Again, we were up early and taking advantage of the free breakfast at the Casa Helena. One awesome thing about being in Italy is I can have tomatoes and mozzarella balls for breakfast! The only other gluten free protein on the breakfast bar is cheese and turkey cold cuts – which we make sandwichs out of for lunch.
Just like yesterday, the other items on the buffet include fresh fruit which is different each day, yogurt and both gluten and gluten free snack items – cookies, bread and various crackers. So once our sandwiches for lunch are made and our suitcases packed, we checked out at 10am and took a taxi over to the Tour Hotel – Hotel Ciceroni which is in the Prati area of Rome – about a 15-minute ride away on a good day.
It took us longer than expected to get to the Tour hotel due to a slight car accident along the way – despite the Rome traffic – we rarely saw any accidents but heard LOTS of ambulances! By the time we arrived at the hotel, Mikael, the Tour Director, was there coordinating for the bus of tour attendees to arrive from their flight to Rome. Liz and I sat down with Mikael and went through the itinerary for the 11 days and the fact that I had been to almost all the places we were visiting the previous year, in April, 2022 and that there were some stops that we would be making that from an accessibility perspective, while using a walker, will need to be accessed a different way. Two examples are the Vatican and Pompeii.
At the Vatican, to avoid stairs and get to the Sistine Chanel, one needs to walk along the top floor, where the public goes after they exit the Sistine Chapel. There is a stair lift that can be taken down into the Sistine Chapel exit from that level, where one can enter the Chapel and then just turn around and retrace their steps to get out. If I had gone the other way, there are multiple sets of stairs to navigate and a LOT of people. Similar with Pompeii – after going through the turnstiles to enter and continuing to the entrance to Pompeii, where there are huge boulders in the road, which make a very uneven surface to use my walker on, my plan was to go up the gentle slope to the museum at the exit to Pompeii, visit the museum and then take the lift up to the top of Pompeii where one can see a collection of statues in the Forum area.
We thought the talk with Mikael went really well – he seemed very knowledgeable and informed! As Liz and I were leaving the area where we had been meeting, Mikael as me what I thought, was a strange question “If you need to climb stairs – how many can you climb”? Considering the hour long chat we had just completed regarding what I am able to do, I answered that in an emergency, I will find a safe place, even if it involved stairs and I need to use banister for balance. At this time, the bus arrived from the airport, and I dismissed his question as just being curious.
As this was before 3pm, none of the tour rooms were ready, so our luggage had been stored in the luggage room except our carry on bags. As Liz, Anne, Richard and I had arrived at the hotel before the group, they did tell us that they were going to try get our rooms ready first – which was really cool! So all the people on the Celiac in Italy tour were waiting in the lobby and the rooms started becoming ready – with mine being one of the first which was AWESOME! I then went upstairs and looked at my room and I had been assigned which was a suite, that was wheelchair accessible! So I then invited Liz, Anne and Richard up to my room for a party to relax in comfort and wait for their rooms to be ready.
In about 2 hours everyone’s rooms were available and we were all ready for the “Welcome” drinks and dinner that had been arranged for tonight. I was so excited as we were going to be bussed to the restaurant, which also was going to include a tour of Rome – I was going to get to use wheelchair accessible bus that had been provided for the tour!
The accessible bus was exactly like I had imagined it and had used previously in Venice and on one of the excursions when on Holland America. The bus was beautiful and almost brand new! The lift worked very well – the only rule was I was to sit on my walker when it was in motion which is pretty standard and not an issue for me!
First we had drinks at a nearby restaurant to kick off the evening and then off we all went on a bus tour of Rome where we ended up on Tiber Island, which is an island in the middle of the Tiber River, where a Pediatric Hospital is located, along with a church, some restaurants and the private residence where we would be eating dinner together. Our host, Fabio, who did NOT look like a Fabio from the book covers, as he bald – so missing the long flowing slightly curled hair, was a very nice gentleman, and he explained that first we would go upstairs to his house and have appetizers and some Aperol and then later, we would go downstairs to the basement for dinner.
Now. Trafalgar Tours had told me that ALL the dinners were wheelchair accessible and this did not sound right! Sure enough it was not – the very skinny but high stairs to the 2nd (upper) level where the appetizers were being served had a rope for a banister! That was not safe for me to go up or down. So Richard, who does not drink either, stayed on the main level with me and we chatted outside where the weather was very nice (a bit hot) while Mikael checked out where we were going to have dinner. There were 3 flights of stairs going downstairs from the main level, where dinner was going to be served! Why he asked me how many stairs I could climb now made sense to me!
So Fabio and his family quickly set up a card table in the hallway inside the door to his house and that is where Liz, Gladys and Midge and I all ate dinner! Midge was unable to go down the stairs either due to mobility issues also. Richard eventually joined us as he is bothered by loud noises and in the basement of the home it was VERY loud! Richard described it to us though – it was like being in a domed room with bricks on the wall and around the ceiling and thick glass on the floor, below which there were ruins displayed.
We were fed pesto lasagna where the lasagna sheets were home made. It was amazing and awesome! It was like eating soft, puffy but well seasoned pasta. Then we had some salad and turkey and for dessert Pana Cotta which also was beyond my expectations! Once all the people downstairs had finished, we walked back to the bus and returned to our hotel for the evening. Tomorrow is an early start to get to the Vatican early before the crowds!
