As I went through these photos after our vacation, I was so disappointed with the shots from this day. It was just one of those dark, dreary, rainy European days that you really don't expect to have in Rome. It was a bummer, but we didn't let it dampen our spirits...Ha..no pun intended! So, we hopped on the metro and headed to the Colosseum. As Rick Steeves recommended, we went right on by the Colosseum and headed to Palatine Hill to buy our tickets (combo for Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill) because the line would be shorter. In fact, there was no line at all.
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| Visiting Palatine Hill |
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| Trying to earn more gelato! :) |
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| Looking down on a former garden and arena and trying to imagine what life must have been like there so many years ago. |
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| This is what the very first homes on Palatine Hill looked like. |
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| To get a break from the rain, we stepped into the museum on Palatine Hill. They had some great pieces housed there from the area. |
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| Still at Palatine Hill and overlooking the city. I love the Italian flag way off in the distance. |
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| Exploring the underground corridors. |
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| Happy Halloween! |
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| Heading to the Roman Forum. |
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| This picture was taken at his request. He came up with the pose. |
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| The site where Caesar's body was burned. |
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| The kids got a great book that shows what the buildings used to look like. When you lift the page, it has the current picture under it. They are fascinated by it! When you see it that way, there really isn't a whole lot left here compared to what it was like. |
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| Original writing from the time of Caesar. |
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| He's not impressed.... |
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| The flooring under this statue is original to this building. But, it used to go up the entire wall, and this building was huge! It is now only on the floor....said the guide we were trying to follow and go unnoticed. I'm sure he caught on. :) |
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| On to the Colosseum... |
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| but first we needed some refueling. |
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| We rented video guides, and the kids were thrilled they were iPod touches. There were audio portions, and then it would switch to videos based on your location in the Colosseum. Totally worth the extra euro. |
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| I was brave and let a nice young couple take a picture of us. I NEVER pass the camera to strangers which is why we have so few family shots. |
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The rain was really starting to pick up.
So, from the Colosseum, we walked to the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin which is the home to the Bocca della Verità , or the Mouth of Truth. You may remember this from the movie Roman Holiday. Legend has it that if you stick your hand in the mouth and tell a lie, your hand will be bitten off. Check out the terrified look on the little one below. Maybe if he didn't tell lies he wouldn't be so worried. I can tell you that he was really, really scared! |
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You may also be able to see just how wet Thomas is in this picture. He tripped on the way and landed face down on the wet sidewalk.
From here, we walked back to the Forum and then on to our hotel. It was a very long walk in pouring rain. We were soaked to the bone, and I gave up. We had to head back to the room to dry out a bit. And, wouldn't you know it...there were no radiators in our room, so I spent the next three hours trying to dry out shoes with a hairdryer. That was delightful. |
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| Not the Rome you picture. I finally had to put my camera away. It was raining too hard. We were longing for sunny skies! |
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One last pic of the night with my phone. We went to dinner just a couple doors from our hotel. With soggy shoes and dripping coats, it was all the further we wanted to venture out.
Tomorrow is our last day in Rome. Check back for more adventures!
Until next time,
Wendy |
