When in Rome.....

Do as the Romans do....and THAT we did!

We had a great time in Rome, saw many things (all of the things we wanted to see, a few that we didn't want to see or were sorry we had), ate lots of Italian food (if we never see another pizza or pasta dish it will be too soon) :0), walked ALMOST as much as the pioneers (well, at least it felt like we did), and enjoyed just being together.

Day 1:  We stayed nearby the hotel and had HOPED to keep it a low key day.  This ended up being the day we walked the most...we figure probably 8-10 miles....in one day...with sunny 85 degree weather....with four kids....I get tired again just thinking about it.  We didn't want to stay in the hotel for very long.  Unfortunately, while it came highly recommended online....I think the people must have been looking through rose colored glasses.  When the taxi pulled up to the hotel, he literally pulled the car over onto a curb outside a McDonald's on a busy street and said, "OK, we are here!"  Bryce and I look around and look at each other and both could read each other's minds.  Uh OH!  We had to walk about 50-60 meters and then climb a flight of stairs to get to the front desk.  Our room looked like NONE of the rooms in the pictures.  We had mold growing in the bathroom and we had two small rooms for all six of us.  There was barely any room to walk, let alone spend any amount of real time there.  The shower also ran out of hot water after two showers....no matter how long the showers were.  Brrr!  The two good things about the hotel, it was in the heart of downtown Rome so we were within walking distance of everything and they had breakfast (European style) every morning.  

Other than that...

We went to the Giardini Piazza Vittorio (or the Vittorio Monument for those of us foreigners).  We had beautiful views of the city from the top of the monument.  It was built to celebrate the uniting of Italy as a nation and dedicated to the first King of Italy...Emmanuele Vittorio II.

These Gladiator looking dudes were out in front.  Thought it would be fun to get our picture taken with them.  We did and then they asked for 10 Euros which was approx. 10$.  WHAT!!!  I was so upset!

They showed a picture of the horse in this statue in the museum.  It is so big that 10 men were eating at a dining table inside of it!

The view from the top of the monument

After seeing the monument and plaza, we decided to continue walking.  What we didn't know is that we were going to be walking for a VERY long time.  We enjoyed walking around though and on our way back we passed the Colosseum.  We opted not to go in as we were dead dog tired but we did get an awesome picture!

Day 2:  We did the Vatican/St. Peter's Basilica/Vatican Museum

All I can say is that it was HUGE and amazing to see.  St. Peter's Basilica was probably one of my most favorite things I saw.  I didn't realize how bit the plaza was or how ornate everything would be.  

Vatican Plaza

St. Peter's Basilica...the kids had a lot of questions about what things were and what they were used for.  Thankfully I was able to remember a bit from my Catholic past to fill them in.  

Eating Gelato (we love Gelato) outside before going to the Vatican Museum.

We were excited to go to the Vatican Museum to see the Sistine Chapel.  We saw an exact replica in Japan and were grateful to be able to see the real thing.   The museum was set up so you entered on one end, though, and then toured through the ENTIRE museum to end with the Sistine Chapel.  This would not have been an issue had we not had to go up and down many flights of stairs, in the heat (had to wear pants as a rule in Vatican), with the four kids and a stroller.  UGH!  By the time we made it through the whole museum and I have no idea how many stairs that mainly Bryce carried the stroller with the kid in it up and down, we were tired, hot, and frustrated.  We get into the room with the Sistine Chapel and there are HUNDREDS of people sitting around...no room to walk, move, barely even breathe.  Not only that but they wouldn't even let us take pictures.  Well, I wasn't going to go all that way and NOT have a picture.  I didn't use the flash but I did sneak a picture.  I had to have SOMETHING to show for all that effort...right?

Isaac wanted a picture taken with some of the Roman/Greek Gods as he loves Mythology right now.  He was really bummed that all of them were naked and had body parts showing.  I got creative with this one and placed his head strategically so that he could have a picture. :0)

The Sistine Chapel

Day 3:  The Colosseum and the Roman Forum

I think this was one of our favorite days and probably our favorite thing to see.  

Colosseum...truly amazing!

Roman Forum

Day 4:  Pompeii and Naples

Bryce really wanted to see Pompeii.  We talked to our hotel guy and he wasn't too keen on us going by ourselves and recommended that we go with a tour.  Bryce was convinced and signed us up.  I must admit, I thought he was crazy at first.  Overall, though, it was a good tour and easier than trying to navigate trains and buses ourselves but there were a few parts that I could have done without...like trying to keep a really tired, cranky one year old quiet on a tour bus full of other passengers for 2 1/2 hours.  NOT SO FUN!!!!

Naples....hated, dirty, didn't enjoy at all.  We were only there for about an hour though so maybe I am being too judgemental.  The best part about Naples...watching Tanner run through the plaza like a crazy man chasing the pigeons.  It was on this day that we nicknamed him the "Bird Hunter".  After Naples, we got back on a bus and drove to Pompeii.  We had a tour guide that took us around the ruins and told us about the history of Pompeii.  It was truly interesting.  I had a few issues with him and with the tour though.  One of the sites they took us through was a brothel.  Seriously, with kids?  and not just our own...there were many more.  I had to have the kids take their earpieces out and walk with their heads down through that building.  Not cool!  Seriously, it was no wonder that Pompeii was destroyed between that and the things that we mistakenly saw in the vendor booths...people were just a bit too focused on things that they shouldn't have been.  ENOUGH SAID!

It was truly amazing to see the ruins though with Mt. Vesuvius in the background.  

Yep, a dead guy.

It was amazing to see the excavation of the city and to walk through homes and through the streets and to imagine what it was like back then.  Wow!

Day 5:

Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon

I was very excited to see the fountain...Bryce not so much so.  The kids LOVED it though and we ended up going back another time later in the day to see it at night.

The Pantheon

Ceiling in the Pantheon

We had a funny experience this night for dinner.  We were kind of getting tired of the whole Italian food thing and so decided to stop by an Irish Pub for dinner.  We were all looking forward to fish and chips or a burger.  We look at the menu....it is ALL Italian food!  Bryce asked the waiter about it and he said, "Yes, Italian Food but Irish Beer!"  HA!

Day 6:  Borghese Park, Hard Rock Cafe and Capuchin Crypt

By this day we were WORN OUT!  We also were just LOOKING for things to do because we had done and seen everything we had hoped to.  Honestly, we probably could have done Rome in 3-4 days.  The last day, I wanted to head to the park to give Tanner a chance to run, Cade a chance to be out of the stroller, and to see this little lake area.  It was a nice trip and thankfully the rain held out for us.  We also had a chance to stop by Hard Rock Cafe for a truly yummy American lunch.  YEA!  We ate a lot!  

I LOVE this picture!

Finally, we were headed back toward the hotel to catch our taxi for the airport and remembered that the hotel guy had told us about a museum that had the bones of dead monks in it.  We thought we should really try it.  Unfortunately, Cade was losing it and upon inspection, we decided the stroller wouldn't be feasible.  Bryce sent me with the other three to go through the museum.  He expected us to be gone for 30-45 minutes.  We were back in 10!  The kids and I went through the first part of the museum and looked at the different clothing the monks wore, saw some personal items of several of the dead monks, read about their lives.  We were really just interested in seeing what the crypt was like.  Boy were we sorry we did.  It was yucky, and morbid, and creepy, and amazing all at the same time.  Please Google it!  The jist of it is via Wikipedia:  It contains the skeletal remains of 4,000 bodies believed to be Capuchin friars buried by their order.^[1] The Catholic order insists that the display is not meant to be macabre, but a silent reminder of the swift passage of life on Earth and our own mortality.

I am sorry....it was still creepy!  I wasn't allowed to take pictures in this place either and so I didn't...I wouldn't have been able to anyways because the kids ended up RUNNING through the crypt about halfway through because it was freaking us all out just a bit.  I borrowed these from the internet.  But seriously, can you believe it....those are ALL bones! 

Then, it was off to the airport.  The only trouble we had going home was a delayed flight because of rain, boarding us onto a bus in the rain and driving us to the plane, boarding the plane in the rain and the attendants not allowing us to get on the plane until checking all boarding passes which resulted in us all getting SOAKED, a man that lost his boarding pass in aforementioned rain so they wouldn't let him on the plane but he couldn't get off the plane either because the bus had already left so then we waiting until the bus came back....but then there was a thunderstorm so the plane couldn't take off because of lightning.  We got home at 3am.  Thankfully, we all slept in!

Overall, we had a wonderful time, saw truly amazing things and were grateful to have the opportunity to see a part of the world's history that can never be compared!

Ah, Rome, we enjoyed the time we spent with you.  

Arrivederci!