Ancient Rome...

, Just a quick warning...this is an extremely long post...but then Ancient Rome deserves much attention! As you may have figured out, Saturday is our major exploring day...mainly because Tobin is off work, we have a vehicle, and everything is open for regular italian business hours (with the exception of banks which are only open in the morning on Saturday). Well, this past Saturday was the italian's Labor Day! Apparently everything just shuts down...if the lines in the food stores were any indication of what was to come...we bought lots of food on Friday!

We decided to brave the holiday and go to Rome. We certainly picked a great day to go! We got on the train in Montalto (apparently, they have these Birg tickets that are all inclusive...all train, metro, and buses included to and from Rome for one day...I feel like we made out like bandits...then they (the folks at the local Tobacchi that speak some english) said that even Case didn't need a ticket).

The kids were so excited about the train ride and were beside themselves once we were onboard...it was a double decker train and we got to sit on top (due to Labor Day we were basically the only ones on the train to begin the ride with...as we got closer to Rome it got more crowded, but it also got later in the day...we were on the 7am train!). Here is super excited Fuzz on the train...


We got off at the Termini station...well, you kind of have to because it is the end of the road/track!...then we walked through Rome to the Colosseum. My impressions of Rome (based on the short walk from the train station to the Colosseum) is that it actually reminds me alot of NYC. I was certainly expecting more along the lines of what one sees in the movies...more of an old feeling to the town, more quaint, more exotic, or something. The buildings were certainly beautiful and I always love to walk around in a city, but I certainly was NOT afraid of a pickpocket...frankly, I would have liked to see them try (my NJ is coming out) and finding the Colosseum was not difficult. I was shocked by the amount of grafitti on everything (not necessarily right in Ancient Rome but the outlying areas were covered...I haven't seen that much in a long time!

We arrive at the Colosseum and all of the streets around Ancient Rome are closed to car traffic...I wasn't sure what we were walking into but apparently they close off the streets and MANY Romans come down to walk the streets. It was very crowded...people were everywhere! I was afraid of being packed in the sites, but it really wasn't too bad. Apparently, all the people there were more interested in walking about and chatting with friends than seeing the sites...good for us! Well, we were in luck! Only for May 1st, the cost of going into the Colosseum was only 1 euro! Go us!!! Usually, the cost is 12 euros per adult and something less for kids, but on this day it was only 4 euro for all of us...my inner bargin-hunter was jumping for joy!

Here are the boys on a Roman road outside of the Colosseum...take note of the very large rocks that are used to make these roads...they are NOT made for strollers! We brought the stroller for Gwen and that was almost our downfall. Rome was not built in a day and it was not built with strollers in mind...think lots of stairs, large boulder streets, and gravel...thankfully, my stroller is well built...it made it and with minimal damage, but we did have to carry it up and down many staircases!

Here is the Arch of Constantine...this is just outside the Colosseum (the Colosseum is just to the left of this picture)...the arches are certainly one of my favorite parts of this adventure...they are quite the sight, large and relatively in good condition...

We then entered the Palatine Hill Area...just a note for those of you who may someday come for a visit...to get into the Colosseum, there is a combo ticket with the Colosseum and Palatine Hill...buy your ticket at Palatine Hill...there is a MUCH shorter line there...we just zipped in, whereas at the Colosseum you might stand for hours...

This is the Stadium of the Palatine...this is a long flat oval-type area that they say was used as a large garden...

After walking around the Palatine hill area and visiting the museum bathrooms, we meandered down into the Roman Forum. At the entry is the Arch of Titus...

I have a large number of pictures of all the ruins, but because (1) I am not sure what all we looked at/took pictures of and (2) not all the most exciting parts of our adventure, we will just have this one pic of the Temple of Saturn...by this time it was already really hot and the kids were loosing interest...on to the highlight of Ancient Rome (at least for me)...

My favorite part, by far, was the Colosseum...well worth my 1 euro to get in! It is a truly amazing structure. I think that once you are standing there and look at how large it is and remember that it was built thousands of years ago...truly amazing!

While the kids didn't understand exactly what we were looking at, I figured they would really enjoy this picture when they get older...

An outside few of this spectacular building...

Even with the 3 little kids (and one in a stroller) it only took about 1/2 a day to do that...we then took the Metro (think Subway) to Garbetella (one of Rome's neighborhoods) and we visited with our neighbors from Montana...amazing! The Lindquists actually live across the street from us in MT and we met them in Rome! What fun! A great refreshing visit in the hot of the day! We even had our first Italian Gelato! Looks like someone was enjoying it...

We got to meet the Lindquists daughter-in-law (Amelia) and granddaughter (Ocia) who actually live in Rome. Looks like Gwen has found her first friend in Italy...the 2 of them were certainly cute together...

Then back on the train home...we finally saw our first conductor, it was just minutes before our stop in Montalto, and apparently, Case does need a train ticket! We went all day and NOW they tell us we needed a ticket! The conductor let us go, but he made sure we understood that the penalty for not having a ticket is 50 euro! Yikes! For a 3 euro ticket! Oh well, next time he gets a ticket for sure! As expected, Clayton fell asleep almost as soon as he sat down...so much excitement for one day...

I hope that you enjoyed our adventure...I am sure to share more tomorrow!

Ciao a tutti!