Italy Trip: Rome

Our two last days of Italy Tourist Time were spent in Rome. Adam booked a guided tour to see the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica. Oh, and by the way, it was supposed to be three hours! I was really nervous all morning, knowing that the kids might implode and there'd be nothing to do about it. Adam assured me he'd take the reigns; he'd seen everything already and he'd let me enjoy it. He did a great job, but the kids were having a hard time before it even started.

It doesn't look like it here, but I felt like I was shoulder to shoulder with tourists throughout the whole tour. Our tour guide's accent was very thick and the audio was terrible, so I didn't learn anything about anything. Most of the time, I felt like I was swimming through people to keep kids afloat and not lost to the museum coffers forever. 

 These giant baths were rocking my world.

Adam has always liked this statue, apparently. I didn't have time to ask him why. Our tour guide moved quickly and had only a tattered yellow/white flag on a stick with which to spot her, so even though the tour was long, I felt like we were always moving.

 I loved this red backdrop. The mom and son were pretty neat, too.

Cool ceiling.

 A bird bath to end all bird baths. Or was it a human bath? I will never know.

 I tried to take time to appreciate the floors as much as everything else. This floor was mosaic with tiny tiles. Amazing!

 No photos are allowed in the Sistine Chapel, but suffice it to say, it was awesome. Better than I imagined. Noah even thought it was pretty cool (I think Adam and Sienna went to the bathroom, so we had to meet them later). Noah pointed out the "Snake Man" in the painting of Satan and Adam and Eve. He didn't understand the concept of the devil ... he just really wanted to know, "Who is the snake man?!" I could have spent a lot longer craning my neck all for the sake of looking at that beautiful ceiling. There are so many details, I don't think even a day would allow you to take it all in. There was a priest standing at the front of the room with a microphone who'd yell "Silence!" in five or more languages when it got too loud. That was a real bummer. His "Silence!" was more of a distraction than the tourist hubbub. Come on, dude! We're just trying to discuss Snake Man!

Onto St. Peter's. By then it'd been 2.5 hours, and our tour guide told us we could peace out or stay with her. We handed over our audio lanyards, looked at the Pieta, tried to soak a little more in, and then left.

 What a building! The enormity is staggering.

Sienna was clear about her stance on this whole tour idea. She was giving us her best "Harumph!" with this scowl for emphasis. I don't blame you one bit, Bird!

Photo cred goes to Noah.

Hard time had by all.

 Ahhhh, outside we can breathe again! And eat suckers!

 While waiting for Adam to figure out the next direction to take, I beheld the Pope's security guards. Adam said their uniforms (aka costumes) were designed by Michelangelo. What didn't that guy do? Sculpt, paint, architecture, costume design. Geez. What am I doing with my life?

Despite the children's pleas to just stop already, we took the subway to Trevi fountain.

It was beautiful and everyone there was taking glamour shots. We wanted in on that!

Day two found us at the Colosseum. And I must say, we saved the best for last. The Colosseum blew me away and was a top favorite for me. 

It's truly insane to imagine what went on here so many years ago. Men fighting men, men fighting animals, men becoming animals. Sometimes they flooded it with water for Navy-type shows? I didn't get a lot of info out of this visit, either. I feel like I need to read up on everything I saw now...

 Sienna, again, saying, "WHYYYYY."

After lunch, we went to the Roman Forum, a huge field with Roman ruins. I did read about these later and it was also really cool to imagine life back then. People used their small apartments just for sleeping and did all their living in the public squares among these gleaming, columned wonders.

 Spot the Bird with a penguino on her shirt.

"Hey, mom, take my picture on this!"

Outside of tourist attractions, I was getting a real South American vibe from Rome. Actually I was getting the same vibe in a lot of areas of Italy. Adam didn't agree.

Also, sometimes I just really like graffiti. It's a world away from the pristine art that's preserved and admired. But, still, there's something to it...

 That's a wrap, Rome!

Post Script:

We missed our flight home (long story) and ended up driving alllllllll the way instead. It was 12.5 hours and Adam drove it like a boss. We stopped three times and he made it all up in the car. At one point I fell asleep and dreamed that we were driving from Rome to Luxembourg and I woke up thinking, Phew, I'm glad that was just a dream. OH WAIT. Ugh.

BUT. The silver lining was that the drive was gorgeous. And after walking all over Italy for 9 days, our kids were thrilled to be sitting in the car, watching back-to-back movies. 

We drove back through Tuscany, straight through the middle of Switzerland, across the east edge of France, and then at midnight-o-5, we pulled into our garage. Our beds never felt so good!

Here are a few shots I snapped from the passenger side in Switzerland...

Italy Trip: Florence

Oh, hi there David. Ahem, did you forget something?

Nah? Hmm.

Well, is it cool then if we take a family photo right here? Yeah? Cool. Thanks, David.

 While I circled good ol' David (such a nice guy), Adam kept the kids from strangling one another and I gave them my phone to take more pics.

 

 
We moved the freak show to the other parts of the museum. Good thing it was small! We didn't feel too bad about high-tailing it out of there to go find some sustenance.

"In 1830, hairstyles reach an unpredictable and precarious height and shape...." This paragraph made me happy. And so en vogue! (At least in 1830.)

Peace out, Accademia. Dude with the accordion gets some coins (and curious looks) from our kids.

 Duomo? I think? Loving the black and white stripes again, people.

 Lunch at a crappy pizza joint. We weren't sad.

 And you know what comes after pizza! Is this getting repetitive? I honestly couldn't even touch it.

Instead, I tried my luck with a cannoli. Best choice of the day! I'm not one to rave about a cannoli, but this one was rave-worthy. 

One last site for the day: Ponte Vecchio, a famous bridge lined with silver and gold shops.

It was fun to look at all the sparkly things. John and Adam contemplated when they'd be buying Rolexes... #someday #orprobablynever

Loved ya, Florence! Last stop: Rome.