Rome, Day 2 December 16

Our kids have three weeks off for the Christmas holidays (Winter Break) so that the international families at the school can travel home. We didn’t know that when we booked our to and from Amsterdam tickets back in June, so, with an extra week to kill before flying to the U.S. to see friends and family, we decided to take advantage of proximity and low European airfares and fly to Rome.

Today was day 2. Yesterday we visited the Colosseum. That might not sound like a full day’s itinerary, but we stopped at churches (Chiesa del Gesu) and monuments (Il Vittoriano) along the way, stood in awe of the street performers (Caroline), took a tour of the main structure (all of us), took a second tour of the basement and upper levels (Steve and Margaret), and ate two good meals and more than one gelato. Walking from our hotel near the Piazza Navona to the Collosseum and back was a long way, particularly as there was so much to see, and so many pebbles for Caroline to kick.

Today we walked even further.

We again walked all of the way to the Colosseum, this time by way of the Pantheon (amazing), and kept going around the fenced off Roman Forum to enter it from the Via di San Gregorio at the base of the Palantino. We purchased 2 audio guide headphones (I should have gotten four), and began our walk around the Forum and Palatino. Three hours later, I was wondering why I hadn’t been more prepared with snacks and band-aids (ancient cobble stone streets = skinned knee). The kids were d-o-n-e. Even the cult of the Vestal virgins was less important than food. The stadio was lovely, and Steve was sad that we didn’t have time to go into the Palatino Museum before the deadline to return the headsets. While we were perfectly wiling to hop a bus, tram or taxi if one appeared, we didn’t see any going the right direction, and our guidebooks didn’t offer much hope, so we set off in the direction of food.

Let’s just say we walked a lot today, and the girls earned the shared hamburger and individual two-scoop gelatos that we eventually fed them. After lunch we walked all of the way from the Aventino hill, through the Circus Maximus, by the Boca della Verita, along the Tiber, and back through the winding streets (where Steve bought me a new leather computer bag for Christmas!) to home.

Tomorrow, la dolce vita fashion be damned, I might have to wear my running shoes.