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Some people on our trip used Viator to schedule tours of places that weren't offered on our guided tour. Try this - www.viator.com/Rome-attractions/Colosseum/d511-a701?pid=P00165545&uid=U00479681&mcid=58086&currency=USD

Thanks! We were there in mid-September.

That's great to hear!!! Looking forward to seeing your videos!

Congrats! What an awesome way to celebrate!

In every city, the local guide determined how good the walking tour was. Our local Gate1 guide in Florence, Cynthia, was my favorite local guide on the entire trip! She was super knowledgeable and enthusiastic. The walking tour ended about 11am at a leather/gold shop in front of the Basilica di Santa Croce. If you take the walking tour, leave when you get to the shop - the tour is over and it's just a sales pitch (like the glass factory in Venice, Gate1 must get a kickback of sales). I knew the tour ended here around lunchtime, so we stopped and ate and had advanced reservations working our way north: hitting the Uffizi (12:45pm), the Duomo, and then the Accademia Gallery (4pm). I wasn't sure when our tour would be over, so I conservatively booked the Uffizi for 12:45pm, which was much later than needed. The Uffizi was great, but crowded and we spent a little over an hour there (using the Rick Steves Audio tour as our guide). Our Duomo tickets got us access to all of those you mentioned, and we debated whether to climb the Duomo (iconic) or the bell tower (for views of the Duomo). We decided to climb the Duomo and it took about an hour and a half total. It wasn't easy to find the entrance to climb (it's on the north side BTW). There was a 20 minute line to enter. The corridors are narrow, so it's a single-file line all the way up and down (and there were people that probably shouldn't have tried to physically make the climb in line). We planned to visit the baptistry, but we barely made it out of the Duomo in time to rush over and make our 4pm entry time at the Accademia Gallery. Then we had to rush back to the hotel because the bus was leaving at 5pm to stop at the Piazzale Michelangelo on the way to dinner. It was great seeing all of those things, but the day felt very rushed. That's why we enjoyed the wine at dinner so much and didn't try to squeeze in so much in Rome.

Thought about it more... The walking tour was good to learn about more than just the specific sights. It was a more wholistic view of Florence. Also, watching the Medici series on Netflix gave us more understanding and appreciation for many things in Florence.

I booked the tickets in advance. It seemed like it wouldn't be possible to do it unless I did so because it books up full. Based on other people's Gate1 videos/pics I saw, it looked like they were there between 3-4pm, so I booked our tickets for 3:15pm. That morning we hit a traffic jam and the day's schedule got pushed back. I emailed the Pisa ticket office and asked if we could move our reservation back from 3:15pm to 4:45pm, and they were able to do so. I figured it was better to take a chance at being able to climb the tower than potentially losing $50 for missing our time. We got to the hotel in Florence about 7:30-7:45pm. We had reservations for a rooftop bar at 7, so we missed out on that, but our dinner reservations were for 8:30. You might be OK with 8pm dinner reservations. I think Gate1 doesn't like to provide times for things in case things like traffic jams happen and they have to adjust the schedule - but it makes it difficult to plan when you're trying to get the most out of your trip!

@@kkozlen This is super helpful! Thank you so much Kevin!! 😀

@pygmypuff85 I was wondering if you had already taken your trip and was curious how everything worked out?

Yes, we booked it through Gate 1. We met at 2:30pm for the Gondola ride.

Glad it helps! I searched for info prior to our trip, so I’m happy to answer any questions or offer help any way I can!

Hai ragione. È stato bellissimo. Spero che un giorno torneremo di nuovo lì.

The smell in all of them is awesome. I really liked the places that took us deeper into the rickhouses (and not just stepping inside). Wild Turkey was probably my favorite, followed by Willette (which even had some hams aging in them), Makers Mark (which has an impressive underground room), and Heaven Hill.

@@kkozlen Do you have to reserve a time to do that or can you just walk in?

@@mdstrobe Most of the tours take you in or through the rickhouses and most of the tours require reservations.

@@kkozlen oh I guess that's confusing because one tip was that you shouldn't do all the tours... and the next one was that you should go in rickhouses...good to know then. I'm going this Friday and the back again mid-Feb.

LOL, totally!

@@whatdyousay1566 I also watched this movie back in high school