Europe 2014: Rome

At the airport in Paris we were the last ones to check in that we were put on standby. When our names were called to get assigned a seat the airport the airline representative could only get 3 seats together. So I ended up sitting by myself (yipee!) towards the front and the boys sat somewhere in the back. When it was time to deplane I waited in the plane for them. It seemed like it took a long time. When I finally saw them Jamie didn't have a good look on his face. Turns out Lucas caught the vomit bug and threw up as the plane landed. Jamie said there was no warning and showed me a white plastic bag with soiled clothing. ugh!

When we arrived in Rome, it was sunny and on the warm side. By this point I was the remaining Breslow who had not thrown up. As we were settling into the hotel, I must've gotten a whiff of Lucas' soiled clothes and headed directly for the bathroom. I think it was a combination of being in a car, plane, and then a car again. I wasn't up for much after that so we just hung out at the hotel the rest of the evening. Jamie even got takeout pizza.

The next day we decided to do another hop on/hop off sightseeing bus tour.  We hopped off when the bus got to the Colosseum. We didn't think the boys would be able to tolerate a 45 minute tour of the inside so we opted not to go in. We walked over to the Pantheon and did our own tour. We tried to explain what each "ruin" was but not sure if it really sunk in. One thing that drove me C.R.A.Z.Y. throughout the trip was the boys announcing they were hungry maybe an hour after eating breakfast or lunch. The boys were hungry(AGAIN!) so we found a restaurant where I had the yummiest spaghetti carbonara. And then we got our first gelato. yum yum! With gelato in hand we walked over to Bocca della Verita  or "Mouth of Truth". Caleb kept asking about it so we made it a point to go there on our first day. It was probably mid to late afternoon by then so we returned to the hotel.

Colosseum

Pantheon in the background

our first gelato

Mouth of Truth

Spanish Steps

 On our second full day, Jamie booked a tour of the necropolis below St Peter's Basilica. Now in order to go on this tour you have to send an email to the Ufficio Scavi and give them the dates your available. They confirm a date and time. Only a certain amount of people are allowed to take a tour each day. The boys were not old enough to go on this tour so we got a babysitter for the whole day. This was our second time doing this tour but I felt this time around was much better because of our guide. She gave a lot of history. There is definitely compelling evidence that the bones that were found are in fact St Peter's. It was a pretty amazing tour. I'm not that religious but can appreciate the significance of that site and it's place in history.

After the tour we headed back to the hotel. The boys were with the babysitter. I did not have a good night sleep the night before so I took a nap. Jamie also booked a dinner at a restaurant called Ad Hoc. We left early so we can see Piazza Navona at night. At Ad Hoc we both got the truffle tasting menu but weren't that impressed. There were no standout dishes and we had to take the dessert home since dinner ran longer than we anticipated and we had to be back by a certain time.

St Peter's Basilica

 Our last full day in Rome was pretty leisurely. We all slept in and sort of had to hurry to get to the catacombs because they closed at noon. We got lucky and made the last tour at 11:30. We told the boys that at the catacombs you would see bones so they were a bit interested in going. Seems kind of strange to take the kids to see an ancient cemetery but they didn't seem scared. At the end of the tour the boys asked where the bones were. Jamie explained that he was mistaken but we would go somewhere else that had bones. We got caught unprepared in a bit of a downpour so the fastest way back was taking a taxi. We went to the Capuchin Crypt. You weren't allowed to take pictures but it's a spectacular display of thousands of bones depicting a scene. Some may find it grotesque but I just tried to look at it like a piece of art. The boys didn't get scared. In fact, C pointed something out and said "I think that's made out of hip bones." He was right.

yummy pasta dishes

hanging out at the Spanish steps again

Lucas' notebook souvenir

Caleb's notebook souvenir

That evening we went to the Trevi Fountain. The boys were really excited to throw in a coin. After that we ate at a nearby restaurant. On our walk back to the hotel we stopped off for our last gelato. I was asked if I wanted a special cone and I said "sure" thinking it was just the cone that was special. It actually was this huge cone with multiple cookies. The boys helped out with the extra waffle and straw cookies. And no I did not finish it but it was yummy.

Trevi Fountain

My special gelato

Despite the setbacks the trip went really well. Just because you go on vacation young kid's behavior doesn't change - there's still fighting, getting "hangry" and having meltdowns. We got lucky with the weather since it didn't rain nearly as much as we thought it would. Both Jamie and I agree that we likely won't take a trip that crosses more than 3 times zones in a long time or one that involves lots of sightseeing.