When we looked at the weather forecast for the week, we saw that Monday was supposed to be the only non-rainy day. We decided that we would spend that day at the more outdoor attractions - and primarily the Colosseum - so we could be inside museums on the rainy days.
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| Breakfast! |
Our hotel had a breakfast. It was pretty light - some pastries and cookies and toast with marmalade. But it was included in the price and was fun. Our kids loved the coffee machine that made cups of hot chocolate to order. They had hot chocolate every morning and sometimes a few cups worth. After breakfast we walked to the Metro station. We have spent lots of time on the Metro in Moscow, and Rome's lines were much smaller, so we were comfortable. We made one switch at the main station at rush hour, which was very crowded, but otherwise, the subway rides were comfortable and easy. Besides walking and our taxi to and from the airport, the Metro was the only transportation that we took.
We arrived at our stop at the Colosseum at about 10 a.m. We expected that we would have to walk a ways to get to it, but it was literally right across the street from the station. It was very cool. We had purchased our tickets in advance so we skipped the lines and went right in. We didn't sign up for any guided tours, just went at our own pace and looked at the placards. The Colosseum is very impressive, and I can understand why 7 million people visited it last year[1]. It is an impressive building for today, and the fact that it was built nearly 2000 years ago and is still standing is even more so. We walked all over and had a good view of the structure from top to bottom. We even bought some souvenirs at the gift shop, so we were really living the tourist life!
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| As we walked off the Metro. |
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| Sitting on the steps inside the Colosseum. |
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| A recent find: a part of a sculpture of a horse and rider. |
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| Walking into the Colosseum. |
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| Spencer explaining something to the girls: it was probably something profound! |
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| Lovely ladies at the Colosseum! |
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| Recently excavated statue heads. |
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| Archaeological work going on behind the fence. |
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| A view into the bottom. Under the arena was a city for the gladiators and animals used in the shows. |
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| From the top! |
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| A view from the Colosseum: the tall trees with the tuft at the top were our favorites! |
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| Leaving the Colosseum. |
Our ticket included a visit to the Palatine Hill. The hill is where the word palace and palatial come from. It was where the Roman leaders built their homes. It overlooked the valley where the Forum was located. It was a short walk from the Colosseum to the area. This area was mostly ruins and fragments of the ancient part of the city. There was quite a bit of active archaeological work going on. We spent about an hour and a half walking around and seeing the area. The kids were mostly excited about sticks, snails, and rocks that they could find and it was all we could do to keep them from climbing trees, rocks, and ruins, but we made it!
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| Skipping on the cobblestone road, on our way to Palatine Hill. |
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| A water fountain. These were everywhere in the city - even among the ruins. We failed to keep Sophie from climbing this one. |
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| A view of the ruins around the Forum. To the left is Palatine Hill. |
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| Another view of the forum and of archaeological work being done. |
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| Inside a temple to Julius. |
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| A church within the ruins. |
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| More ruins. |
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| A triumphal arch. |
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| Taking a break. Souvenirs in tow! |
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| View of the Forum from the Palatine Hill. |
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| Walking among the ruined walls of a palace. |
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| A view of the city from the hill. |
After taking in the ruins of ancient Rome, we decided we would walk to the Pantheon. We had bought a map on our way to the Metro in the morning. We got our bearings and took off. We were looking for a place to eat and to go to the bathroom [2]. We had planned on not eating any fast food while we were in Rome, but Yulia had read that the most reliable bathrooms were at McDonald's. After we had walked for about 30 minutes without finding a place to eat that wasn't completely out of our price range (and patience range with 4 kids), we saw a sign for a McDonald's. We decided we would eat there. It was probably a good thing, since everyone else had read the tour guides and it took 30 minutes of waiting in line for our crew to get their business done. Meanwhile I ordered food and found the only spot available - a table on the rooftop. We were there with the cool Italian kids who were smoking up a storm and eating happy meals [3].
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| Walking to the Pantheon. Colosseum in the background. |
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| A statue of Julius Caesar at a bus stop. |
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| A view of the city. Buses, horses, and churches! |
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| Monument to Victor Emmanuel II which we found while walking to Pantheon. It was started in 1850 and finished in 1911. It has the statue of Rome and the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. |
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| On the roof of McDonald's - with some guests! |
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| A toy store with wooden toys - the motorcycle was impressive. |
We found the Pantheon quickly after our meal. Just like we had missed the lines everywhere else, we missed them here, too. The Pantheon is the oldest continually-used Roman building left. It was built in about 120 AD by Hadrian (on the site of an earlier building). It has been used as a Catholic church since the 7th century. We were able to walk right in and see. The building was beautiful and impressive. The domes and the intricate work inside was reminiscent of St. Peter's. We spent about twenty minutes admiring the art and work of the building.
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| The Pantheon. |
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| Inside the Pantheon. |
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| Beautiful statues and marble everywhere! |
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| The girls after a long day of culture! |
Our next stop was Piazza Navona which is one of the largest and more beautiful squares in Rome. It is located in the area of ancient Domitian's Stadium, of which it preserves the original shape. Three fountains adorn the square. The most remarkable is the one in the center, a work by Bernini. The fountain is decorated by 4 statues representing the Danube, the Ganges, the Nile, and the Rio de la Plata.
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| Making wishes in the fountain with coins. |
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| Watching this man make animals out of grass. |
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| He really put on a show for the girls! |
Our last stop was the Piazza del Popolo. Here is the description of the square from Wikipedia[4]:
Piazza del Popolo is a large urban square in Rome. The name in modern Italian literally means "People's Square", but historically it derives from the poplars (populus in Latin, pioppo in Italian) after which the church of Santa Maria del Popolo, in the northeast corner of the piazza, takes its name.
The piazza lies inside the northern gate in the Aurelian Walls, once the Porta Flaminia of ancient Rome, and now called the Porta del Popolo. This was the starting point of the Via Flaminia, the road to Ariminum (modern-day Rimini) and the most important route to the north. At the same time, before the age of railroads, it was the traveller's first view of Rome upon arrival. For centuries, the Piazza del Popolo was a place for public executions, the last of which took place in 1826.
On our way into the square, we bought some
gelato. The kids (and to be honest, Yulia)
really wanted to get gelato. Everyone tried a different flavor. Yulia had rice and honey. I had apple and mint. It was really yummy (and only moderately overpriced due to our very touristy location). As we were walking out of the gelato shop and onto the square Yulia was given a rose by a southeast Asian man. He said, "For you, and your girls." He then handed each of the girls a rose. Yulia was caught off guard (gelato will do that to you) and took them. The man then asked for money, "whatever you can give." Yulia shrugged and so I gave the man 10 Euros. It was way too much, but the girls were happy. Another man ran over and said, "The girls need three each, for luck." and gave the girls each two more. He then asked for money. I only had 5 Euros cash (other than large bills) and so I gave that to him. It wasn't enough. We told him it was all we had, so he took one flower back from each of the girls.
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| At least we got a picture of all of us out of our rose fiasco! |
It was a good opportunity to review with the girls that you never take anything from anyone. We were a bit miffed at having been taken in the scam, but it was mild as far as scams were concerned. We finished our gelato and then walked to the Metro and rode home. We left the roses on a newspaper stand at the Metro in case someone wanted them - we didn't have a place for them in our room - and they were about ready to wilt away, anyway. The girls didn't love that decision either [5].
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| Dinner on day 2 - Pizza and Pasta! |
For dinner we stopped at a little pizza and kebab place near our apartment. The girls had pizza (except Lexa who had Penne pasta with Ragu sauce) and me (I had roast chicken and potatoes). We crashed into bed at about 8:30 (which is 12:30 a.m. in Astana) and slept soundly. It was a great first full day. We felt like we connected with ancient Rome, tackled transportation, and learned how to be tougher tourists. All of these things are important to a wandering clan such as ours.
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[1] Statistic overheard from a tour guide at the Vatican Museum during our visit.
[2] This is a very big deal on all of our travels - a family of five girls makes travel a few degrees more adventurous!
[3] Smoking is very common in Rome. Much more common than even Russia. Also, we saw quite a few teenagers and young adults eating Happy Meals, so it may be a thing. Trend alert!
[4] Don't judge. It has some good background information.
LINK
[5] I'm hoping to make it into the finals in this year's
Meanest Dad contest.
