Day 7, continued
When we left off we had met the manager of our new rental apartment and were getting a tour and recommendations on where to eat. Our new home was charming, if warm, and the location was amazing. Literally around the corner from the Pantheon and walkable to everything else we wanted to do.
I changed into my third outfit of the day, after sweating through the others. I don't think I've written about it yet, but I bought this hat for $20 at the Bloomingdales Outlet in Dallas on a whim a few weeks before our trip and it became the first hat I've ever actually worn on vacation. And I wore it every single day. Turns out, hats are really great for shielding you from the sun. Like a tiny umbrella around your head. Who knew.
Once changed into fresh clothes, we headed out into the city! We started with the Pantheon, since it was literally around the corner. The Pantheon is one of my favorite buildings and I loved that we walked by it multiple times a day every day. You now have to get a ticket to go inside, which we did, and of course James spent more time than the rest of us needed combined.
Isn't that dome amazing though? Built nearly 2,000 years ago and it is STILL the largest, completed, unreinfurced concrete dome in the world. Originally a temple to the pagan Gods, it was repurposed as a Catholic church in about 600 AD.
From there we moved on to the Trevi Fountain!
18 years ago I stood there with a good friend and thew a coin in to return, and now I was back! Throwing coins in with my kids.
We sandwiched a simple dinner between gelato stops, including one at a gelatteria with 150 flavors! After a little break back at the apartment, James and I headed out for an evening walking date to the Spanish Steps while the kids hung out at home, relieved to be left out of any potentially historical activity.
The city is beautiful at night- so vibrant and so drenched in history at the same time. We caught several street musical performances, including a beautiful opera singer using the acoustics underneath the front of the Pantheon.
We went to bed, ready for Ancient Rome in the morning, excited and/or bracing ourselves for all the times James was going to tell us to “just imagine was these walls/pillars/stones have seen”.
Day 8
After a surprisingly good sleep in our warm apartment, it's possible we had to forcibly drag our kids out of bed for Ancient Rome day, but once they heard we had a car and driver for our tour, and our guide would be riding with us to talk between stops, they got on board.
Our first stop was a breakfast place our guide told us served eggs, which the men in my life had been craving, and we ended up eating at Ginger every morning until we left. Thirty minutes later, full of eggs and pancakes, we headed out to Ancient Rome! Which is basically all over Rome. Rome is so very old, with so many layers and so much history, it was fabulous to have our very own archeology-trained guide to tell us ALL the things and answer James’s 65 million questions.
Specifically we started at the Coliseum and walked out onto the floor like gladiators, something that wasn’t possible when I visited nearly 20 years ago.
We toured the underground catacombs outside the city which were fascinating and eerie. We talked about the Pantheon and walked in the Forum and on the Appian Way (road to Rome) with its original giant cobblestones from over 2,000 years ago. There's a sign at one spot in the Forum that notes this is where Julius Caesar was killed. Just one of many little factoids to absorb as you walk along this ancient place.
Lunch was delicious sandwiches in an old salumeria with meats and cheeses hanging from the ceiling and covering every wall. It was 1 euro extra to add a plastic cup of house wine to your meal, so why not.
We had our best meal yet after our guide made us a reservation at her favorite place in Rome (Emma! Highly highly recommend). I changed (again!) because I don't like sweaty clothes and then I made everyone else change so we could look like a proper family going to a nice local Italian dinner. I was very grateful I'd made sure all our rentals included washers. Also, I love
this dress I got at Target this summer. Super cute, inexpensive, and didn't need a bra which meant one less thing to sweat through.
Who could tell we'd nearly sweated into little puddles of ourselves a few hours earlier at the Coliseum?
Emma was amazing. We ordered everything and then we ordered more.
Landon had two marinara pizzas, we ate so many suppli, and I had the best cacio e pepe that has ever existed in the world. Everything was incredible and I'm so glad our wonderful tour guide got us in!
We strolled back to our apartment, full and happy, and of course stopped for gelato. I remember thinking that I had maybe never enjoyed a vacation so very much. I love traveling with James- it's just so easy and fun and he loves everything old so very much. The kids enjoyed the constant gelato and tolerated all the history and have even quoted back many things our various guides told us during our time there, so I know they were listening more than it sometimes appeared. It was such a great trip.
Two more full days left! Enough time for the Vatican and learning how to make pasta!
Aww, we took a family photo with our kids in that EXACT same spot on the arena floor at the Colosseum last year in March. Made me smile to see that picture. :) Good memories.
ReplyDeleteThe heat sounds intense! In March it was generally very nice weather (layers + light jacket but warm and pleasant in the sun), albeit maybe a bit too chilly in the evenings after dark. My husband and I were also in Italy in mid-September in 2018 and the weather then was absolutely perfect. Not too hot, not too cold... just right! Unfortunately, those amazing shoulder seasons in Europe in early fall/late spring are not really available to those of us with kids in traditional school schedules...
I love that! The heat was rough, but as you said, there's only two times a year we can go on a trip for more than 7 days and that's summer and Christmas break. We wanted to swim, so summer was better, and the swim season means we're stuck with late July/early August. I'm still so glad we went - it's even hotter in Dallas, so we might as well see amazing things and eat a ton of gelato!
DeleteOnce our kids are grown and it's James and I traveling alone, early fall and late spring will be when we do ALL THE THINGS!
fantastic trip!, where or how you get your guides? is it worth it? how much are you paying? it had never occurred to me to hire a guide to get a private tour! i guess i thought we all had to struggle with pre vacation google, tripadvisory and travel forums research hahahaha!, it seems expensive but again i have no idea how much you are paying them!, any place/agency/website that you will recommend?
ReplyDeleteEverything was booked through my friend and travel agent Kaleigh Kirkpatrick with The Shameless Tourist. She sent us an itemized list of our various tours and tickets and just for reference, our Florence walking tour, which was 4 hours and absolutely wonderful, was $300. Since there's 5 of us, it was rare that I found tours for less than what that works out to per person anyway and this was SO MUCH BETTER. I'll never go back. Having a guide who listened to my kids and answered their questions and pointed out things to keep them engaged, and not having anyone who is late/slow/not listening was just heaven. In Rome, our half-day private tour of Ancient Rome was $500 and that included the car and driver. I'm now annoyed with myself that we'd never done it this way before!
Deletethat's a great price, the driver and car is such a blessing when traveling with kids/want to see a lot in little time. Thank you for opening my eyes to the possibility of getting a private tour/guide. I can see myself paying those amounts for the luxury of having somebody walking me through the beauties of a new city specially if i am short of time/there is a lot to see/my girls are with me.
Deletethank you for sharing the details of your adventures.