Pursuits of Wonder: When in Rome

The weekend trip to Rome started well enough. We woke early and rushed out to the early train (which we said we wouldn't do again if we could help it...) Early mornings aren't my thing, I just never seem to be prepared quite enough, but we made it on time. The train trip was about two hours, we ate sandwiches and scones we'd made and with only a few toys, the kids stayed pretty entertained.

It amazes me how entertained he can be zooming his car around.

Brooke catching up on Jolly Phonics, (workbooks that came along with the reading class she took in Prague)

So we arrived in Rome, excited and in good spirits. After a long walk through the train station... (Savannah was tired of walking before we even got out of the station), we stepped out of the metro terminal to look up at the enormous Colosseum. We'd read about, discussed, watched some and videos about Roman times but I'm not sure the Colosseum at first sight impressed them as much as it it me. It is pretty well, colossal.

We crossed the street and got in line. We didn't expect it to be very crowded, but even in off-season the wait to get in turned out to be long, maybe 45 minutes. You could pay $17 euros each I think and skip the line but we waited.

We'd wanted to travel as light as possible and made the choice not to bring jackets, imagining that we'd be stuck carrying them around all weekend as the weather was supposed to be warm. But, at this early hour, in the shade waiting in line at the Colosseum it was not warm. It was chilly and the kids started to whine. We were the only people in line or anywhere in Rome so far that weren't wearing jackets and now we felt pretty uncool as everyone around us could hear the kids complaining they were cold. Definitely not feeling like parents of the year... So, to add further embarrassment, we started unpacking clothes from the backpack and layering them with pajamas and whatever extra clothes we could find.

They were warmer, but still not loving waiting in line, so hey, why not add bribery to our parental repitoire? We started promising extra scoops of gelato if they would just be tough and patient so we could get in to see the iconic site of Rome. Well, we almost gave up, but finally entered the Colosseum.

Probably thinking, "if only we were able to get down there and climb around."

"Say, gelato!"

Jeff explains, "Here is where the people used to sit to watch the gladiators,
at the bottom they used to fill it up with water to have mock sea battles."

Expensive, pretty horrid tasting hotdog sandwiches outside,
but I think we were still feeling guilty for not bringing jackets....

Look, pigeons!

And, we kept the promise, double scoops of gelato, dangs it good/ If only they wouldn't always order strawberry so I can't share (allergic).

We hopped in a taxi to get to the next sight, little legs were getting tired.But, amazing how they were revived after a massive gelato! We sat for quite awhile admiring the Pantheon and waiting for Savannah to finish her gelato (she is the slowest ice cream eater in the world) and chase Collin around the piazza.

From there we walked a lot, just enjoying the back streets of Rome. Its actually quite a relaxed, clean, colorful, beautiful city. So different than I imagined it, we really like it.