Rome in Three Days Part 1 - Il Colosseo

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Rome in three days (with three kids) - this will be tough.

First we had to get organised - breakfast, washing, groceries and a plan on how to get through the first day. After breakfast, we decide a walk to the Piazza di Spagna is the way to start the day.

Climbing the steps is fun and there are few people around so we get a good view of the fountain and the steps. It is another beautiful day in Roma - not a cloud in the sky - we are going to have a great view of all of the sights.

We made our way back past our Apartment and then through the Piazza del Popolo to the Metro station and on to Stazione Colosseo, via Termini. Walking out of the station, the first thing you see is the Colosseum right in front of your eyes - Amazing!

We decide to pay for a tour and it was well worth it. We had to wait an hour for the tour to start but avoided having to queue in line for hours on end. We were given a great history lesson by Stefano, lots of information about the Colloseo complete with every Italian hand movement known to man.

After a quick lunch, at an exhorbitant cost, the tour continued through the Foro Romano (Roman Forum) and all of the archeological sites in this area including the Palatino and Domitian's complex of palaces and his stadium.

David took over from Stefano for this part and he did a great job, complete with his BBC documentary-style commentary and vocal inflexions. It was a fantastic day and we wore out quite a bit of our shoe's soles. Emily is exhausted.

We take the train home, and Damian experiences his first taste of pick-pocketing. Luckily, he realises what is going on very quickly and grabs the hand before the thief manages to take about 30 Euro out of his pocket. On the crowded train the would-be thief moves out of sight very quickly. Unbelievable. This is the second lesson of the trip - never show notes being put into your pocket at a train station.

Back to the apartment for some pasta and the kids put themselves to bed straight after dinner. Not sure how they are going to manage the rest of this trip - we are only 4 days in!!

Tomorrow we head to the Vatican, we are using the same tour guides we used today and it will be well worth the cost. We are told that if you were to spend 1 minute looking at every item in the Vatican Museums it would take you 13 years to finish.

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Photos

Top Deck of the Colosseum
We found some trustworthy American students to take this picture! Of course we returned the favour.

Comments

[Robyn]

Hi Guys Great to here from you looks like you are having a great time. Love the tattoos Em. Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your adventure. Enjoy.