describe it as a fairly leisurely pace that allowed plenty of photos (and as you've noticed, I'm not a snap shot type), people watching, treats along the way (like gelato), shopping, and resting at times (side walk cafes). There was never a point where we wished we could linger a lot longer or felt pressed for time.

 

Wow, thank you thank you! Your information is very appreciated and we truly thank you for the time you took posting this invaluable info. I plan on taking this info with us on our Rome adventure next October....hopefully the lines will be less as we purposely planned our trip at the end of the heavy tourist season. Thanks again!!

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Hi Virtualrain - great and helpful review!

 

I have a couple of specific questions for you since "doing Rome" for me includes getting the pictures I want. You have the same kit that I have (Cannon 7D, 17-55mm and 10-22mm).

 

Did you feel you needed a longer lens (i.e. should I bring my 70 - 300mm)?

 

Could you have gotten by without the 10-22 (i.e. go light w/ just one lens)?

 

I'm not looking for lens recomendations as those are covered to death elswhere, just some feedback from someone who did it on what focal lenghts were handy and/or must haves!

 

Thanks!

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I have a similar kit as well :) I'm bringing my 7D, 10-22 mm and 24-70mm f2.8L. That is enough weight for me to lug around. I have the 70-200mm f2.8L IS but that is too heavy and I don't really see the need for walking around towns. I'm contemplating a GorillaPod DSLR as well. Not for crowded areas though, I wouldn't want my equipment going for a walk :)

 

What type of bag are you bringing? I'm looking to buy the Pacsafe 100 or 200. Areas like Barcelona, Rome and Naples worry me a bit in terms of pickpockets.

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Hi Virtualrain - great and helpful review!

 

I have a couple of specific questions for you since "doing Rome" for me includes getting the pictures I want. You have the same kit that I have (Cannon 7D, 17-55mm and 10-22mm).

 

Did you feel you needed a longer lens (i.e. should I bring my 70 - 300mm)?

 

Could you have gotten by without the 10-22 (i.e. go light w/ just one lens)?

 

I'm not looking for lens recomendations as those are covered to death elswhere, just some feedback from someone who did it on what focal lenghts were handy and/or must haves!

 

Thanks!

 

I found the 10-22 invaluable for capturing the grandeur of some of the interior locations... inside the coliseum, Pantheon, Vatican, and the basilica. The 17-55 covers the full range of outdoor shots. I couldn't imagine wanting to pack more, and frankly can't imagine a need for a longer lens anyway.

 

If you really wanted to go light, you could consider just taking the 10-22 and simply crop those shots in post where the field of view ends up being too wide for your desired composition. With a 7D you have 18MP to work with so cropping is not a bad option.

 

However, if you get a lens pouch for your belt that can hold both the 17-55 or 10-22 like I did, you can easily swap lenses when you go in/out of buildings and the added weight won't seem like a burden. In my view, the camera on a strap with a lens pouch on my belt is much more desirable than a camera bag.

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I wish I saw your advice on getting to the Basilica through the Vatican. Our tour guide neglected to tell us that our Vatican ticket allowed us to go to the front of the line so we waited in the long line. By the time we finished our Vatican tour we were outside again and did not have the time to wait in the line for the Basilica so we skipped it. :(

 

How in the world did you figure out this little shortcut?

Edited by Northern Bear
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I wish I saw your advice on getting to the Basilica through the Vatican. Our tour guide neglected to tell us that our Vatican ticket allowed us to go to the front of the line so we waited in the long line. By the time we finished our Vatican tour we were outside again and did not have the time to wait in the line for the Basilica so we skipped it. :(

 

How in the world did you figure out this little shortcut?

 

I'm sorry you didn't find out about the shortcut in advance. :( It's posted on many travel websites -- including frequently on this forum -- and is mentioned in Rick Steves' Rome guidebook, among other places.

Edited by cruisemom42
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I'm sorry you didn't find out about the shortcut in advance. :( It's posted on many travel websites -- including frequently on this forum -- and is mentioned in Rick Steves' Rome guidebook, among other places.

 

My fault. I made it sound like we just did this tour when we did it back in 2005. :)

Not much on this website regarding a shortcut back then. We had a guidebook but relied a little too much on our tour guide (driverinrome) I guess.

Oh well, we'll try it again next year!

Edited by Northern Bear
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I found the 10-22 invaluable for capturing the grandeur of some of the interior locations... inside the coliseum, Pantheon, Vatican, and the basilica. The 17-55 covers the full range of outdoor shots. I couldn't imagine wanting to pack more, and frankly can't imagine a need for a longer lens anyway.

 

If you really wanted to go light, you could consider just taking the 10-22 and simply crop those shots in post where the field of view ends up being too wide for your desired composition. With a 7D you have 18MP to work with so cropping is not a bad option.

 

However, if you get a lens pouch for your belt that can hold both the 17-55 or 10-22 like I did, you can easily swap lenses when you go in/out of buildings and the added weight won't seem like a burden. In my view, the camera on a strap with a lens pouch on my belt is much more desirable than a camera bag.

 

 

Thanks for the reply! It's really helpful to hear specifics from someone who has been there/done that. I think I will take your suggestion and add a small pocket camera with a big zoom in case I want to take the odd zoomed shot and also to hand to others to take pictures of the two of us. I hate the thought of handing my big DSL to someone who drops it or worse runs of with it. :eek:

Edited by Paulhc
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Seriously? I understand its your opinion but its just rude. I for one, thank this person for their valuable and useful information. I do beleive they said to adjust where you see fit for your plans. Many people that have ONE day there chose to see as many things as possible and they just made it easier to do that.

 

Thats my opinion.

 

Two points -

 

First of all, your topic header was wrong. You did not cover "all" of Rome in a day. You did not even cover a little bit of it. On one trip to Rome, my wife and I got on public transportation and spent half a day just riding around the city. We did it because she had a bad blister on her foot and could not walk but it was still a totally unplanned and enjoyable experience.

 

Second and more important, you were so busy trying to see "all" of Rome and keeping up with your schedule that you spent almost no time seeing anything in depth. By rushing about, you missed the essence of Rome.

 

Imagine trying to see all of New York City in a day. Well, you did the same thing in Rome.

 

I would prefer to pick one or 2 things that were of special interest to me (even if they were not #1 or #2 on the CC or TripAdvisor to-see list) and enjoying them instead of worrying if I was going to make it to the next site.

 

Just my opinion.

 

DON

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VirtualRain...Thanks for the great info. We will be in Rome in June and may try your route. Can you give me an idea of about how many total miles of walking you did?

 

I can't guess at the actual number of miles we walked, but it's not as bad as it seems. Central Rome is fairly compact. Although, using the transit system strategically as we did late in the day when we were tired and our feet were sore was a good call.

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Hi VirtualRain Thanks for the time and effort you have put into writing this post. I have to say it is probably one of the best ones I have ever read! I have been in Rome a few times myself, but can remember how overwhelmed I felt on my first visit and am confident this post will help an awful lot of people. Your itineray gives a really good "taste" of the city. Well done! :)

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  • 4 weeks later...

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