Gillian S on Viator.com

Gillian S
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Dec272012
Tour/Activity

                                Skip the Line: Vatican Museums Walking Tour including Sistine Chapel, Raphael's Rooms and St Peter's                                
                                                                                        
                        Rome, Italy
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My Review
Elisa was our guide again for this tour and again brought her great enthusiasim to the tour. It is another MUST SEE!. It is obvious where all the money is as the place is richly decorated in gold. The Sistine Chapel is breath taking. Elisa made sure the history of each rooms were explained in great detail. The only part of the tour that was not guided was St. Peters Basilica which we were left to explore on our own. This part I was disappointed from the point of view that I would have liked for things to be explained in detail like the rest of the tour. Other tours did take their parties into St. Peters.However on saying that St. Peters is magnificent. We went on this tour in the "off" season and the crowds were enermous, I hate to think what the crowds are like in the height of the summertime. One thing don't be fooled by paying the extra price for going in early and being on 10 person tour and private once inside you mix with hundreds of other tour groups, so paying for the 20 person tour would get you the same results. Was paying the extra worth it, not really.
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Dec242012
Tour/Activity

                                Rome Hop-on Hop-off Double Decker Bus Tour                                
                            
                        Rome, Italy
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My Review
There are so many of these buses it is difficult to know in advance which is the best one. Each company varies in price and some go a further distance than others. I would not book this tour in advance but wait until you get to Rome and then compare the companies. It is great to be able to ride around and see all the sights and hop off and on and all the stops. You do get commentary via head sets if they are working the sound was awful and the announcements for each stop was very difficult to hear.
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Dec242012
Tour/Activity

                                Small-Group Ancient Rome and Colosseum Tour: Underground Chambers, Arena and Upper Tier                                
                                                                                        
                        Rome, Italy
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My Review
Absolute MUST SEE! The tour guides Elisa and Franchessca were fantastic. They were both Archilogical students and made the tour very informative and interesting as they were both so enthusiastic. They brought the place to life. I would recommend highly you get up early and do this tour rather than the basic tour, as you get to see the upper and lower levels that are not normally available. To see how they lived below ground in awful dark conditions and then to see the higher levels for the woman! incredible. You also get to go out into the floor of the arena so you can imagine what it must have been like as a gladiator with thousands watching. Be warned though the Colosseum is soon to close for rennovations and will be closed for approx 4 years while they clean it up, so go now while you still have the chance.
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Dec232012
Tour/Activity

                                Hadrian's Villa and Villa d'Este Half-Day Trip from Rome                                
                                                                                        
                        Rome, Italy
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My Review
It was a very interesting tour to take a bus ride and see the village outside of Rome. Hadrians Villa was very informative but there is  a steep hill to walk up before you get to the villa. Villa d'Este was also informative but did not find this as enjoyable as the Hadrians Villa. Also at the Villa d'Este there were alot of beggars and the tour guide gives you time here to shop while she had lunch. I also did not care for the tour guide who at the end of the tour told everyone that she and the bus driver required a tio. This is the ONLY tour that we were on that made this request. On the return to Rome the guide said they would drop us off at either the tour office, Spanish Steps or Trevi Fountain. INstead they dropped us off on a main road and said Spanish steps go right and the fountain go left, infact we were miles away from either one!.
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