Rome, Italy (Day 6)

Welcome to the last day of 2015!  What a year it's been!  And we closed out the year with our last full day in Rome.  It started off with me and the kids checking off YET ANOTHER new country... Vatican City!  First stop, and in retrospect, it should have been the last stop, was the Vatican Musuems.  I could have spent ALL day there, but not with two very bored kiddos.  Uh uh.  No way.  But when in Rome, one must see the Sistine Chapel!

We've never done audioguides for the kids, but they actually had an English version of a children's audioguide. Grant, age 6 was probably still too young for it.  Natalie (age 8) seemed to enjoy it though!  I like audioguides, particularly for art museums because otherwise, I'm only seeing a part of the story.

We all got this really funny idea to touch the top of St. Peter's from the courtyard of the Vatican Museums.

And of course, then Grant had to do it.

And Sassy McSassalot had to do it.

And not wanting to be left out, Todd had to do it too.

One of the more famous paintings is Raphael's Transfiguration.  It's in a very dark room and you can't use a flash so pardon the darkness of this picture and the next. 

Grant, pondering the works of Raphael, part 2.

I love the story of Saint Peter, who was crucified for pushing his religious agenda, but requested to be crucified upside down because he didn't feel he deserved to die the same way Jesus did.  This painting is by Guido Reni.

The kids loved this mummy. 

 

We all really loved Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden by Wenzel Peter.  The kids loved pointing out the different kinds of animals they saw.  Of course, the scientist in me is thinking... this isn't even a small fraction of all of the actual animals on earth!

The Gallery of Maps. OH. MY. WORD.  I found this to be more impressive than the Sistine Chapel!  It's an enormously long corridor with the most beautiful ceiling I have seen this side of St. Paul's in London.  And there are MAPS aligning both walls!  Did you hear me?  MAPS!

Me and a cool map! Hooray for Geography!  Boo for people photobombing my picture!

This is absolutely hysterical. I have no idea if it's real or not!

The staircase when you leave the Vatican Museums is insane.  It's a replica of the original Bramante staircase that I think is over in some private quarters of the Vatican.  But it's beautiful.  It looks like a snail to me.

Outside in the Piazza di San Pietro, we were excited to see beautiful St. Peter's.  But when we went to try to go inside, we got told that it was already closed for the day.  And we are leaving for home tomorrow.  So I missed my supposed one and only chance at seeing the great St. Peter's!  What!?  I was so, so, so, so disappointed. 

 Panoramic of St. Peters Square. 

The Pope's living quarters. He sometime makes speeches from the window that is second from the right on the top floor.  I kept hoping he'd come out to say hello, which would totally make up for the fact that I didn't get to walk through the Holy Door and go into St. Peter's. But nope. He didn't.

Since we couldn't get into St. Peter's, we decided to go over to the Castel Sant'Angelo.  It's a 2nd century fortress that has a long walkway all the way to St. Peter's.  Former Pope's would use Castel Sant'Angelo in times of trouble.  Hadrian had it built as a mausoleum, but it has since become a fortress and now a museum.  You can see the angel on the top, from which the castle gets its name. It was originally told that the Archangel Michael himself appeared to rid the city of a plague in the 6th century, hence the name the Castel Sant'Angelo.

We immediately went to the top of the Castle to check out the views.  Hey, wasn't I just there!?  We got a nice view of the Terrace of the Chariots. You can see tiny people on the top of it, showing just how massive the structure is.

 Me and my babies on the top of the Castel Sant'Angelo, New Year's Eve 2015.

Once we started to walk down, we realized of course, that it was New Year's Eve and was snack time/ happy hour, which had to be done prior to going back to the apartment for a quick nap so the kids could make it to midnight.  On our way to the little restaurant that is at the Castle, Grant was playing a game of hide and seek with this pigeon!  He thought it was the funniest thing!  He would see the pigeon and then the pigeon would go behind that column, only to pop out on the other side of the column, where he would find Grant waiting for him. And the whole game would begin again.  Over and over and over!

Somehow, some people were leaving this seat and we managed to snag it.  BEST seat in the house!  Looking over Vatican City and St. Peter's. 

I mean, you can't go to Vatican City and get two of the most inappropriate souvenirs EVER, right!?!  A Pope shot glass and a "Popener!"

Now THAT is a fine way to end 2015. 

After a decent nap (maybe an hour and a half?), we went out to a late-ish dinner.  Me and my little man sat close to the heater!

Additionally, wine and Limoncello will help keep you warm!

 From there, we decided to head over to find a spot on one of the Tiber's many bridges to ring in the New Year and watch the many firework displays that Rome has going on.  We passed the Castel Sant'Angelo (lit up, above) and went to the bridge in front of the Palace of Justice to celebrate New Year's.

We found our spot, got our New Year's drinks and got this party started!

I love this picture.  It shows their personalities perfectly.  The Palace of Justice is in the background. Also, please note our bar set up on the bridge wall to the right.  This sort of thing is not at all frowned upon in Rome.

 Partying on the bridge, as fireworks begin to go off above the Palace of Justice.

 

More New Year's Eve fireworks.

The clock had just struck midnight and everyone was celebrating.  Some American students studying in Rome were next to us on the bridge, and they took our picture as the fireworks were going off.  We kept saying, "Remember that New Year's we spent on the bridge in Rome!?"  What a blast! I'm sure the kids won't remember all of this one day (especially Grant) but I know I certainly will!  Ciao, Rome!  Until next time!

Rome, Italy (Day 5)

We decided to take a break from history and art and spend a day at the Bioparco, or the Zoo.  It's over on the other side of Rome from where we were staying, in the Villa Borghese, so we took a cab over there.  Mostly we stuck to public transportation on this trip, but it was just more time efficient to take a cab, since we were staying far away from there.

First stop, the giraffes!  This guy came right over, got a little snack, and then went back into his comfy home.

My very favorite stop is ALWAYS the reptile house.  I'm not sure Natalie was feeling the same way here about the crocodiles!  But you know they are my favorite animal!

Look at this sweet, sleepy frog!  He looks so comfy and happy!

Next up, the sweet orangutans.  This sweet baby came right up to the kids (and other kids) and just sat there and stared at them.  It was really cute!  I wonder if he (she?) thought he (she?) was going to get a treat?

I don't know why this is funny to me- I think because the model and Natalie have the same hair color and that someday, Grant IS going to be taller than Natalie! 

After a quick lunch, which was incredibly difficult to find because almost EVERYTHING in the zoo was closed, we enjoyed a nice Peroni while strolling around.  Hooray for drinking beer at the zoo!

The kids found a Noah's Ark themed playground, and had fun for a bit while we enjoyed our beers.

Who doesn't love the cute seals!  They just swam around and around and around! We could have spent an hour with them!

 

Stunning!

 

Is this the most beautiful creature that has ever walked the earth? I'm not just saying that because I'm an Auburn Tiger!

The funniest part about this was that there was another tiger in the living quarters next to him/her.  He/she really wanted to play or something... because he/she kept growling and pacing back and forth and making strange noises.

Then there was this BEAUTIFUL lioness sitting right next to the glass.  Hanging out with my kiddos. She was actually really sweet! 

This is my little man hanging out with his new buddy, the Mandrillo!  It looks like they're posing together!

 After we left the zoo, we strolled through the Villa Borghese.  Grant:  The runner.  It's like Chariots of Fire.  The child just always wants to RUN. I'm going to sign him up for track when track season starts.  He saw some people running on this "track" and said, "I want to run on that track."  So of course, we let him.  He's actually a great runner! Waaaay better than his mama!   We let him run for a bit, and then walked around the park for a bit. It was really pretty. I wish we had more time to stroll around, and I wish it had been a bit warmer.

After a little boy ran around a track, we decided he needed some massive carbs.  Nutella crepes? Ok! Sounds good! Eat 'em up, baby!!

Pompeii, Italy (Day 4)

I have ALWAYS wanted to visit Pompeii!  It certainly did not disappoint.  From Rome, it's very easy to get there.  Just hop on the high speed train to Naples, and then take the Circumvesuviana train to Pompeii Scavi (make sure it's this train and this stop... otherwise, you will end up elsewhere!) and voila!  Pompeii!

Per usual for this trip, we got a late start and didn't get to Naples until 10:30.  But that's still plenty of time to see Pompeii, especially with kids.

Walking in the entrance, you first see this.  It's already impressive, and so is the walk up that hill on the right!  Back before Vesuvius erupted, the Mediterranean came all the way up to here.  Now it's about 3 kilometers away!  That much ash and rock flowed down the mountain to not only cover Pompeii, but to create a new shoreline. This is where they docked the boats and hauled in their fish and other trade.

The streets of Pompeii were purposely and often flooded to clean away dust, dirty and other debris.  So these paving stones were set up so that people could walk across the flooding without getting wet.  It also serves as an excellent jumping stone for a little jumping bean.  These people do not seem amused!

We enjoyed listening to Rick Steves podcasts about the different places we visited.  Todd is letting the kids listen in as we stood in the Pompeii Forum (kind of the like the Town Square).

My cuties at Pompeii.  This was, back in the day, a sort of pedestrian only walk way.  Hence the large "teeth" which would prevent carts and chariots from driving down the road.

Bodies. This was in the Macellum, which was an indoor market that mainly sold fruits and vegetables.

I guess that excavation is just an ongoing thing here.  I don't really know that that is what he was doing, but I liked to imagine that he was discovering new things here!

Next, we visited the baths.  Women bathed separately from men, and interestingly, they even had heated floors!  Hot water flowed beneath the floor to warm them up, much like how they are today.  They had hot, warm and cold baths, and women bathed in the morning, while men bathed in the afternoon. Check out Mr. Creepy Face up by where the sunlight is coming in!  

I'm strong. I've got this.  Kinda like these guys.

Pomepii and other towns of that time also had little fast food restaurants!  Grant is in the back, cooking up some fried chicken for mommy, who is ordering from the clerk, Natalie. 

Pompeii Gangstas.

Cave Canem.  Beware of the Dog!  All done in little tile mosaic work.

All over the streets are deep grooves such as the one above where the carts and chariots had, over time, ground down the pavement and made a kind-of permanent wheel ruts.

It ain't a party until Grumpy Grant arrives! 

This is the entrance to the House of the Faun.  It was owned by a very wealthy man (family?) and was over 3000 square meters!  It even had it's own plumbing system!

Here is the cutest little Faun imitating the Dancing Faun.  This statue is just a replica of what was once there.

The Alexander Mosaic is a popular stop in the House of the Faun.  It shows Alexander the Great battling Darius III of Persia.  The mosaic tile work would have likely been destroyed by time and elements, except that the ash from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius was actually able to preserve it.

In the Forum Granary, there's a large, cordoned off warehouse like area that contains not only the plaster casts of the humans who died in Pompeii with the 79AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius, but also what seemed to be hundreds and hundreds of clay pots and other relics and artifacts.

Plaster cast of a person who died.  Many of them were found with their hands covering their faces because it was likely that the heat and ash were burning their eyes.

A smaller person.  This made me sad.  He or she looked smaller than Grant!

Doorways of homes.  Usually the front of the house was used for commerce, and the back or upper floors were the proprietor's home.  Talk about mixed use development!

Mount Vesuvius, lurking in the distance, partially covered in clouds.

They did not even care that we were doing 185 mph!  They were so happy to be on their tablets. I guess that's okay after a day of learning about Pompeii!

It's blurry, but I managed to capture one time when we hit 299 kph! 

We started a tradition when we were on our honeymoon in Spain that we like to randomly stop at Irish pubs at least once on our trip.  So we stopped at this place, and not only did they have Makers Mark, but Grant drew a picture while we were there that the waitress loved and they hung it up in the bar (conveniently next to the Makers Mark, which is to the left of the picture).  My son, the only 6-year-old with artwork hanging in an Italian bar!

How do we end ALL of our days?  With gelato, of course!  YUM!