Family Travel Countdown

So we are very behind with the blog. My mom encouraged me this week to finish writing it, saying that we wrote for nine months and will always regret it if we leave it hanging in Amman. Michael is currently uninspired to write so I am going to try to write a few posts and re-inspire him to finish it with me.

To be honest, Rome is a very strange post for me to be doing because Michael loves Rome more than any other place in the world. He has been 3 times and was so thrilled to bring the girls. For him, a trip to Italy is not complete without a few days in Rome. We arrived a few days before Easter (yes, I am now admitting how far behind this blog is) and did not realize how chaotic Rome would be for Easter. To compound the situation, I had booked an Airbnb near the Vatican where a lot of the Easter celebrations take place so we were in a tourist-filled crazy zone. But our place was nice and we were happy to be in Europe finally, albeit sad because we knew that this was our last leg.

Mike hardly noticed how crazy Rome was over the Easter period. He was in his happy place and oblivious to anything around him. He would wake up every morning and go walking because he discovered that he could have Rome to himself at 6 am. He even took Izzie walking to the Colosseum and Pantheon before 7 am so that she could see the building from the outside without the hoards of people.

After 4 months in Southeast Asia, we were not prepared for the spring weather in Rome. The only pants the girls had were Boho elephant pants that were not thick enough to keep out the cool breeze. So Day 1 involved shopping (which I did not complain about). Julie got cute Camper shoes and Izzie was fully decked out by Benneton before we checked into our Airbnb.

Despite the fact that the apartment was so close to the Vatican, it was far enough away that we were in a real neighbourhood where people actually lived. We had a great Roman pizza shop across the street and loved looking out at the action below our giant floor-to-ceiling windows.

With both Michael and I having been to Rome before, we did not obsess over seeing all the sites again. We went to the catacombs one day and walked the Ostia Antica. We did the Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps but mostly we just walked around exploring different parts of the city. It was nice to experience Spring and even the days of rain were nice since it hadn’t rained on us in months.

What will the kids remember about Rome? Probably their “special days” which are the days when we separate them and let them have one-on-one time with a parent. Julie had mom this time and so we went to an Art Supply Store and bought watercolours. We watched a Youtube video about how to watercolour paint and sat for hours mixing colours and painting. Then we cooked a 4 course meal. It might sound strange to some but painting and cooking are Julie’s favourite things so she was in heaven.

Isabella and Mike visited a park, threw paper airplanes and ate at McDonalds. Our kids love to travel but after nine months they are craving days where we do less. I guess that we are too!

Mike’s cousin Lorron came to Rome and visited us too. She brought her boyfriend Jamie and they were quite the opposite, visiting every site and cramming more into their week in Italy as we did in a month. Seeing Lorron was great and it even gave Michael and I a chance to go out to dinner by ourselves for the first time in a long time. We found a cute little Osteria and had a great meal.

We spent ten days in Rome and it was a great starting point for the European leg. We still have France, Spain and Portugal to go with many visitors planned. Off to Tuscany next!

Where we stayed:

• Gils House al Vaticano: Roman Pizza and Vatican Nearby

By the numbers:

• Number of times Mike went to Bona Pizza across the street: ??? – we were there for 12 days and he ate the pizza for dinner and breakfast most days – you can do the math
• Number of Euros Dad let kids play with at a Claw Machine: 3 was all it took for Julie to win this giant stuffed toy that we’re now going to have to carry.
• Number of times we walked to St Peter’s thinking that the line might be short enough (i.e. not all around the square): 4
• Number of times we left without seeing St Peter’s: 4