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!

Rome, Italy (Day 3)

Day 3 of our Roman Holiday took us all around Rome!  From one end to the other!  We started out back at the Basilica di Santa Maria, which is right on Capitoline Hill, next to Michelangelo's steps.  The kids and I started hiking up and counted over 100 steps!
 

The Basilica di Santa Maria was an unexpected treasure.  It was so beautiful inside with a gorgeously ornate ceiling and tons of glass chandeliers.  I love a beautiful church!  This was definitely worth the visit and was my favorite church in Rome (more on that later...)

Check out those chandeliers!  It's hard to see the ceiling's beauty but it was really pretty.

After our visit, we realized that we had forgotten our handy dandy Rick Steves book back at the apartment.  Boo.  So Todd dashingly dashed off to retrieve it.  Meanwhile, the kids and I went up to the top of the Terrace of the Chariots.  Here the kids were giggling about something and I happened to snap a cute pic of them as we waited in line.

The view from the top was breathtaking.  It's definitely the highest point in Rome.  This picture is looking westward toward St. Peters in Vatican City.

 

This is why it's called the Terrace of the Chariots.  There are a couple of statues like this up on the top.

This is the view looking to the southeast.  You can see the Forum in the foreground and the Colosseum in the background.

Looking north.

Todd totally missed the views, because we left the Terrace of the Chariots and met him down on the ground.  From there, we went down to the Mouth of Truth (or as the Italians say, La Bocca della Verita).  Legend has it, that if you are a liar and you put your hand in the Mouth of Truth, it will bite you hand off!  You can see my dear, sweet Natalie has never told a lie! ;-)

In this picture we are recreating the scene from Roman Holiday where Gregory Peck scares Audrey Hepburn! 

The church that the Mouth of Truth resides at, the Church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin is actually pretty neat.  I wasn't overly wowed by the inside architecture but it's small and quaint.  It was first built in the 700s, and then completed in the 11th century. It's undergone many renovations and feels kind of all over the place (especially with some baroque touches!)

The coolest part?  The skull of Saint Valentine!  Whaaaaat?????? 

For a small donation, you can go beneath the church and see Hadrian's Crypt, built in the 8th century.  The man of the same "Hadrian's Wall" fame in England, he kept many religious relics here.

Afterward, it was time for a late lunch, and we walked across the Tiber River to the Trastevere neighborhood, where my former coworkers Rich and Erin had recommended a restaurant called Da Enzo.  I don't think I knew how big this river was!

Walking through the narrow street neighborhoods of the Trastevere.

We saw these signs everywhere.  They were so funny!  The obvious sign means you can't drive down here, but then someone puts these stickers on it to make like a guy is carrying something heavy.  I hope he set his back properly before lifting!

I pretended like I was taking a picture of Grant, but I NEEDED to capture this lovey dovey couple next to us at Da Enzo.  So cute and disgusting and Italian, all at the same time!

After a DELICIOUS lunch, we walked across the Ponte Cestio (bridge) to Tiber Island (Isola Tiberina).  Once on the island, you then get back onto the mainland by crossing the Ponte Fabricio.  This bridge completely fascinated me!  It's the oldest Roman bridge in Rome, built in 62 AD!  And it's STILL STANDING!  WHAAAT???? Meanwhile in America, we have to replace bridges every 50 years.  Sheesh.

The next stop was way across town to the Spanish Steps. And wouldn't ya know it!  They were closed and under construction!  Well, I guess we just have to go back to Rome someday!

I know the children were SO DISAPPOINTED that they didn't get to run up the Spanish Steps, so of course, we had to compensate with gelato.  You can tell Natalie is super heartbroken over all of it.

To the right of the Spanish Steps is a house that John Keats and Percy Shelley lived in.  No big deal, just two of the most important authors of the 19th century!  John Keats died of tuberculosis in this house in 1821. We didn't get a chance to go in (we really try to avoid most museums with the kids) but Wikipedia says, "The museum houses one of the world's most extensive collections of memorabilia, letters, manuscripts, and paintings relating to Keats and Shelley, as well as Byron, Wordsworth, Robert Browning, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Oscar Wilde, and others."  Definitely worth visiting on another trip to Rome!

A beautiful column dedicated to Mary's Immaculate Conception.   

On our way back to our apartment, we once again passed Trevi Fountain in the evening.  I love it all lit up and I love the light color of the water.  

But wait!  One more stop before we go home because we cannot go back to Germany without having gone INTO the Pantheon!   I love my new camera and how beautifully it captured the lighting here.

Built during the time of Caesar Augustus, it was completed by the Emperor Hadrian over a hundred years later.  Two kings of Italy are buried there, as well as the artist Raphael, but it is now used as a Roman Catholic church, which you can see the alter, above.

Grant, pondering the works of Raphael, who is buried here.

At this point, it's pretty much time to go home when your kid is tired enough to sit down on the floor of the Pantheon!  He wasn't crying... he was just really exhausted!