We plan to celebrate Christmas in Rome with (we hope) our whole family. We haven’t had a family Christmas vacation since 2013 when we were in Tokyo and our last Christmas with all our children was 2014. Since 2014 we have added members to our family. This will be a first Christmas together for our expanded family (crossing our fingers that nothing unexpected arises–unlike in April).
People will arrive and depart at different times but for me, it will be four weeks in Rome. Like 2018, I’m going to Italy twice in one year. Not unhappy at all.
Rome is probably my favourite city. This will be my seventh visit.
For the past few weeks I’ve been organizing my packing. Since 2008, when British Airways left my luggage at Heathrow Airport for three days while I was in Edinburgh, I have packed carry-on only. The one exception was in 2013, when I checked a bag full of Christmas gifts and Christmas baking as seen in my 2013 photo below.
This time, despite Christmas, I am not checking luggage. I’m not packing gifts. While we plan to do some Christmas shopping in Rome, that will just be for stocking stuffers. (Scott says he’s going to pack the stockings.) The airfare and apartment rentals are our gifts to everyone. I’m not baking cookies and I’m not taking cookies or any other baking with me. Christmas goodies will either be baked or bought in Rome and if we can’t find our traditional treats, we will find something new to sample. I’m sticking with the same bags I used this spring which is less than the maximum allowed for carry on. For my weak arm strength, the less weight, the better.
The bigger pre-vacation activity for me, which has been a mixture of enjoyment and exasperation, has been booking restaurants and activities in Rome. A number of restaurants are closed around the Christmas holidays and many are already fully booked. Booking for a group of 7 is an added challenge as many restaurants are tiny. Online booking at some of the official websites for museums and monuments has also been a challenge. A few websites do not work well or only work intermittently. Some, like the Pantheon, seem to have problems accepting North American credit card payment. My problem must not be an isolated one as there’s even advice on the Internet about buying tickets for the Pantheon. I was hoping to book Palazzo Farnese, which was designed by Michelangelo and is rarely open to the public because it’s the French embassy, but I waited too long and now the limited tickets are gone. Some sites in Rome, like Santa Maria del Popolo and the Mausoleum of Augustus, appear not to be open but I can’t confirm online. I guess I will have time to figure some of this out once I’m in Rome.
At least I had no problem creating a map of where to find the best gelato in the areas where we plan to stay or visit:
Our group will contain those who have visited Rome lots of times, those who have been to Rome but it’s been a while since their last visit, and those who are making a first visit. Exploring together will be an interesting opportunity to share impressions.