When Bryce’s parents decided they wanted a trip for their 45th wedding anniversary, it was the perfect time for us to joint them in Italy and Austria. We spent the entire trip with mom and dad, and Julia (Bryce’s sister in law) joined us for the time in Italy.
Keep on reading for our day-by-day adventures!
Day 0/1: Saturday and Sunday June 3 and June 4, 2023
Of course travel days are always long days. We were up at 6am ready to leave at 7am when we hit our first hiccup! We got to Nico’s boarding/day care and realized they didn’t do drop offs until 8am! We went back home to eat some breakfast and then attempted the drop off again. Nico was so excited for “summer camp” that he forgot to say bye. They do have a big pool now that it’s summer so I think he’s gonna have a good time. We drove to Springfield to see Katie’s dad for a bit, and then continued up to Dekalb to meet Bryce’s mom and dad and Julia (Bryce’s sister in law). Bryce’s sibling opted out of the trip. We got picked up by a big van around 3pm and got to O’Hare and then got onto the plane. We took off around 8pm (scheduled for 7:30pm) so our day has already been over 12 hours at this point.
We landed in Iceland at 6am. I saw an advertisement for these jalapeño Gouda crunches that were only sold on the plane, so we didn’t get any snack at the airport. There wasn’t a ton of time as we did get our passport stamped at the passport check and we were back in the air 90 minutes later. Our first flight to Iceland was 6.5 hours and our second one from Iceland to Rome was 4.5 hours. By the time we landed, it was 3pm Rome’s time (8am our time) and we still had to get our bags and catch a taxi to our Airbnb (which is right next to the Vatican).
Our Airbnb host met us at our place and then we all walked to the grocery store to pick up some food. The family wanted some snacks from the store for breakfast and dinner, but we decided to get some pizza! It was sold by the weight of the slices, so that was fun. Bryce liked the margarita fresh and I liked the four mushroom one the best. We did a quick rinse off shower and started some laundry before heading to bed.
Day 2: Monday June 5 Exploration Day and Pictures
We still ended up waking early. We rushed out to see all the odds and ends and ended up seeing everything with plenty of time. We started walking towards the castel D’Angelo and the bridge. It was sprinkling on us but then started raining harder so we ducked into a cafe for an expresso. We explored the pantheon. We got there right as it opened so there wasn’t much of a line. Then we checked out the Spanish steps. We were a little underwhelmed by them. But then we did some more exploring and found a lounge to grab a drink and just chill for an hour or so. Then we grabbed lunch at a very Italian restaurant! Patrons and even restaurant staff didn’t speak any English. We had the four cheese ravioli and there was fresh mozzarella inside of it with a cream sauce as well as pasta with clams and gnocchi.
We got back and had to start getting ready. Our car service picked us up at 515 for our 3 hour photoshoot! It was so much fun! We first started at Janiculum hill with the Vespa and fountains and an overview of the city. We opted to skip the Trevi fountain because it’s always so crazy busy and we would only get very zoomed in shots. Instead we went to Piazza Navona where there were 3 fountains as well as a small church where we got a fun silhouette shot. After that we did some more Vespa shoots on cobbled alleyways with the Colosseum in the background. Of course we got more with the Colosseum as well. We had a little time when we got done, so we went to this orange tree park. They had fantastic views of the city overlooking St. Peter’s Basilica.
Afterwards, we headed back to our Airbnb before going out for grilled calamari for dinner and some gelato for dessert. Our first day was successful!
Day 3: Tuesday June 6, 2023 Pompeii and Herculaneum
We were up by 5am to get ready to head out to the train station. We didn’t want to be late and miss any of our trains. We packed all of our stuff the night before so leaving this morning wasn’t too difficult. There were a number of tours from Rome that took you to Pompeii (near Naples). However, we wanted to see Pompeii and Herculaneum and the one tour that offered both archeological sites left from Naples. We got onto the metro, transferred to the Italiarail train, and headed to Naples. We had an hour to kill and tried a pistachio croissant. It wasn’t the best we’ve had but it was breakfast either way. And then the tour started! We were in a van with 4 other people (6 total) and they took us to Pompeii to meet up with the other car of 6 people. Pompeii was so interesting, and was a lot bigger than one could imagine. People say it’s big but it’s hard to imagine the scope of it without being there. It’s apparently 163 acres and it hasn’t even been fully excavated. It wasn’t a particularly hot day, but it still felt like a long hot day. We got a break for lunch and ate some packed salami and cheese that we brought. Then the driver showed up and we were taken to Herculaneum.
We appreciated that the tour guy pointed out differences between the two sites. Our tour guide seemed to know it all! He was fun to be with. Pompeii was full of working everyday people while Herculaneum was a boogie resort town. Pompeii had few large rich houses while even the small houses in Herculaneum had very expensive mosaics in the home. They both had bath houses, bakeries, restaurants, “fast food,” and roads. Pompeii didn’t have indoor plumbing but Herculaneum did. And Herculaneum had a big pool that was actually in a cave like structure. Overall we were glad we went to see both sites. It was really interesting to be able to compare and contrast the sites. It just made for a long day. We got back into Rome, found a restaurant for dinner with dad (we had a Bolognese and lasagna) and of course more gelato before bed!
Day 4: Wednesday June 7, 2023 Colosseum and Borghese Museum
Our tour today didn’t start until 930, so we got to sleep in a little. We got ready, ate some breakfast, and then headed to the metro. We took the red line to Rome Termini and then transferred to the blue line to get to the Colosseum. We walked a little bit before the tour and then found our tour guide. She first took us to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill, which is separate from the Colosseum but right next to each other. That was super interesting and fun to see. The Forum is where the ancient city of Rome took place. It was the site of the Senate, trials, elections and where Caesar’s body was brought after he was assassinated. palatine Hill is where the emperors built their palaces.
Finally after about 2 hours of learning about the history of Rome and the legend of its founders (Romulus and Remus) we were ready to head into the Colosseum. Even though we had skip the line tickets, there was a line for the skip the lines! It wasn’t too bad of a wait, especially since most of the wait was in the shade. The Colosseum is more like a skeleton of what it was. Inside you see one or two sets of seats (like bleachers) and some dome cutouts at the top. Every other layer tended to have fallen apart. The Colosseum was where the gladiators fought animals and also fought other gladiators. We also didn’t get to go down to see where the animals were kept, but it was okay since there wasn’t a floor/ceiling to block us from looking down into the basement. It was interesting to know that the Romans built handmade elevators though!
After the tour, all of us went to lunch at a nearby restaurant. It was very touristy but we were all hungry, thirsty, and tired and needed somewhere to go. All the places close to the bigger monuments were tourist places. After lunch, we split up and did our own things. We walked to the Trevi Fountain since we hadn’t seen it yet. It was busy, but it wasn’t impossible to get some good pictures. We even touched the water. Swimming, however, was not permitted! We then went to some shops and we both got some souvenirs from Italy. Bryce got a black and brown leather belt from a shop that made all their own leather products and Katie got some jewelry made from Murano glass. We checked the time and realized we had JUST enough time to walk to the Borghese museum. Before walking to the Borghese, we filled up our water and the many “drinking” fountains in Rome!
The Borghese park felt like the park near our house with the trees and the path. Once we got to the museum, we met our tour guide Fabio. He was very enthusiastic about the art in the museum even pointing out a tear drop and a mole on the marble sculpture of The Rape of Proserpina by Bernini. The guided tour was helpful because Fabio was able to explain what we were looking at and its significance. It took over two hours to go through the museum. We wanted to do the Borghese gardens but they were closed for construction. I did see the pond with the Temple of Asclepius. It was already late and this point, so we rushed back to meet the family for dinner. We went to a restaurant close to our place and ordered pasta carbonara and a seafood pasta. And of course, after dinner, we got more gelato!
Day 5: Thursday June 8, 2023 Vatican and Catacombs
We all got up and ate some breakfast before we left around 8 to walk to the Vatican. We actually stopped at a cafe for pastries before everyone was up and ate those for breakfast with the family. We weren’t sure what we got, but it was good nonetheless. While we were right next to the Vatican, the entrance was on the other side of the country (the Vatican is its own country, and the smallest in the world!) We met up with our tour guide and entered through security to enter into the country. We first had to go through all of the Vatican museums which were rooms and rooms full of Roman sculptures and Renaissance art collected by the Catholic Church. They only display about 20,000 pieces of art out of the 70,000 that they have collected. We finally got to the Sistine Chapel. It was crowded, and our tour guide said it was good we got the morning tour as the afternoon one was packed. We weren’t sure how it could be any more packed. We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside the Sistine Chapel but we wanted to just lay on the floor and stare at the ceiling. We then went into St. Peter’s Basilica which was really pretty.
We then went our separate ways. We had a catacombs tour and stopped to get lunch on our own. We had a charcuterie board with wine and dessert. Bryce had cannolis and Katie had an Italian sorbet (like Italian ice but way better) that was made with Prosecco and rosemary. The catacombs tour was interesting but it was dark so we didn’t get many pictures. We first went to Catacombe di Domitilla which was a 30 minute bus ride outside of Rome. These catacombs are one of the largest and most ancient in Rome and even has a Basilica underground. We walked the tunnels and then headed to the Basilica Silvestro and Martino ai Monti. It was a small basilica with underground catacombs. Finally we went to the museum and crypts of the Capuchins. It contains skeletal remains of over 37,000 individuals and bones are used to make different visual arrangements. Again, photos weren’t allowed so we didn’t get many photos during the catacombs and crypts museum tour. We did stop at an outdoor cafe for wine and were surprised to get free chips and free mini paninis. That was fun. For dinner we tried the peppered pasta and another dish that was like a white Bolognese pasta. We also tried the tiramisu that was so good! It was drenched in expresso at the bottom of the cup!
Day 6: Friday June 9, 2023 Florence and Galleria dell'Accademia
We packed up our stuff and left our Rome Airbnb around 945. We headed to the Ottaviano stop near our house and headed to the Rome termini. From there we found the Italiarail and we were on our way to Florence. It’s a high speed rail train so at some points we were going 300km per hour (186 mph!). We were able to check into our Airbnb right away and then found a risotto place for lunch! It was so good. We had a mint and pea risotto and an orange duck risotto. We then did a little shopping. Katie wanted some ceramics but they didn’t have anything she wanted and the stuff they did have was very expensive. Finally it was time to go to the Galleria dell'Accademia to see the Statue of David. It was a small museum but a rather large statue of David. It was really an awesome sight to see. We did a family dinner after the museum at a cute little restaurant. We ordered lasagna and wild boar pasta as well as fried mushrooms, grilled vegetables and some moscato for the table to share. Did I mention we got gelato on the way home?
Day 7: Saturday June 10, 2023 Museums and Duomo
Happy Anniversary mom and dad! Although today we split up! Dad and Julia went to the Ferrari museum and mom, Bryce and Katie did stuff around Florence. The first stop was the Uffizi where we saw the Birth of Venus by Botticelli. We had a lot on our agenda so we did a quick tour of the museum, that still lasted over an hour. We then saw and crossed the famous Ponte Vecchio. People live on the bridge! While walking across, it was the perfect place to get gold jewelry or watches. We crossed the bridge and went into the Pitti Palace. Originally it was a Renaissance palace but soon was bought by the Medici family. Now it is a museum with many works of art. Attached to the Pitti palace is the Boboli gardens, a park designed as an Italian garden for the Medici family. We didn’t walk the entire garden because it was huge but parts of the statutes and designs were built by Bountalenti. For lunch we picked up to go sandwiches and then took a 2 hour nap before we climbed the Duomo Firenze.
Around 3:30pm we headed to the Duomo. We had tickets to climb up. There were apparently 464 steps. We counted 458 but maybe we missed the entrance steps up to the inside of the building. It was one way up and one way down. Towards the top it kept getting tighter and tighter and the top stairs were like climbing a ladder. The views from the top were amazing though. We even found our apartment from the top. The dome was constructed by Brunelleschi and was completed in 1436. It is 376 feet high, the fifth tallest dome in the world. Afterwards we made a reservation for dinner. Of course it rained the one day we made an outdoor reservation for the whole family but at least there was a tent over us. And then we tried bubble gelato, which is basically a bubble waffle with gelato inside. It was delicious!
Day 8: Sunday June 11, 2023 Pisa
We split from the family again and left the apartment at 7:15 to meet at 7:30 at the train station. Our first stop: Siena. Our full tour bus took a little over an hour to get to Siena. There, a tour guide led us around the city and explained the city of Siena. Siena is comprised of 17 contradas that are represented by animals. Whichever contradas one is born into is their contrada for life. A couple could be from different contradas and have children born in another contrada from the parents. Bryce was really interested in the contradas. Siena is also known for their horse racing that takes place twice a year. The town is too small for all 17 contradas to race so only 10 horses race each year. And apparently the horse can win, as the rider fell off in 2018 and the horse by itself still won the competition. We were actually the first tour bus to Siena so we got to see the town while it was quiet and empty. We even tried their panforte which is like a chocolate fruit cake with nuts. Mom really liked that we brought her back some because there was a hint of orange in it too. Before we left, there was a parade for one of the contradas!
Our second stop, about 45 minutes away, was the winery of Fattoria Poggio Alloro. We got lunch there, bruschetta, pasta, charcuterie board and a cookie/biscuit to go with the wine. There were four wines, including a Chianti, one slightly sweeter and one slightly drier than the Chianti. There was also a sweet one that was very strong, almost like a brandy. The views at the winery were fantastic though. It was exactly what we imagined when thinking of the countryside of Tuscany. We were next to San Gimignano, a medieval town in Tuscany. We didn’t do many of the sights because we only had an hour or so to sightsee. Instead we did some shopping. Katie found a ceramic olive oil container and we had the best gelato in the Tuscany region (and we both agreed in all of Italy!) We tried a goat milk and blueberry as well as a special almond cream and saffron.
Our third and final stop: Pisa! While there is more to the town than the leaning tower of Pisa, that was the highlight of our stop. The tower is just over 183 feet and 296 or 294 steps depending on if you go up or down. 23 counted 257 but maybe we miscounted. It definitely felt like it was leaning going up but way more coming down! It was definitely a weird sensation! We came home late and got take away pasta. It was really good pasta Bolognese. No gelato after dinner but we still had some during the day!
Day 9: Monday June 12, 2023 Cinque Terre
We left about 6:30 this morning to walk to the train station in Florence to catch the 7:30am Italiarail to Cinque Terre. Katie loved the towns but Bryce felt like it was too beachy and too touristy! First we stopped in Riomaggiore and bought our train tickets. The first views of the water were so pretty. Then we headed to Manarola for the classic Cinque Terre view. Bryce and Katie then went back to Riomaggiore for their boat tour. We passed all the towns including Corniglia, which we did not visit because there were almost 400 steps up to the town itself. Bryce wasn’t feeling great on the boat so we left at Vernazza and got some ricotta and fig gelato. Then we headed to Monterosso al Mare where we met mom and dad. Julia had left to go back home at this point. While waiting for mom and dad, Katie did more swimming in the water. Another 3 hours later on the italiarail, we were back in Florence. We bought some more take away pasta as our last night in Italy.
Day 10: Tuesday June 13, 2023 Travel to Austria
A pretty uneventful day. We left around 8am and called a cab to the airport. Our flight to Vienna left at 11:30am and they gave us chocolate! Then we got more chocolate on the way to Munich. At the airport, we got a brand new (6km on it already) Mercedes Benz. We drove to Salzburg (about 2 hours) and found a grocery store before dropping mom and dad off at their Airbnb and then heading over to ours (about 2 miles away). We went our separate ways for dinner. Bryce got snitzel and Katie got beef stroganoff from a local pub. It was tasty, but more expensive in Austria than Italy. By the time we got back to the Airbnb it was late and we were tired.
Day 11: Wednesday June 14, 2023 National Park
It was our first day adventuring in Austria. We picked up mom and dad and headed to the Hohe Tauern National Park. Each attraction (like the gorge and waterfall) cost separate as opposed to the national parks in the US where you pay one park admission. The first stop was the Sigmund Thun Gorge. It was massive! We walked the wooden pathway and then saw the water pouring down. It honestly didn’t even look like water. We took a few steps up and saw a pretty lake with mountains in the background. After that, we were on the way to Krimml Waterfall.
The Krimml Waterfall is the largest waterfall in Europe. The falls are 1247 feet tall. We tried to hike it but probably only got to about 300 feet high. The water comes from glaciers and the water felt great when we were misted by it. We stopped at the cafe to grab lunch and then we were on our way back to Salzburg, about a 2 hour drive.
We didn’t stop there. We went to the fortress museum since it was open until 8pm. The Hohensalzburg Fortress shows the history behind the building of what remains of the medieval fortress in Europe as well as the lifestyles of the religious archbishops who lived there. After the museum, we grabbed dinner. We both got the goulash which was meat surrounding a bread dumpling. It was good, but different than what we expected. After that, we dropped the parents off at their Airbnb and went to hang out at a lounge before we walked back to our Airbnb and went to bed.
Day 12: Thursday June 15, 2023 Sound of Music Tour and Brewery
We picked up the parents around 815 and drove to the Mirabelle Gardens. From there we had the Sound of Music Tour. Our first stop was Schloss Leopoldskron, or the lake where the children in the movie fell off of the boat. Second, we stopped at Hellbrunn Gardens, only because that was where the sound of music pavilion was located. It’s the same pavilion that was used for outside shots, but the inside shots were shot in a custom made pavilion that was larger inside. We drove by the yellow wall where Maria sings I have confidence but we weren’t allowed to go into the abbey. It’s still a mystery how they were able to shot the film in the abbey. We then went to Mondsee to see the church where Maria got married in the film. In real life, Maria got married at Nonnberg Alley but the film producers wanted something fancier. Then we walked around Mirabelle gardens and saw the fountains, the steps, the unicorns, and the tunnel that the children ran through during do-re-me.
After that, we split from the parents. We did some shopping and Katie found Harry Potter in German! We even found the authentic and original Mozart balls! They are silver and blue and the knock offs are red and gold. They were pricy bought we bought a few just to say we tried them.
Our next stop was Stigel Brewery and Museum. Bryce got to try some beer and then we ordered some drinks (Katie tried the grapefruit radler), ordered some pretzels and even dinner. It was an interesting museum, but it was all in German so it was a little difficult to understand. It was earlier when we got home but we were tired so we went to bed early.
Day 13: Friday June 15, 2023 Hallstatt and Trick Fountains
Today was our own day. Mom and dad did their own museum walking tour and we headed to Hallstatt. This is the town Arendelle from Frozen was based off of. The town opens around 10 and we arrived at 8:30. It was early, quiet, empty, and charming. We then rode the funicular up the hill to 1148 feet to see the views. It was so high up and so pretty. We then did some shopping (didn’t find much of anything) and then grabbed a bakery good before heading to Fuschlsee Lake.
We wanted to swim but since we only had about 45 minutes we decided not to. But the water was warm, clear, and turquoise. It was nice just sitting on the deck for a while and appreciating the view. Finally it was time to head back. We had to pick mom and dad up to see the trick fountains and palace at Hellbrunn.
Hellbrunn was built by Price Archbishop Markus Sittikus von Hohenems, who liked to play tricks on his guests with trick fountains. One rule was that guests couldn’t stand without permission at the dinner table and Markus Sittikus would have water spray into people’s butts at dinner. One fun feature were these water operate musical theatres showing different moving scenes all made with the movement of water. We explored the palace and then had one last dinner.
We both order snitzel as our last meal in Austria. We went home early to pack and get a good night’s rest in before we had to head home.
Day 14: Saturday June 17, 2023 Travel Day
Since we stayed in a separate Airbnb from the parents, we left our Airbnb at 5:45am and got them at 6am. It was a 2 hour drive from Salzburg to Munich. We got gas and dropped off the car and had about 3 hours to get to the gate and boy we really needed the full three hours! First we stood in the Delta line to drop off our luggage. Then we stood in the line for security. After that, we had another passport check. Dad got separated from us and had to stand in the long line. After that we had to stand in one final line to scan our boarding passes to get onto a bus that took us to the airplane. It was a 9 hour flight. Katie slept the entire time, even though it was 11am with some sleep aids. Bryce stayed up and watched movies. We landed 9 hours later and while our bodies thought it was 8pm, it was actually 2pm in Detroit. We had to go through American customs and then get our baggage, drop it back off and then stand in line for security again. Even with all of that time, we still had 4 hours left of our 6 hour layover. We walked around the airport, ate dinner at Chilis and then we were on the 9pm plane to Chicago. We got back to mom and dads around 11 and then 4 hours later (around 330am) we were finally at home and in our own bed!
All good trips have an end, and our time in Italy and Austria had come to an end. We were excited to get home, even though it was 3:30am and see our kitty Simba. We’ve also been missing Nico, even though he wasn’t picked up until 4pm that next day. It was wonderful to see the sites of Italy and the natural beauty of Austria.