Rome

Ok, starting over. Still not sure where to start. I think I'll give a brief play-by-play of each day and then a few other random thoughts for separate entries. We took many pictures and I believe Dan has them in order now and has added comments to them. I tried to take brief notes at the end of each day so we could remember all the places we visted, but I'm afraid that many of the churches I no longer remember the names or where they exactly were! So here goes....

Day 1
We left Morges at 6:30 am, took the train to Geneva and boarded our Fly Baboo flight. The flight was only 1 hour and 20 minutes. The kids did a great job and even Ben didn't seem to mind sitting on my lap. Our driver was waiting for us by baggage. I was so excited...I'd always wanted to come out and see someone holding a sign with my name on it! It was about a 45 minute ride to our apartment. Dan didn 't tell us the apartment was on the 5th floor...with NO elevator! This allowed for guilt-free gelato eating, no problem. The apartment was nothing fancy, but it served it's purpose...we were able to eat our breakfasts and dinners at "home". We headed to a grocery store to stock up and came home to eat lunch. The first day we stayed close to the apartment. We walked to St. Peter's Square (The Vatican) and then along the Tiber River where we stumbled upon the Castel Sant Angelo which was constructed in 128 A.D. The sun was setting and the sky was very pretty, we got some great pictures.

Day 2
Headed out early to meet my cousin Karen, who lives in Brooklyn, NY. We had planned to meet at the Trevi Fountain so we decided to brave the metro. It wasn't too bad, there are only two lines to the Roman subway system. (every time they try to dig a new line they fine some archeological site and have to stop!) We got off the train and found the Trevi Fountain with only some difficulty. It was very cold and windy this morning. The fountain was so much bigger then I thought it was going to be. We all threw coins in which ensures our return to Rome someday! It was so great to see Karen and we got to hang out with her all morning. I almost forgot we stopped at a really nice cafe for coffee and cornettos (creme filled croissants)...yummy. Our next stop was the Spanish Steps and then we made our way over to Piazza Navona. We stopped for our first of many slices of pizza. We discovered that the way to go is to buy a slice of pizza, they cut it in half, fold it, wrap it, and voila....pizza "sandwich". Great way for the kids to eat it! At Piazza Navona Zoe and Sam had their charicatures drawn by a street artist. This turned out to be a hilarious and "questionable" experience. The artist had some interesting interpretations of my children and I will need to do a few touch-ups before they can be displayed. (Zoe was orignally topless and then he added a tiny bikini top and Sam is playing soccer and resembles a male-ballerina). Weird. We eventually parted ways with Karen and at some point later that day ended up walking through St. Peter's Basilica. Beautiful. A very full day!

Day 3
Again we braved the metro and had to use both Line A and B to get to the Colosseum. What an awesome sight to come out of the metro station and be across the street from one of the most recognizable sites in the world! We signed up for an English speaking tour to save ourselves from waiting in line. It was worth it because it only added a few euros to our ticket. Again is was a bit chilly, but blue skies. Sam was fascintated with the mazes below the colosseum floor where the animals were kept. Zoe was a bit disturbed by some of the things the tour guide told us. I can hardly blame her....men killing each other as a spectator sport is sorta hard to justify. I wanted so badly to be able to picture what it all looked like in it's glory...must have been incredible. I was also hoping Russell Crowe would appear, that didn't happen either. We ate lunch outside the Colosseum and then wandered through the Palatino and Roman Forum. This gives you a glimpse into the vastness of the Roman Empire. It is incredlible to think of this kind of construction during that time. I know we kept walking that day and made our way to Piazza del Campidoglio (designed by Michelangelo). I'm exhausted just writing about it!

Day 4
Today we pushed the kids to the limit. It wasn't planned but today we seriously walked all OVER Rome. Dan mapped it out when we got home that night and we were amazed that someone didn't drop over! Our main attraction was the Patheon. This is probably Rome's second most recognizable structure. It is the world's largest masonary dome. The kids were fascinated by the hole in the ceiling and had fun finding all the holes in the floor where the rain drains. We ate our bag lunch outside and the continued walking. One of the days highlights was the coffee at Caffe Sant Eustachio. Dan had read about it in the Lonely Planet guide and I must say...it was the best cappucino I ever had! Eventually we found the Basilica di San Pieto in Vincoli (5th-century). It took us forever to find and when we did it was closed! We had to wait an hour for it to reopen at three. Inside was the famous Michelangelo statue of Moses. Dan really wanted to see it and I'm glad we waited around. There was also a relic inside of chains that supposedly (forever the skeptic) held St. Peter in prison. I know that we saw many more things this day, but like I said, we were wandering aimlessly for awhile and it is all just kinda mushed together in my memory!

Day 5
So today we decided to go for a walk. We really hadn't been getting much exercise since in Rome and really felt like we needed to get off our butts. Dan, hmmm, didn't think our destination looked that far on the map.....Men should not hold the map. We walked to northern Rome and stopped at the huge Piazza del Popolo (1538) and went inside the Chiese di Sant Maria del Popolo. (this church has a Raphael which was unfortunately covered). The church was built in 1099. We eventually made our way to Museo e Galleria Borghese. We knew going to Rome that we weren't going to be able to bore the kids with art museums, but the guide book said that if you could only get to one museum, this was the one to go to. We had a 1:00 entry time and naturally Ben was beyond overtired! Sam wasn't too happy either, but Dan got Zoe and Sam children's guide books and they got into looking for paintings and sculptures. This museum houses some amazing Bernini sculptures. What impressed Sam and Zoe the most were the mosiacs and they are anxious to try some on their own with construction paper. For our last night in Rome we decided not to cook dinner and found a place that served food before the typical 8 pm. The kids had lasagna, I had chicken, and Dan, always having to be different, had the rabbit. We finished the meal off with...what else, gelato.