Saturday was family field trip day again. This time it was a 4h one-way drive to Rome. So we got up early again and drove for four hours until we made it to the eternal city.
We were lucky enough to be there in time to make it to the last English-speaking tour of the Colosseum. Sadly I had to wait outside with the dogs as they were not allowed in, but the rest of the family had a blast in there. All in all, a good reason to come back to Rome. We already planned to do an Italy trip for a couple of months in a couple of years with several stops all over Italy, so Rome will definitely be one of the stops. Colosseum alone is probably worth a whole day, just looking at everything inside.
We also made it to the Trevi fountain which was – even though it was November – hopelessly overcrowded. Insane the number of people in Rome. I don’t even want to know what it’s like visiting in summer. So we took a quick picture and wanted to make our way to the only other stop we had planned: Vatican City and the Sistine Chapel. It was going to be a very long walk and the Colosseum had taken up way more time than the tour guide had mentioned (she said an hour and after about 2 it was still going on), so we decided to head back to the car and drive there.
We all got hungry on the way back so we found a cute little restaurant right next to the Colosseum that offered yummy pizza and pasta with a great view of the Colosseum. We sat down and had a really great dinner, with Italian music, pizza, pasta, and the works. It really was quite stunning to see the Colosseum light up. It looked breathtaking at night. But again, all the people. I guess I’ll just never turn into a city girl. I have hated crowds since I was little, still hate them now. I see nothing appealing about being sandwiched between hundreds, if not thousands of people. And the noise, and the dirt, and the traffic, and the smell, and…. have I mentioned, I’m not a city kind of person? I’ll honestly take a lonely ranch somewhere in the middle of nowhere with at least an hour’s car ride to the next neighbor over any city any day. No matter what beautiful sights that city might hold,…. but I digress.
Anyway, the Colosseum really was a nice thing to look at all lit up, and along with the Italian music and food, it really was a nice evening.
Then off to the car, we went to look at Vatican City. Only to find out that hundreds of police officers started closing every single street leading to it. And I am talking full-on police force. Cops that were obviously not on a shift started putting up lights on their civilian cars rushing to help their colleagues. Everything was starting to be completely locked and shut down. We asked one of the police officers how to get to Vatican city and she said she was sorry but it was on complete lockdown.
We kind of had a bad feeling about that so started to make our way out of the city as they were closing more and more streets. We were lucky to make it out to the highway to make our way home. I’ve been googling around but can’t find out why they locked down all the streets, but I am sure it must have been something huge.
So sadly I didn’t get to see all that much of Rome, but the kids had a blast and were amazed by the inside of the Colosseum, and we have one more reason to go back to Rome and make sure we take some more time and spread stuff out over a couple of days. Even if google maps tells you you can walk somewhere in an hour, do not expect that to happen in Rome. With too many people, you constantly have to slow down, walk around crowds, etc., and it will take you a LOT longer to go places. It is insanely crowded. Maybe next time we should try January or February or a month that is as cold as it gets in Italy to avoid the crowds.
So after another 4-hour drive, we made it back home and I kid you not, but I was very, very happy to snuggle up in bed that night, waking up to an empty beach with a wide-open view. Guess I am a nature-wide-open-spaces kind of person.
And that’s exactly how we spend our Sunday. A quick swim in the ocean waves, a long walk on the beach, grilling in the evening sun, and having a nice family dinner.
It might not have had that stunning Colosseum view, but – at last in my book – it beats Rome by a long shot 😉
Yes, we’ll go back to Rome, but no, for me it will never beat our daily family dinner in the middle of nowhere, sitting around the dinner table, talking, laughing, listening to everyones day.
I got a million dollar view right there.
The boss, the general, and the brains of the operation. Anya is the mom of this crazy group of misfits. When not traveling the world and teaching her kids to be decent human-beings, she likes to bake, sing, be goofy. Aside from all that she does for Five of a Kind, she is also a short term foster mother for infants in need.
She also enjoys unreasonably spicy foods and is searching for a hot sauce that is spicy enough and yet still has some kind of flavor to it.
