February in Rome

Our English adventure began to end in Rome! I am so thankful that Mike made us go in February, and not wait until April, because our life is moving us back to Tucson soon...

The first of the snow fall.

We made it to Rome just in time to witness and live the largest snowfall in Rome since 1958. Such a lot of snow!

So much, the minibus from our hotel was unable to pick us up after our first very long day in the city. There were no taxis to hail, the boys were in distress with frozen feet, and the hotel was a 2 kilometer walk up a steep, icy and slushy hill, in the dark!  Mike pulled out his map and tiny flashlight and we studied the map trying to figure out the way back. I was panicked and said I couldn't do it, I couldn't bear to make them walk all the way back, my own feet were killing me, and we weren't even sure of the route.
Then something amazing happened.

Michael asked how far it was to the hotel, and we told him. He contemplated it for a moment and replied, "Two kilometers?! We've walked much farther than that before, let's do it!"

And with an attitude that gave me the strength to slog on, we moved along up the hill. I was blown away by my little man's courage and fortitude. I feel like he carried all of us up the hill that night. Also I was filled with contentment, realizing that our many family walks, often accompanied by lots of complaining, had paid off.

We made it back to the hotel and into a hot bath tub.

And awoke the next morning to a winter wonderland.

Treacherous stairway!

We made it to the Vatican Museum, playing in the snow the whole way. A highlight was seeing the Sistine Chapel with the boys, I hope they remember it.

We got through in time, because they closed the museum early due to lack of staff.

We walked over to Saint Peter's, but waited to go inside for another day.

Michael's toy Hulk makes a smashing gladiator!

When Mike told an acquaintance that we were going to Rome, her response was, "Rome?! So expensive!"

I took one look at our room service menu and gasped, $66.00 for one cheeseburger and one ice cream. "OH MY GOD IT'S SO EXPENSIVE!" I must have screamed.

Breakfast was included in our room reservation, so we lingered as long as possible hoping the boys would stuff themselves, tempted to walk out with pockets full of snacks. Then we ate lunch out in Rome, and brought back cheese, ham, bread, and apples for dinner.

Night two of this and Dominic screamed in tears, "THIS IS RUBBISH DINNER!"

We made it to the Borghese Gallery for our 1 PM appointment and it was closed, with this note on the door.

I was completely bummed, but the boys got over it.

Sticks and snow!

Give them a stick and they are happy.

Such a beautiful city!

We loved this little basement restaurant tucked into a narrow street by the Piazza del Popolo, Il Brillo Parlante.

The weather remained COLD, but sunny and beautiful.

This church is Santa Maria del Popolo,

In 1099, a chapel was built by Pope Paschal II to Our Lady, over a tomb of the Domitia family. Tradition has it that the site was haunted by Nero's ghost or demons in the form of black crows; therefore the pope chopped down the walnut tree sheltering the crows and built a church in its place. (Wikipedia)

I love this place.

One of my favorite ever, La Santa Muerte.

There are two Caravaggios, but one was on vacation...

This is the one we saw.

From Wikipedia.

It was nearly raining everywhere we went as the snow very slowly melted off the roof tops. Michael discovered the fun of standing beneath a slow drip to observe the plummet.

Precious baby boy, missed his brother and sister!

The first day of travel and the last day were challenging, but all in all the boys were fantastic travel companions. We enjoyed the trip with them immensely, and we feel extremely fortunate.

Side view of Trevi Fountain.

Our Roman adventure continues in a future post. Also, please see Michael's Roman project blog post!

My Adventure to Rome by Michael

I went to Rome and  I was VERY excited!

We visited Saint Peter's church. He is VERY important because he was a friend  of  Jesus and he was executed by the ROMAN Emperor Nero.

I saw the Coliseum. It was VERY BIG! Did you also know that this amazing, spectacular and very, very old place is where the gladiators fought? The Romans had this man sitting in the middle and if he put his thumbs up, the person who defeated or killed the other person was free. And probably, if they keep on getting thumbs up, then they might stop risking their lives and become a Roman and fight for Rome.

The Coliseum was based in the centre of Rome. It was one of the greatest ever things built by Romans. The Coliseum was started in LXXII AD.

The Domus Aurea was a big house, it was built by the Emperor Nero.

We visited the Capitoline museum and I saw a lot of Roman things. I saw a charriot and a statue of the two brothers Romulus and Remus, who were raised by a wolf.

This painting is of a battle between two brothers who were from different cities, the Curiatii from Alba Longa and the Horatii from Rome.

Here is the statue of Romulus and Remus and the wolf.

In this picture, the Emperor Commodus is dressed as Hercules, because it is showing that he is like Hercules, he wants to know that people know he is a hero like Hercules.

This statue is the father of the Emperor Commodus, the picture that you saw above. This statue is one of the biggest statues I have ever seen, it stands out, it is bold and brave, and it really shows how powerful he really was. The name of him was Marcus Aurelius.

In this picture, this is a model of the Capitoline Museum, which this model is in.

Mars is the god of war, the Roman soldiers worshipped him because he was the god of war.

The shoes that you are looking at now are actually made out of lion skin. And under the shoes are the feet of Mars.

This is a statue of the goddess Minerva, the daughter of Jupiter.

This guy is one of the most amazingest sculptures that is in this museum. It was built around the time of the Coliseum. If you look closer, you can see there is a wound in the side of him.

This picture is of a very, very, very, and I mean VERY BIG dome!

It is the largest dome for MM years! And still, nobody has made a bigger one since then. This building is called the PANTHEON.

Thank you for reading this, and that was the amazing adventure of this spectacular place called ROME!

Luckily, while we were there, it also snowed. I felt like that was a really lucky thing that happened.

THE END