Ancient Rome

We slept in a bit today...woke up boiling hot! I don't think our rooms (yes rooms plural was a bonus since I thought we were getting a room with two doubles) have air....but they do have bidets.

Breakfast is provided at our hotel...lots of carbs...croissants and other pastries, some eggs and lunch meat and a sweet Nescafé machine. We have a habit of sitting next to European couples who have no problem with PDA.

Rode the metro to Termini (Rome's five points) to find our City Sightseeing hop on and off bus tour that we prebooked. Things are hard to find here not 'in your face' but we figure it out eventually.

We got off to see the Roman Forum, Palestine Hill and Colleseum. When I backpacked after college I don't remember spending much time here or even seeing the Roman Forum. Amazing! We walked around and around and were in awe on how old everything is and considering it's age how well preserved after 2000 years! We had downloaded Rick Steve's audio podcasts so we could do self tour. Good tip to buy tix online and skip line too!  

We went to one of neighbor Gi's recommendations for lunch...not far behind Colleseum called Cafe Cafe. They have an amazing selection of teas and small lunch menu. We had paninis. After, we went to the Colleseum...took many pics and imagined how Gladiator games worked back in the day.

We hopped back on the bus tour and got off to see the Trevi Fountain. Sadly, the fountain was covered in scaffolding so we bought a postcard. Thought of our friends the Yarbroughs who got engaged here! And dropped in a coin stating we'd return someday...to see it without scaffolding.

Our pizzeria I had preselected was closed on Sunday but an artist we bought a painting from recommended Al Presidente. We sat and ordered and THEN I looked it up in Tripadvisor...reviews were horrible like 'get up and run from these scam artists'. We giggled about how lucky we could be to find the worst restaurant in Rome. It wasn't horrible...we were outside near a heater with each other and some beverages people watching...but food was just OK.

We strolled to the Pantheon that was all lit up. It gets dark around 6. After, we found a great gelato place called Don Nino (via dei Pastini,134). We've realized the gelato places with silver embedded containers are the homemade places whereas the ones with mounds of whipped gelato that look pretty are touristy.

It's now the remains of the day, we've walked over 18,000 steps today, but rather than sit around in our hotel rooms...Jason found an Irish pub called Highlander (vicolo di San biagio n.9)...it was tough to find but they are known for the spot to watch American football. While I blog and Natalie checks her Instagram (free wifi), the boys make friends (Eagles and Jaguar fans) while watching the game.

Accidental tourists

No doubt we are going to get better at being tourists in Italy. It's been a long day ...flying through the night to Frankfurt was not as restful for Jason and I despite the excederin PM. Kids slept decent. Had layover in Frankfurt so found some frankfurters for breakfast. 

Got to Rome and secured a taxi with two other parties ( the flat rate to city center is now 48 euros).  Our hotel is nice but it is outside the old city wall which means we need to metro cab or bus to most places.  We checked in and changed clothes and made our afternoon plan.

When we were ready to eat most restaurants were closed for lunch and prepping for dinner so we got take out pizza and then metroed to the Borghese gardens.

I really wanted to rent a group bike to experience the Gardens and while many were passing by us it was difficult to find the booth that rents them.  

We ended up opting for a motorized train tour and then cabbed to Campo Di Fiore for dinner. But dinner wasn't an option at the restaurant we selected until 7:30 so we made a reservation and then strolled the piazza and stumbled into a brand new gelato place called "ice cream factory" where we met real Italian twins Mario and Luigi! Mario was the owner of the shop but Luigi had the people skills. We were one of their first customers and soon after we were there a local famous Italian chef named Max Massismo (sp?) was there.

We strolled around Campo Di Fiore and parked ourselves at a bar and enjoyed the people watching. The Italians are hard workers...not waiting for customers to come to them but encouraging those in the piazza to give them a try. 

After drinks we headed to Hosteria Costanza- the restaurant that was built where Julius Ceasar was killed years ago on the Ides of March-- March 15 is also Jacob's birthday. Parts of this restaurant are as old as the Colloseum. The wait staff answered many questions and made us feel at home. We ate pasta and seafood and drank wine...

After dinner the restaurant called us a taxi. We all tried to stay awake but the 20 min cab ride had us all sleeping! Luckily  the taxi didn't take us for an extended ride but woke us up at our hotel. We all went straight to bed. I tried to post this last night but couldn't stay awake.

Here we go!!!!!

We are checked in! Packed light we all brought one bag (5 outfits to wear twice) - we heard pack light from lots of folks since we are lugging stuff to multiple cities.

While waiting for departure we are dining and drinking at the newly opened Blue Moon Brewhouse in concourse E of Atlanta Hartsfield airport. Jason led this Brewhouse project so we are so proud. It's the first one in US...and the world!!!!

Italy Trip Planning

Half of the fun is in the anticipation and planning of the trip....well maybe not half, but definitely some of the fun.

The Easter Bunny brought each member of my family a guide book but the books got little love over the summer and when school started back up.  So...we scheduled a family 'Italy Trip Planning' night about a month and half before our trip.  We first enjoyed some basic Italian food (frozen ravioli and jar marinara with Italian bread dipped in olive oil), a nice bottle of Chianti and gelato for dessert.  After dinner, we got out the travel books, emailed notes from friends, Pinterest boards, and started to better define what we wanted to do in Rome, Florence, and Venice.  We wrote one attraction or restaurant on an index card and had a pile for each city.  In general, I can tell that churches and museums are not going to be the big attractions for us.  Jason and Jacob are really into the historical sites and Natalie can't wait to experience the culture and shopping.  I think we are all excited for the food.  I'm excited to experience Italy with them.  I have been to each of these cities when I backpacked after college with 2 girlfriends.  Jason (and Natalie when she was about 11 months old) has been to England but never to Europe mainland.  But, we have been to some great other destinations as a family....Bali (thanks Grandpa!), the Grand Canyon, and Dominican Republic.  Not to mention all our family fun trips to Florida, DC, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.

Shadow wants to go!

Our sweet (to us :-)) Shih tzu Shadow always knows when we are up to something - he sees me scurrying around...follows me around the house from room to room...and then starting to pack up the suitcases.  While I'm packing he's sitting on my clothes and then decides he wants to go with us.  It's going to be tough to leave this little guy at Bow Wags for 10 days.  He's been there before but it always takes him a few days to warm up.  I love it when they send us pictures and texts about his adventures while we are away.

How this idea started...

All it took was a casual comment from my husband Jason earlier this year when we were talking about how we wanted to use our vacation time from work this year.  He said, "I'd like to take a trip to Europe with the kids".  I smiled and replied that I would begin to look for 'a deal' so cautioned him to keep an open mind on where we would go and exactly when.  We knew in general that we would need to accommodate the kids school schedules as they are getting older and missing a few days of school is just something kids today don't want to do anymore.  It's too hard to make up the work.

So I watched the deal sites and subscribed to a few travel deal emails and one day...I saw one on Travelzoo (http://www.travelzoo.com) that caught my eye.  It was for a 9 night trip to Italy (4 nights Rome, 3 nights Florence, and 2 nights in Venice) and included airfare, hotel, and train connections to each city.  Jason and I reviewed the particulars, decided on the week of Thanksgiving, and had a family meeting with our two children (now ages 12 and 15) to ensure that they would consider this their Hannukah/Christmas presents for this year.  They didn't hesitate!  The night we booked it in February, Jason and I hovered over the 'submit' payment button for a few seconds.  This was the first time either of us had booked a package like this without talking to a human being.   We'll let you know if it was a good idea.