Tips, tricks and notes:

1. If you have never traveled with a single carry on bag then you are missing out big time.  It is easy, saves money, saves the wear and tear of baggage handling, makes carrying easier and does not leave you wanting for items you would have packed in a bigger bag.  We bought one of these and three of these.  We were the first through customs, and didn’t pull any muscles lugging around our luggage
2. Summer in Rome is really hot BUT it is bearable.  Much of the walking can be done in the narrow streets and alleys and they are considerably cooler than the open squares.
3. A/C in your room is a must.
4. Dress in light colored synthetics and yes shorts are ok.  Synthetics dry quickly and are NOT the polyester nightmares that are aunt wore.  We brought zip-off convertible pants and they worked well.
5. If you want to fit in a bit, then make sure you stay away from clothes covered in logos and wear a shoe that isn’t blatantly athletic.  We didn’t see a single baseball cap but many people wear Tilley style hats to keep the sun off.
6. Some churches require that your shoulders are covered and women can buy one of the inexpensive shawls from the plethora of vendors for a couple of Euros if they need one.
7. Jeans would be terribly hot plus they don’t dry quickly if you wash them.  The Italians DO wear jeans and they are more often than not quite tight.
8. In general Italians seem to dress up a bit more than we do.  Women wear more dresses and skirts and they but their clothes so that they fit properly (no oversize baggy clothing).
9. Street vendors will sell you a 330 ml bottle of water for 2E and a coke for 3E.  Instead, find a grocery store because they will sell you a six pack for less than that.  It’s even cheaper if you buy no-name.
10. Pack a super lightweight day-pack in your bag.  You can carry drinks, snacks, wipes, tylenol, bandages (for blisters) and your maps and guide books.
11. We stayed at Hotel Smeraldo for 160E per night for two adjoining rooms.  That included breakfast and they arranged a taxi from the hotel for 50E (it was at 4am).  The hotel is a 5 minute walk from Piazza Navona.  As a base it was perfect because EVERYTHING was within walking distance.
12. We used Rick Steves Rome 2011 guide book (now 2012).  It was like a bible.  Read it before hand.  Many sites allow you to book in advance.  Doing so allowed us to walk past a two kilometer lineup to the Vatican.  Imagine standing in 36 Celcius heat for 4 to 5 hours with teens.  I don’t think so.
13. Tips are included in the restaurant bill.  If the staff are out on the street trying to lure you in, or there is a lavish display out front in English, then you will get a second rate expensive tourist meal.  Instead, get off into the back alleys away from the bigger attractions and go somewhere where it appears the locals are eating.
14. Don’t be surprised if there are no condiments or salt and pepper on the table.  They are the cooks and you are eathing their masterpiece.  If it needs salt, then salt was already added.
15. Water comes in “naturel” and “frizzante”.  Your teens might not like the latter because it is carbonated.
16. In 6 days we saw dozens of churches, Piazza Navona, Castel Sant Angelo, The Vatican, St. Peters, The Colosseum, The Pantheon, The Forum, Palatine Hill, The National Museum, Villa Borghese and the Borghese Gallery, The Trevi Fountain, The Spanish Steps and MUCH more.
17. We also took a side trip by fast train (270E round trip for 3) to Naples (Napoli) where we caught the Circumvesuviale commuter train to Pompeii.  It delivers you to the door of the ruins.  It was AWESOME and 38 degrees.  Bring water and wear sunscreen.
18. We took about 4000 pictures.  An 8 gig SD card should cover it.  You can buy another one if you run out.  I had a 32 gig card and could have taken 4000 more pictures than the 1400 I did take.
19. A compact decent quality camera will do the trick for most situations.  We like Sony because they have a cool panorama feature that we used a lot.  Mine was a step up to a larger sensor in the Sony NEX-3.  It was the most useful for taking shots in low light conditions like at night or in galleries where flash is not allowed.
20. We all wore Keen or Merrell shoes.  Annette wore a pair of comfortable sandals and they destroyed her feet on the first day.  Sandals appear to be very bad news.  Oh…you’ll do 90% of your walking on cobble stones.
21. Expect to pay between 60 and 100E for dinner and around 40E for lunch.
22. The favorites for my teenage sons were the Colosseum, the Forum, The Pantheon, Palatine Hill, The church of San Giovanni in Laterno, Villa Borghese and the National Gallery.  They were less impressed with the Vatican, St Peters and the Spanish steps because of the massive crowds.
23. Other highlights for the boys (and us) was the fabulous gellati, Italian pizza, the abundance of Smart cars, the crazy drivers and the intricate maze of alleys.  They also marveled at how the most unobtrusive doorways could open up into a sprawling grocery store.
24. We refilled our water bottles every chance we got at the outdoor drinking water fountains.  Liam was afraid to drink it but Aidan, Annette and I did and suffered no ill effects.

Ok, time to go get started on dinner.  More later.

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