Roman Ruins: We better go eat!

Another video that examplifies the simple joys of life while on holiday: splashing and food...

St. Peter's Basilica: Get 'em outta here!

A video that examplifies what life is like for us when we're on holiday...

Grandpa & Marmee Visit Part 3: Rome, Italy

For the final week of Grandpa and Marmee's visit, we all went on vacation in Rome, Italy. As soon as we exited the plane, Dionne sang hallelujah for the warm weather.

And now, without further ado, my tips for vacationing in Rome:

1. Avoid long lines at the Coliseum and Vatican by joining a tour group (Stan, who thinks he looks like George Clooney, does a pretty good job).

2. Posing for pictures with Roman soldiers will cost you five euros.

3. Waterglobes and other souvenir trinkets will cost double in the airport than they do from a street vendor.

4. If the Rome Fiumicino airport loses your luggage, you will get it back in two days after it is routed back from Malta.

5. Only children are allowed to sit on the marble ledges in St. Peter's Basilica.

6. And finally, water from the fountains is good for drinking, but bad for splashing other holiday travellers (two and four-year-olds should be restrained).

Colosseo

Palatino

Arco di Tito

Vatican

Trinita dei Monti (Spanish Steps)

Pantheon

The Fountains of Rome

Josh's parents came to visit us for 2 weeks. They are our first visitors in England. We had a really fun time with them and were sad to see them go. While they were here we toured Yorkshire, Scotland, and Rome. My favorite place we went was Rome, so this is where I am going to start our series of blogs related to their visit. And, my favorite place in Rome was Trevi Fountain. It was a beautiful site, and the boys loved getting wet. We stopped at Trevi Fountain 3 times. It was relaxing to listen to the water fall and fun to people watch. As we walked around Rome, every time we saw a fountain we stopped for the kids. It was a great way to cool off and feel refreshed.

In the square where Trevi Fountain is, there were a couple of men dressed up as Romans, so we thought it would be fun to have our picture taken with them. We didn't realize until afterwords, when they asked us for 5 euro that this was their business. I should have gotten a clue by the huge money sack attached to the dark haired Roman's outfit.

This fountain is outside the Pantheon. I thought Rome was really romantic looking at night, when all the lights came on.

This drinking fountain was at Palantine hill. The location of the first palaces of Rome. This is where the word "palace" is derived from. Parts of the palace of Ceasar Augustus still remain.

This fountain is in the square of Vatican City.

This is a drinking fountain right outside Vatican City.
There were many fountains around Rome and they were always a welcome sight for all of us.