St. Peter's Basilica

The first time I went to Rome it was summer. The air was hot and the lines were long. Can I just say that visiting Rome in February is fantastic! We literally walked into every single exhibit and the weather was perfectly comfortable. St. Peter's Basilica was huge and by the time we had used up the kids attention spans I wasn't sure we would get Lilly out of there without a fuss. She was most interested in sliding all around the marble floor and practically belly flopped herself around as we walked.
Thank goodness there were more stairs to climb. Lilly was once again "on board" as we climbed to the top of St. Paul's to catch an amazing view of the basilica and Vatican City. Clara kept reminding us all morning that we were in the smallest country in Europe and that even though we had traveled to Italy we got a double bonus by entering yet another country. Our visit to the Vatican was one day too early. The Pope was scheduled to appear the day after. Maybe we'll see him next time.

Vatican Museum

Museums with children can be quite daunting. Lets face it there are even times museums are overwhelming for adults. We usually take a "quick guide" approach. Any visit lasting longer than an hour requires treats and a good place to run around. We didn't even come close to exploring all that the Vatican Museum has to offer. The kids were excited to see a real ancient mummy and relics from Egypt. Then we trotted through the Roman art gallery and headed straight for the Sistine Chapel. Taylor tried to offer a little insight here and there. His high school European Studies teacher would have been proud. I was proud of the kids and how they had a pretty good attention span. The Sistine Chapel was amazing. The girls had done an art experiment at home and tried to paint a picture of an angel while lying flat on their backs. This gave them a greater appreciation for Michaelangelo and all of those amazing artists who's work we admire today.

The Spanish Steps

There are lots and lots of steps to count in Rome. I wish I would have worn a pedometer so I could account for all of the walking we did. It wasn't enough to run up the Spanish Steps just once, the kids had to do it a couple of times! Lilly asked "why are they Spanish steps? Aren't we in Italy?" Good question. They were a gift from the Spanish Ambassador.
A happy crew atop the Spanish Steps. I think their legs are made of steel because these kids can really walk and walk and walk!

Piazza

There are multiple piazza's in Rome. We loved walking to all of them, but perhaps one of our favorites was Trevi Fountain. Taylor guided us on a night walk. The lights were on, the air was warm and excitement was everywhere. Each of the kids threw a coin over their back and into the fountain for good luck. Someone is making a good profit with all of the tourists doing the same thing.

Ancient History

Ancient history is hard to comprehend. Even with the fall of Rome they have managed to keep so many relics, buildings, etc. in tact. Here Lilly is standing on the original cobblestone. Dating from 49 BC. Made us wonder which emperors, senators or soldiers walked on this path?

The Colloseum

First stop was the Colloseum. Spencer did a great job filling us in on the history and helping us visualize a gladiator spectacle. We learned that most of Rome was unemployed so they let the people in for free. That way people were not causing trouble on the streets. During the summer months they had a cloth that would cover the entire dome of the Colloseum. It took 1000 men to pull the cloth across!

Formula 1

We managed a tight budget traveling to Rome this past weekend. As I mentioned in the previous post our plane tickets were only 150 euro for the entire family. The catch was we had to drive two hours to the airport. Since our flight left early in the morning we were worried about getting caught in Paris traffic. Our solution was to stay at the Formula 1 motel the night before. This was quite the experience for the kids. Basically the Formula 1 is a glorified youth hostel. The rooms are 32 euro a night and DO NOT include a toilet or shower (you have to go down the hall to take care of that business)! We arrived late at night and the place was hoppping with truckers, cheap travellers and a few punk rockers. Olivia's eyes about popped out of her face when we walked into the so called lobby. Luckily the rooms WERE clean. We tried to sleep, but the walls were so thin you could hear every footstep outside the door. Lilly slept like a log while the rest of us were a bit restless. I think we aren't ready to travel quite at this level. Maybe I'll leave the "youth hostel" traveling to the kids when they explore the world during their college years!
We were at the airport bright and early. It was a great flight and we even saw some snow as we flew over the Italian Alps.