Roman Holiday

Blogging about Rome is proving to be a mammoth task.  I have a feeling that it will take several more posts to document the entire adventure.  The last post didn’t even cover an entire day.  In fact, we only got to lunch time.  I guess that is where we’ll pick up.

After pushing our way through the Colosseum, I called my friend Heidi, who was also in Rome with her family.  They had also just been at the Colosseum (this was pre-arranged) and (like us) were unsuccessfully trying to find their way to the entrance of the Roman Forum.  The signage between the Colosseum and the Forum is seriously unhelpful.  Actually, it’s not that it’s unhelpful, it is nonexistent.  Given the number of people that walk between the two attractions, I really don’t think that a sign reading “FORGET YOUR MAP. IT IS MOST LIKELY WRONG. THE ENTRANCE TO THE ROMAN FORUM IS THIS WAY ----------->” would go amiss.  Some arrows on the sidewalk would likewise not be unwelcome.  Anyway, after an unnecessarily long walk, we found Heidi and her family AND the entrance to the forum.  All of our kids were starving, but we were there and had snacks so we went in. 

                                   

                                 

The Roman Forum is one of those places that I wasn’t too excited about as a teenager.  I was interested in Roman history, but I wasn’t too impressed by a few columns surrounded by piles of Roman rubble.  This time, however, I really loved the forum.  For one thing, there is a lot more left standing than I remembered.  I think, though, that what is so impressive is the scope of what was there.  Ancient Rome was huge.  The buildings they built were tall.  Not only was I struck by the impressive architectural and engineering abilities of the Romans, but by the fact that those abilities were lost for a significant time period after Rome fell.  It made me wonder how secure our hold on the scientific knowledge we have actually is.  I’d like to think that because of wider dissemination and greater access, the information we have as a society is more secure, but it is humbling to see how much can be lost in such a (relatively) short period of time.  So, I guess what I’m saying is that I really loved the Roman Forum (and the other ruins we visited) because they made me think.

                                         

One of the perks to traveling with Heidi and her family was the access to her teenagers.  My kids adore them.  Here they are playing tag on the some of the aforementioned Roman rubble.  So much more fun than sticking with mom and dad!

                                                                    

The house of the vestal virgins is one of the prettiest parts of the forum.  It is the model for many of the convents and monasteries in Europe.  The grassy part behind Ben is the inner courtyard and the areas outside of the walkways were living quarters.  It is one of the few places in the forum where there are still statues (which are probably replicas).  Almost all of the statuary in Rome has been moved inside to better preserve it.

       

Here we are right before we headed to lunch.  Despite friends, chocolate and a game of tag, Naomi was done and ready to eat.  (By the way, will someone PLEASE fix that woman’s shirt???  It is really getting on my nerves.)  We decided to head towards the Pantheon and find food along the way.  Heidi’s daughter carried Naomi (who weighs 50 lbs) the ENTIRE way.  I kept telling her that any time she got tired, she could put Naomi down, but she insisted that she was fine and and that she was having fun.  Yet another perk to spending time with Heidi and her family! 

                                        

We found a decently cheap restaurant with good pizza along the way and that even had decently clean restrooms.  (Making this kind of find is a feat in that area of Rome – it is pretty heavily geared towards tourists, which usually means expensive, bad food, and bathrooms in Italy…well…let’s just say it’s always a pleasant surprise when there’s actually a toilet with a seat.) So, with full stomachs and a refreshed attitude made our way to the Pantheon. 

                                        

The Pantheon was a temple to all Roman gods, or at least the most important ones.  After Constantine, however the building was converted into a Catholic church and it is, I believe, the only building in Rome that has been in continual use since it was built (that’s nearly 2000 years).  This is another building that I thought was kind of boring as a teenager.  My kids must be more enlightened than I was, because they (especially Naomi) loved it.  She and Ian took a bunch of pictures…

              

                           

Here’s my favorite:

                                                      

Gives you a feeling for the crowds we were up against, doesn’t it?

After we’d finished gaping at the Pantheon, we took a slow, slow, slow walk back to the metro station.  Here are some things we saw (deliberately) along the way…

a church with a nifty frescoed ceiling.  Check out the false dome.  From one vantage point, the “dome” looked quite convincingly real.  Once we walked further down the nave, however, the illusion was quickly dispelled.  (Naomi was particularly enthralled by this ceiling and insisted of taking a picture of anything remotely dome-like after we saw it.  We had a lot of conversations about why someone would make a fake dome and whether or not subsequent domes we saw were real or not.  There are a LOT of Roman domes, so this was a frequent conversation topic.)

                                        

 

                 

…the Trevi Fountain.  The crowds at the Trevi fountain made the crowds at the Pantheon look like child’s play.  I put on my Italian mama persona, however, and we pushed our way to the front with the best of them.   Because I couldn’t stand back from the kids, getting a picture was tricky, but we managed.  At least this time the entire thing wasn’t under scaffolding – it was when I was 14.

            

        

And here’s what the crowds looked like…

                                                 

Any movie scene you’ve ever watched of a lonely romantic moment by the Trevi fountain IS A LIE. Just so you know.

We walked past the Victor Emmanuel monument and gazed upon its (unpopular) pristine whiteness…

                               

As a point of reference, the mustache on the guy on the horse (Vittorio Emmanuele himself) is 5 feet long.  This monument is huge.

And the kids…

       …posed………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..and in their natural state.  Just keeping it real.

            

Our last stop was the mouth of truth - 10 minutes too late.   Aaargh!  We promised the kids we’d go back and we headed through the Circus Maximus (think Ben Hur and chariot races) to the metro station.  It was a wonderful, stressful, exhilarating and exhausting day.

                                          

There’s No Place Like Rome

Amazing!  It’s only been a couple of days and here I am blogging again.  What IS the world coming to?  So, without further ado, Rome.            

We arrived at our apartment and every expectation I had for the place was more than realized.  It was heaven.  This picture is looking from inside the front gate looking out.

                                                                       

The apartment we rented was in a nature preserve (essentially a no build zone) just south of Rome.  It took a little extra time to get into the city each day, but it was completely worth it -especially to a couple of kids who are stuck in a lame-o stairwell apartment most of the time.  For Naomi, the best part of our Rome stay was the access to animals.  She particularly loved Bingo the dog.  She liked this cat at first, but after it scratched her she became (only slightly) less enchanted with it.

                                                                      

Ian loved the soccer balls, the bicycles, the scooters and the space he had to enjoy these things unsupervised.  How I miss having a fenced in back yard!

                                                                      

I loved the isolation and peaceful setting.  It was wonderful to have a calm and beautiful place to relax after a long day in the very, very, very crowded and busy city. 

                                

We spent our first day in Rome at (where else??) the Colosseum and the Roman Forum.  We had heard rumors that because it was culture week in Italy (starting the day we arrived) that all state run museums would be free.  The rumors were true.  We were floored by the crowds at the Colosseum.  We have traveled in Europe quite a lot over the last 3 years, and these crowds were definitely the WORST we have encountered.  The difference was in the demographics.  We weren’t surrounded by Asian tour groups, or Americans, or even Germans.  Every place we went was jam packed full of Italians.  Of course, when traveling in Italy, one expects to see some Italians visiting the sights, but this was unlike anything I’d seen before – even when I lived in Italy!  (Although I was left wondering if the week long school trip to Venice I made with my class in the 8th grade was during culture week.)  It was like visiting during peak season only it was early April.  Not what we had expected.  Truthfully I would have rather paid the money and dealt with fewer people.  In any case, we made the most of it and were able to see pretty much everything we wanted to.

                                     

This picture is taken from the back side of the Colosseum (not close to the entrance) where the crowds weren’t quite so intense.  If you look closely, however, you can see the crush of people inside.  People are only allowed in select areas and those areas fill up fast.

                           

The weather was perfect.  It wasn’t always bright and sunny, but the temperature was always pleasant and we weren’t rained on once the entire trip.  (It rained one morning but stopped before we got to the city.)

Here we are on the inside.  I found myself wishing (like I had as a teenager) that we could get down into the bottom levels and explore.  Alas, it is still not possible.  I’m guessing there are safety and/or security concerns. 

               

             

Just outside the Colosseum you can see Constantine’s arch, which has been standing since the year 315 A.D.  So old.  Even older are many of the carvings and statues on the arch which were plundered from earlier monuments and buildings.  It is always amazing to see something that has lasted for such a long time.  I can’t think of many (if any!) modern buildings that will have that kind of longevity.  Maybe some of the monuments on the mall in D.C.? 

    

                                     

Well that’s it for now.  Time to get ready for church.  A domani!

All Roads Lead to….

ROME!!!  It has been a shamefully long time since I blogged.  All I can say is that it is what it is, and that maybe someday my good blogging intentions will be realized.  Then again, maybe not.  I did, however, promise my mom to post pictures of our latest trip and this is me making good on my promise. 

For spring break this year we decided to head to Rome.  Rome is a city I hadn’t seen for 20 years, and really remembered loving, so I was really excited for this trip.  I always enjoy comparing my present impressions of a place with those I formed as a 14 year old.  Things that were boring to me then generally tend to be much more interesting to me now.  On the flip side, some of the things that I loved back then aren’t so thrilling to me anymore.  It makes me wonder what I’ll think of these places in another 20 years.  I guess I’ll have to come back and see.

We decided to drive to Rome (a 12 hour drive).  Our original plan was to get up early and make the trip in one day.  Fortunately, I remembered the dates of our apartment rental incorrectly and we found ourselves with an extra day of leave at the front end of our trip.  I was DESPERATE to get out of the apartment and did NOT want to spend an extra minute here.  We decided to leave Friday anyway and stop for the night part way there.  It ended up being the best mistake I ever made!  We found a hotel in Varese (the town where I went to school as a teenager and one of my favorite places), stayed there Friday night and drove the rest of the way to Rome on Saturday. 

The drive from Germany into Italy is stunning.   As you can tell from the picture below, driving through the Swiss Alps is a real hardship.

                                                                                               
I mean, who wants to look at mountains like this?  Really!  I’m thinking that if the current economic trends in the U.S continue, maybe we’ll just have to settle there.  You think they need a good prosthodontist in Zurich?  Cause I know one.

Here’s Ian in enjoying Switzerland:

                                                                                               

Ha!  I think at this moment he’s enjoying the movie Tangled.  When we go on long drives and I point out things like castles and amazing mountain views he looks out the window vaguely, mumbles “cool,”  then sinks back into a movie stupor.  I think he stopped being impressed after castle number 327.  I have no room to criticize, however.  I remember counting road markers to alleviate my boredom when we drove through Austria and I was 14! 

We got to Varese around 6:00 – just in time to eat the BEST PIZZA EVER.  Really.  It was that good. 

                                                                  

Totally made the extra night in a hotel worth it.  I don’t know if it was because my first experiences with real Italian pizza were in Varese, so the local version of pizza has become in my mind the best version of pizza anywhere.  I don’t think that that is the case, however.  The concierge had told us that this restaurant (called Medusa) had the best pizza in town. I think he was right.   Mom, Dad – do you remember ever eating there? 

The next morning we got up and headed to the monastery of St. Caterina del Sasso (St. Catherine of the rock).  The monastery is carved into the rocky cliffs on the edge of Lago Maggiore.  It is something like 800 years old.          

                                                                                             

It was an unusually warm day and it was exceptionally clear.  The views across the lake were spectacular.  You may remember pictures from our last visit to Lago Maggiore.  They look something like this - cold, dreary, grey, and obscured by clouds.  There was a windstorm on Friday night, which was extremely loud in our top floor hotel room.  We didn’t enjoy the noise, but we did enjoy the clear skies the wind left us the following morning.

                                                

                                                    

Here is a view across the lake (thanks to our new zoom lens!) of the island (Isola Bella) we visited last time we were in the area: 

                                                    

Unfortunately we didn’t have time to go back.  The monastery was fun though.  Both kids were fascinated with the preserved body of a saint that was on display in a glass coffin.  I got a picture of Ian in front of it, but Naomi was really the one that couldn’t tear her eyes away.  I answered a lot of “why” questions that day.

                                                                

The building has, of course, been added on to and redecorated many times over the centuries.  There were some very early frescoes (I think that those behind the coffin are examples) and there were some that were done in, I think, the 17th century.  I particularly liked this one of Jesus and the fishermen.  It seemed particularly poignant given the location of the monastery.

                                                         

On our way back out we passed this little shrine in the rocks.  (More sasso, I suppose.)  Naomi has most unfortunately entered the “I refuse to smile naturally if there is a camera within 300 feet” stage.  So, with this lovely grin, I will wrap this up.  I have great intentions of being back soon.  We’ll see where they lead.  Ciao!

                                                                                           

Grasshoppers, Beetles and Flies – Oh My!!!

Naomi wanted another castle cake this year.  Actually, Naomi REALLY wanted another castle cake this year.  That’s all fine and good, except for the fact that I really didn’t want to make one. I wanted something a little less time consuming.  I also just wanted to try something different (I’ve already made 2 castle cakes, after all!)  So here’s my confession.  I (through use of the force – what else?!) convinced Naomi that what she really wanted this year was a bug themed birthday party.  Yup.  I sure did.  Goodbye princesses, hello creepy crawlies.  Once I had sold Naomi on the idea, she embraced it wholeheartedly.  We had bug bingo, pin the spider on the web (that one’s always a winner), a frog toss (not a real frog), antennae making and a bug guessing game.    

Here they are trying to toss the frog onto a lily pad for a prize.  Each lily pad had a different prize.  (Side note – the uber gross room we’re in is NOT my living room.  It’s our community room upstairs.  Our apartment is not nearly large enough to hold 9 rambunctious 6 year old girls.  While I’m grateful that we have a larger space available to use, I wouldn’t mind it being free from the nastiness to which it is sometimes home.)                    

                                         

Here are the girls playing bug bingo.  Note the bugs taped onto the girls’ backs.  Each girl was supposed to ask questions like “Do I fly?”, or “Do I have lots of legs?'” or “Am I red?”.  Then she tried to figure out which bug she was.  This task was met with varying degrees of success.  The ladybug figured out who she was.  The stag beetle did not. (That was Naomi.  Poor thing.)

                                         

Present opening and Heavy, Heavy Hangover….

              

Some beautiful bugs…

                                        

The cake…

                                 

The main reason behind my plot to change the theme of this birthday party was that I wanted to make a less labor intensive cake.  HA.  Whatever.  Why do I always do this to myself??  Someday I’ll learn.  Hopefully I’ll also learn that when I try to do piping after midnight, everything turns out a little wobbly…

Here’s Naomi before she blew out the candle.  I  had hoped to get a shot of her blowing out the candle but alas.  She couldn’t contain her excitement and blew it out before we were halfway done singing “Happy Birthday.”  Thinking I had at least two more lines of lyrics before I had to be ready I missed the moment.  Ah well.  She’s still pretty cute.

                                                                          

This is what Naomi has to say about herself as a six year old.  Note the similarities between her answers and Ian's answers.  It’s not every 6 year old girl who claims Pokémon as her favorite movie.  (Truth be told, I really think her favorite movies are the Tinkerbell movies.) 

                                                                  

It was a buggy blast of a birthday.  Naomi, you are a smart, sweet, wildly precocious, loving, caring, silly, fun, curious, imaginative, wonderful girl.  We love you so much and are so glad you are a part of our family! 

Just Not Sure Where to Start…

My resolve to become a more faithful blogger has been largely unrealized in the last few months.  I don’t know why.  Maybe it’s because I’ve been insanely busy.  I’m guessing this isn’t it, though, because I’m always busy.  Maybe it’s because I’m exercising instead of blogging.  This is definitely more likely a legitimate reason (something had to go when I started to exercise), however, I don’t think that I can blame my blogging inactivity exclusively to my attempt at a healthier style of living.  In my opinion, the largest culprit is the weather in Germany.  Yup.  That’s definitely it.  I think that due to cold weather, grey skies and generally miserable temperatures I just haven’t felt perky enough to write a witty and upbeat blog post.  My mom tells me regularly that I don’t need to write anything – just pictures will do – and I really do try (sometimes) to keep my word count down.  It’s hard though.  I want so much to share the fun and exciting things we’ve seen and done and I just can’t seem to do in a short sentence or two.  It’s particularly hard to do when what I really want is to whine about the cold and rain or the lack of space in my ridiculously small apartment.  Who wants to read about that?  I think I’m over this funk, however, and I PROMISED my mom I’d blog today, so here goes.  I’m just not sure where to start….

I guess we’ll do birthdays.  Ian and Naomi have both celebrated birthdays since I last blogged.  Ian turned nine(!!!!) and Naomi turned six(!!!).  Can you believe how old my babies are getting?  I can’t.  I can’t be old enough to have children this old!  Anyway, we’ll start with Ian’s birthday.

Ian decided this year that he’d like a return to his classic Halloween themed birthday party.  You may remember that last year we put together this Star Wars themed extravaganza.  I had assumed that Ian would once again request a party based on one of his favorite movies or games.  Nope.  Instead we had this…

                                                                     

and this…

                                     

and this…

                                      .

 

I must confess I was thrilled to return to the Halloween theme.  I still had my Halloween bingo game and the spiders for “Pin the Spider on the Web,” so party prep was definitely less intense.  For instance the pumpkin cake – sooooooooo much easier to make than R2D2 was.  We had a great time at the party, and I think the boys did too.

Here are a few more pictures.  From upper left and moving clockwise we have 1) opening presents, 2) pin the spider on the web, 3) bingo and 4) bash the bat.

                                          

        

All in all it was a swell party for a swell kid.  It is hard for me to believe Ian is nine.  How are the years passing so quickly?  Ian has grown up a lot in the last year.  He’s sweet, kind, responsible, silly, smart, hardworking, and loving.  He is a great older brother.  I feel privileged to have him as a son.  Here’s what Ian has to say about himself this year…

                                                            

Hmmm…. I can see we’re going to have to work on the handwriting a bit.  Well, maybe a lot.  Anyway, Happy Birthday Ian!  We love you and are proud of you!