Random Rome Moments

Our family trip to Rome was great! S and I decided that we should not try to do and see everything. We will have to go back to wander the museums and enjoy romantic dinners. Our trip was very full in spite of skipping almost every major museum. We returned to our rental apartment every night tired and happy with the day's sights. Instead of boring you with lists of what we saw and such, I will just share some random highlights and thoughts. Let me just say at the start that traveling with two little people is a joy and a curse and a joy. :)

A sink, just my size...
We arrived at our rental apartment late at night so the girls went straight to bed. But that didn't stop C from noticing something different in the bathroom. When she came in to brush teeth, she declared, "Look mommy a little sink, just my size!" She was starting to kneel down in front of the bidet and turn on the water when I stopped her. S and I were able to explain that some people use it to clean themselves after the potty. And she never tried to put her hands in it again. However, our last day there I 'caught' her using it. She had gone potty and then moved over to the bidet. She had done everything right. I'm not sure I could have done so well! She thought she was going to get in trouble but we praised her for trying new things. What a worldly 4 year old.

Fountain search
Because we had gotten in late the night before we decided our first day shouldn't be to hard. We headed for the Trevi fountain. The metro dropped us near the Triton fountain. Further wanderings had us pass by the San Carlo alle Quatro Fontane (Fountains at each of the 4 corners of the street), and several piazzas with fountains. C and R loved turning the corner and running into yet another fountain. And the discovery of (safe) water fountains all along the way was just as good. The 3 girls threw three coins in the Trevi fountain and we all plan to return to Rome someday. We somehow ended the day at the Spanish Steps. Which has a great fountain at the bottom. We filled sippy cups and drank from the fountain. Water + kids = happy

Pizza x 2
Traveling with picky eaters can be the pits. When we were in Prague we actually bribed C to sit through a wonderful Czech meal that she wouldn't touch by promising to go to McDonald's afterward. R was asleep or she would have gotten the same bribe. So Italy was something a mommy could look forward to. Pizza!! It was my goal to give those picky eaters one of their most favorite meals twice a day everyday until we left the country. And that is what we did. C was overjoyed. R, well you know R, she ate like a pro. C even made up a song about pizza margarita. S thought we should break the trend on day and stop in at the local golden arches but I stuck to my guns. Those girls ate pizza for lunch and dinner 5 days in a row. Kids were happy. Mammy was happy. Daddy was happy. Hmmm... Maybe I should try that at home? The one thing I did learn is that traditional Roman cuisine and much of the Sicilian cuisine was not served at the places that had wood-fired pizza.




prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella
And then God created cheese. Those that know and love me are aware of my life long relationship with cheese. Well move over cheddar, Mama found something better! One evening we ordered a common appetizer of prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella. I have had prosciutto before but this was the best ever. And the fresh buffalo mozzarella left me drooling for more. Yum!

Is it older than you?
Any trip to Rome must include the really old stuff. So off we went to the ruins of Rome. We wandered around some of the most amazing ruins I have ever seen. Vestal Virgins, ancient temples, homes of emperors... Of course that was the only day it rained during our trip. But what is a little water. At least it wasn't cold!! We found that the Peg (stroller) can do cobble stone until you get to the really old stuff. Huge stones with a gap big enough to loose R in were tough going. C was having trouble understanding how truely old this stuff was. I said it was older than Grandpa Ted (sorry Dad!). So she asked if it was older than me. Was it older than Daddy? And as the day wore on and she wanted us to move on to the next thing she would say, "Lets go see some more old stuff!"



the Jesus count
Ever since we say Notre Dame while mass was being held C has loved to go into churches. She asks lots of great questions. And she loves to make "God's Houses" in the sand box in the back yard. She is particularly fond of Jesus on the cross. She is fascinated with his wounds and the story of how people could kill him that way. It sounds grim as I write it but she makes it all matter-of-fact as she sorts out things in her own way. She is also warming up to the idea of pictures of Jesus as a baby and picture of hime with Mary.

I thought it would be a great way to get her interested in some of the places we visit by counting how many Jesuses we can find. Whenever I saw one I would point it out and C would usually ask a million new (and hard) questions about Christianity. She loved Michaelangelo's Pieta. And she always wanted to go straight to the alter of any church we entered to check for a Jesus on the cross at the front of the church. We found them in tapestries, sculpture and paintings. Jesus is a popular guy in Rome. So C got a good look at Jesus at all ages and mommy lost count.

The most beautiful place ever
We weren't expecting the girls to love the Vatican. We knew it would be crowded and hard. I had the Jesus search going with C and that helped. And R had lolly pops. The day we picked to go do our Vatican stuff fortune landed in our laps; we got tickets to the Wednesday audience with the Pope. So we hung out with a few thousand of other folks in front St. Peter's Basilica and waved at him. S got some amazing pictures.

Next we took our mildly sunburned selves up the elevator in St. Peter's Dome and buzzed through the Rafael rooms in the papal palace. The girls were getting bored by the time we got to the big push through the crowd for the Sistine Chapel. S wasn't having much fun in the crowd either. But we managed to find a decent spot to wedge the stroller. S held R steady as she gazed at the ceiling. Who knows what was going through her amazing little mind. C and I walked into the larger section of the room and managed to snag a seat on a bench. She sat there with her head resting on the wall behind her as I tried to point out something that might hold her attention. "There is God...That guy he is touching is man... well the first man... well... Isn't it beautiful? He painted for 5 years to make that. On his back..." She didn't say anything for a while. Finally I got impatient and asked her what she thought of it all. She said, "It is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen!"

As we were getting ready to leave the room I pointed out the walls of the chapel to C. There are curtains or drapes painted so realistically that she wouldn't believe me when I said they aren't real. She insisted that we go touch them. You can't just go touch the walls of the Sistine Chapel but I got close enough to convince her that is is an illusion of paint and artistry. I was reminded then that I could see Rome without kids- see more, take more time. But with my children I saw differently, more clearly.





melon gelat-oh!
In addition to twice a day pizza we had some gelato everyday. Because gelato is NOT like American ice cream C couldn't find any she liked. In the first restaurant we tried to order plain vanilla gelato. What we got was - and I am not kidding here - basil flavored gelato. I was the only one who liked it. R wouldn't even eat it. Who knew that basil was an dessert flavor? Next we tried vanilla and yogurt flavors. We tried chocolate. C wouldn't eat any of it. Finally we got Fior de Latte. It was a hit! S stuck mainly to Stracciatella which is basically chocolate chips in vanilla ice cream. I was was being conservative and getting the same thing for awhile. But then it hit me that melon and strawberries are in season and they make this stuff fresh. So I ordered melon (cantaloupe) and strawberry. WOW!! It was so yummy! I had gelato twice the last day we were there. :)

How to get your butt caught in the train door
What a great transition- ice cream to my big butt getting snagged by the train. Actually, there is more to it than that. At certain times of day the metro in Rome is packed. I used my newly acquired German pushiness to shove my way onto the train with the stroller. But S and C were behind me and the doors started to close. I figured the door would hit my rear and pop back open. Haha. S and another guy (whose luggage was one the train without him) pried the doors back open. S grabbed C's shoe that had come off in the excitement and we all got on the train. Lets here it for big hinnies!



There were so many other moments in our Rome trip that I could share. We had a great time. If you want to see more pictures from the trip, check out our Flickr account.