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!