Kid Fun in Rome

Ryan is trying to convince Dan he still fits in the stroller

Believe it or not, looking at piles of really old bricks isn't all that exciting for kids.  Of course for adults, the main reason we go to Rome is to marvel at all these piles of bricks and relish their historical importance! 

Luckily, every little kid can rally their tourist mojo for the Coliseum!  Kids are blessed with very active imaginations and when you can tell stories about gladiators battling to the death, they can finally get excited about seeing a really old building!  Especially after we made them walk 25 minutes in the rain to get there. 

Prior to our trip, Dan and I made use of the free audio tour podcasts that are available from Rick Steves.  We listened to all of the available podcasts about Rome so that we were prepared to offer tidbits of information about all the various sights around Rome.

 

To give the kids a break from all the 'old stuff', we headed over to the Borghese Gardens where there is a zoo.  To the kids' delight they found a playground on the way.  Most people go to the Borghese Gardens for the amazing art and sculpture at the Borghese Gallery-we went for a playground and zoo.  Travelling with kids definitely gives you a different perspective of a city!

 

The zoo was a typical city zoo with small habitats, and the kids enjoyed it.  We were grateful for the sunny day, and the chance to let the kids run around a bit. 

 

Ryan did really well with the amount of walking we did to get around the city.  Luckily, we realized that the best cure for tired feet is gelato, and Ryan was happy to keep walking along the streets of Rome with gelato in hand.  The kids ate gelato everyday we were in Rome, but to be honest, I don't think it is any better than American ice cream (gasp!)  I did find a place close to our hotel that had cannoli, which is right up my alley!

So, I think I may dedicate one or two more posts to our Rome trip, and then I am pretty sure everyone will be sick of hearing about Rome.  Luckily we will be going to Tuscany and Venice in a few weeks!  At some point I will get around to writing more about Germany and living as an expat...  

Exploring Rome- Vatican City and the Pantheon

Despite the rainy day, we hopped  on the city bus toward Vatican City.  Dan is Catholic and was very excited for the visit (he even wore a tie :-))  Ryan thought it was great that we were officially crossing into a different country, and had great fun hopping back and forth over the 'border' between Italy and Vatican City.

 

View of St. Peter's Basilica in the late afternoon

 

We had pre-purchased tickets to the Vatican Museum for scheduled entry at 2 pm, and there was a long security line to get into St. Peter's Basilica, which meant we didn't have as much time to linger there as we would have liked.  



Ryan in front of the Bernini statues



It goes without saying that the church is beautiful and an amazing celebration of Catholicism.  It is hard to believe that a church that is almost 400 years old is considered pretty modern in a city who's history spans thousands of years!  Of course, people have been praying at that location where St. Peter is buried long before the church was ever built. 

We did our best to engage the kids in observing and appreciating various pieces of art and sculpture.  I still can't believe that Michelangelo carved the Pieta when he was only 24 years old, and it was the first sculpture he ever carved! We had hoped to climb the dome, but unfortunately didn't have time.  If we had been dedicated tourists, we would have gotten an earlier start. 
 

The Vatican Museum is HUGE, with something like 9 miles of exhibits.  If it been only me and Dan, we could have spent the entire day there.  Unfortunately, there is only so much you can expect of kids in a place where they have to stand still, not touch anything, and keep their voices down, so we did a quick tour of the most important sections.  The kids' favorite part of the museum was seeing a real mummy in the Egyptian section.  For most people though, it's the Sistine Chapel that is the most exciting part! (You have to chuckle at what kids find interesting-an amazing masterpiece by one of the greatest artists in history is not too interesting, but a dead body is ultra-cool!)

A view worth remembering

Like I have mentioned before, I can't imagine how crowded it would be in the summertime when tourist season is in full-swing.  The closer you get to the Sistine Chapel, you become wedged into a horde of tour groups, and end up missing a lot of beautiful art because if you stop moving forward you would be trampled by the tour guides behind you.  I am pretty sure that the long umbrellas that the tour guides use as group beacons could easily turn into weapons if anyone gets in the way of their group.

On to the Pantheon!

The Pantheon one of the best preserved buildings of ancient Rome, and was originally used as a place of worship to all of the Ancient Roman Gods, but was converted to a place for Catholic worship in the 7th century.  The dome is almost two thousand years old, and is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome. 

The Oculus

So, in this post I shared two religious locations we visited in Rome, and in my next post I will share pics of some non-'churchy' locations we visited-the Colosseum, and the Zoo!

(Please forgive my lackluster I-Phone photography.  I intentionally left my good camera at home because of the rampant tourist-targeted theft in Rome.  There is no way that my mediocre photography skills can do justice to the beauty and character of this city!)

 

   



 

Our Trip to Roma!

On the corkboard in our kitchen we have a list of the top places we want to travel while we are lucky enough to live in Europe.  In the top spot we wrote Rome, and made it a priority to get ourselves there ASAP!

When I was 18 years old I travelled to Europe with my Mom and Sister, we spent a few days in Rome that were hazy from jetlag, but what I remember from that trip was thinking that Rome was definitely a place I wanted to visit again.  Finally 16 years later I finally found my way back with my own children and husband. 

 

We spent a week in Rome at a lovely hotel that was centrally located to all the must-see sights, and only a one minute walk from the Trevi Fountain.  We intentionally planned our trip to Rome in the tourism off-season, but the area still seemed very crowded, and I can't imagine being there in the heat of the summer when the tourist season is in full swing.

Sometimes I think to myself that it is too bad that the children won't remember all of our travels.  What I like about travelling with our kids is that it has taught us how to travel slowly and enjoy the time we are spending as a family.  It is not important to us to see every sight in Rome, but it is important that we come home from a vacation and feel like we have spent some quality time together. 

 

How much longer do we have to walk?

Much better!

Even though we travel slowly, we did see a lot on our trip, and it will take me a few blog posts to share what we saw, including Vatican City, the Colosseum, the Forum, the Pantheon, the zoo, and Ostia Antica.  Please forgive my lackluster photography skills-I only used my IPhone camera, and I am too lazy to improve them with Photoshop!

I do wish that I had taken more pictures of the restaurants we ate at, because of course, eating is the best part of an Italian vacation.  We found it very easy to travel around Rome, and many of the restaurants had  English speaking staff and menus.  Luckily, Italy is an easy place for kids to eat because of all the pizza, pasta, and gelato!  My kids are always more adventurous eaters when we are on vacation, and I was so surprised when they asked if we could order clams after they saw a woman at a nearby table eating a big bowl of clams.  I was even more surprised when they finished the bowl and asked if they could order more!  We also learned that Ryan's feet stopped hurting if he had a gelato while he walked.  I know that parenting guides say not to use sweets as a reward, but it really does help encourage good behavior while travelling!

In my next post I will talk about visiting Vatican City and the Pantheon.  Ciao!