My busy life is catching up...I should never leave my blog posts unwritten for this long as I forget everything. By the same token, it forces me to shorten them and get straight to the point.
So around Columbus Day, when we had another three day weekend, we decided we wanted to go to Italy. Our route was going to be Rome-Florence-Siena-Venice--all stuffed into five days, not an easy thing to do.
We arrived to Rome late in the evening. It's a crazy thing to do--to rent a car in Rome--but we had to do it as we were driving from Rome to Florence later in our trip. It was cheaper to pick up our car at the airport and park it 2 miles away at a covered parking garage and then take the metro to our apartment than just get the car in the center of Rome when we needed it. So we got our car, survived a crazy 2 mile drive in the dark to the garage, somehow figured out where exactly it was and how to use the whole parking garage system, found the metro (just above the garage) and made it to our apartment after a bit of wandering around the streets with our gps. The apartment was not easy to find and the reason why I am writing this is because I want to point out that traveling is not easy:) Walking around dark Rome with three kids and suitcases is not the most pleasant activity but it can feel quite adventurous:)
After a late night pizza and almost feeling like we had to kick our apartment owner out of the apartment (he was very talkative), we put the kids to bed. We had booked a private tour of the Colosseum and Palatine Hill for 8 am the next morning so we had to get up very early.
First stop as we came out of the metro station the next morning--these traditional water fountains. People actually use them. The kids wanted to spray everyone. The way to get water is to close the nose of the animal with your finger so that the water stream shoots up in the air.
Colosseum in the morning sun.
While the guide was telling us all sorts of awesome facts that I should remember but I don't, Robert was taking pictures.
The kids were occupied and very entertained by the guide (in an educated way).
The Colosseum is truly magnificent in size especially on the inside.
Here is our guide working hard and I am making "thinking" faces.
One awesome thing about having our own private guide through these historical sights is getting pictures taken whoever we wanted.
The boys enjoying the view.
This would have been a pretty good picture, and I could have cropped out that lady with the hat on the left, but I wanted to make sure to leave Katya and her silly face in.
She would have fit right in.
Mark, the Statue of Liberty of the Colosseum?
More close ups of the bottom level of the Colosseum.
This is where the animals and the gladiators were hanging out before the fight.
And this has to be the best family picture of the trip.
We continued walking from the Colosseum to the Palatine Hill.
These sort of arches can be found in so many places of the world now, but they all began in Rome. This is the Arch of Constantine.
Another water fountain--Mark's favorite attraction in Rome.
So this doesn't look very awesome yet, but the background is quite impressive--the arch of Constantine and the Colosseum.
Now these views of the Forum were what we came here for. These are the remnants of one of the greatest civilizations in our history.
Crazy to think about the fact that most of these ruins were completely buried under a layer of soil and dirt until this century.
Taking a rest in the shade of the arch.
This is what the Forum looks like from the eye level.
Another family picture with Mark doing the "sumo pose", his special pose for this trip...no one knows why.
Our guide was telling us about all sort of herbs growing around Forum that are very unique to the area.
Oh you know...just ancient ruins lying around.
One of the temples still semi-intact.
And the remnants of another temple.
It is incredible to think that we could be so close to such important world treasures.
Robert's favorite temple.
And the last view.
When we finished with the Colosseum and the Forum it was merely 11:30. We were so happy we managed to see such a big chunk of what we came here for before noon! Now we could relax and see more of Rome at a slower pace.
Lyana.
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