Vacation in Italy - Part I
Rome
I have so many photos from our trip that instead of them taking up all the space in this blog I decided to show the book I created in Blurb. I hope this works. The description of the time spent in Rome follows below.
We went to Italy for two weeks at the end of August and beginning of September. I had a conference in Florence I had to go to. I'm part of the organizing committee for next year's conference which will be held in Portland. We decided to add on a vacation with Geoff and the kids and met my parents there. They only had a two hour flight from the Netherlands. Our flight over was mostly uneventful. They never told us we needed a paper ticket for Thomas so that was a bit of extra work. And we had to pay extra to get bulkhead seating so we could get a bassinet for him to sleep in, only to find out on board that the bassinet did not fit and wouldn't stay up. So I held him the whole time. Luckily he did sleep for several hours so it wasn't too difficult. Katie had a great time sitting next to Geoff. She didn't sleep much but wasn't bored either. We arrived in Rome on time and our taxi driver was already waiting for us. We booked ahead with Romecabs so we could have a minivan with two car seats. The driver called the apartment owner for us to let her know we were coming. I texted my mom when we were on our way. They were already waiting at the square for us. The owner of the restaurant next to the apartment was very nice and kept their suitcases there and tried to help them find the place but they never found it until we got there. Of course, I alone had the phone number of the contact person, so they didn't know where to go. I had just told them to meet us there at 5:30pm.
The apartment was on the top floor of a 5-story building with no elevator. It was right on the Campo de' Fiori, the flower market. During the day it is filled with stalls where they sell produce and wine and such and at night there are people hanging out and street artists. The apartment was very spacious though it only had two bedrooms. There was A/C though it was pretty noisy. But that helped drown out the street noise. The living room had a nice sitting area and a dining area. Our bedroom had a low ceiling on one side and no curtain in front of the window. But it had a crib. There was A/C but it was really loud. It kept the room cool though and drowned out the street noise.
After getting settled in, we went out to explore and find a place to eat. We headed to Piazza Navona, a big square known for it's beautiful fountains and its numerous street artists. Katie had a blast seeing the living statues and loved the guy that made giant bubbles. She was chasing the bubbles all over. We ended up at a restaurant in a little side street just off the square. By the time we sat down we were so hungry, we didn't really care where we sat. Our waiter was very uninterested in us. When he poured water in our glasses he spilled plenty on the table, the bread was practically flung onto the table and when it was time to order he was nowhere to be found. The food was pretty good though.
The next day we walked to the Roman Forum. It was about a 20-minute walk. On the way over, we saw these monks. My dad captured a wonderful picture as they all walked in a line. The Roman Forum is a part of old Rome where Julius Caesar and his contemporaries hung out. Caesar was actually killed there on the steps of the senate building, stabbed by a mob of people including his own son Brutus. It was really hot so we found some solace in the indoor gallery with old statues from that era. After wandering around for a while we walked out the other side which is near the entrance to the Coliseum. We then walked back towards our hotel and found a restaurant just off the main street for lunch. That afternoon the kids took an afternoon nap and we basically hid from the heat of the day. That night we had dinner at the restaurant next to our apartment. It was really tasty.
The third day we visited the Colosseum. Because we had bought a Roma Pass the day before we were able to skip the long lines and go in directly. That alone was worth it to us. I loved walking around and soaking up the history. It was really neat to see and imagine what it must have looked like thousands of years ago with the gladiators and the wild animals and such.
On the way back to the hotel we stopped at the Pantheon. This has to be one of my favorite spots in Rome. It was originally a pagan temple. It is featured in one of my favorite books of all time, The Discovery of Heaven, by Harry Mulisch, a Dutch author. I love the oculus that is open to the sky and lets the sun in. It's such an awe inspiring building.
After the kid's afternoon nap we embarked on another long walkabout ;). We stopped at the Trevi Fountain which was awesome and from there hit up the Spanish Steps which I thought were disappointing.
The next day we went to the Vatican. Given that we had two small kids with us we decided to skip the Vatican museum and just see St. Peter's cathedral. There was a wait but it wasn't too bad. The worst part was the hot sun but we survived. There were quite a few people that got turned back for wearing tank tops or short skirts or shorts. The dress code is pretty well known so I was surprised that people would not dress more appropriately. We didn't have any problems. I was able to feed Thomas in the restroom before going in. Geoff carried Thomas in the Baby Bjorn and he did great. Katie behaved pretty good as well.
In the late afternoon we walked around the Trastevere neighborhood. I wish we had discovered that area sooner because it was so nice and laid-back, you'd almost forget you were in a big bustling city. If we ever go to Rome again, I'll make sure to plan lots of dinners in this neighborhood.
Then it was time to leave, so we took the bus to the train station and got tickets to the train to Florence. The machines didn't accept any of our credit cards, so we had to wait in line for a person and that took almost an hour. Luckily we had plenty of time and were able to get seats on a train not too late in the afternoon. The train went straight from Rome to Florence without any stops.
