Day 34 to 38: Rome (Italy)

Rome was hot....really hot... 36 & 37 degree temps, and its been feeling hotter with the heat radiating off the paved streets.  That said, we just spaced our visits out and we enjoyed our time here.

We started off with some hot gladiators - clearly just in the literal sense, but they we're good to let us take some snaps with the kids.


Fearless Gladiators in front of the Piazza Venezia

We made it to the Colosseum too, which the kids thought was pretty awesome.   I showed them a snippet of the Gladiator movie on Youtube before coming, so they were really interested in the floor, and how things worked - especially where the tigers came from.


Yeah...it was warm - just look at Buzz...and that's not sunburn.

One of the cooler parts of the Colosseum - the part where the people were hanging around under the mist to cool off...

 

The next day we made it to the Vatican.  Soooo glad we got the "Skip the line" tickets.  The line was easily a couple of hundred meters long outside in the sun, and not moving.... so pretty happy to skip straight past it, and walk straight into the air conditioning - worth every cent.

 

The kids had a photo with the Pope .... well....sort of.

Em's favourite statue from the Vatican museum

The kids thought I looked like this one..... it was only 3000 years old, so it may have had the looks, but at least I had age going for me...

Quick snap...

I had a little laugh at the royal trowel and hammer...  Nothing like royalty getting into a bit of DIY...

Best Scooby Doo looking monument....



Em with "Mum"....sorry Dad joke...Made another awesome joke about the really Big Toe....best Dad joke of all time..

 

Best feature half way through ...  an A/C unit, so we studied that for a good 10 minutes...yeah it was hot in there.... real hot in parts.

The next day the kids were stoked, we only walked 4 minutes before arriving at our first stop - the Pantheon.

Squint and you can see us out the front....

Inside the Pantheon...

We headed on over to the Spanish Steps and had a break there for 15 minutes to take it all in.


We made it to the top...well nearly...

The Trevi Fountain was next, and luckily we'd found out earlier that it was under renovation, so when we arrived we knew what to expect.

Trevi Fountain under renovation...

Throwing a coin into the.....fountain(?) ... well....sort of....they landed in the drain just over the fence, but surely that's the same thing.

We polished Rome off with some more shopping, and found these different types of pasta.  The lady in the shop looked sooo pleased with us taking photos of her stock, but hey.

Monument shaped, and Licorice All Sorts shaped\coloured Pasta....mmmmm ...weird.

We've had a laugh too...."Selfie Stick", "Selfie Stick", "Selfie Stick", "Selfie Stick" ...... "10 Euro", "10 Euro", "10 Euro",  "10 Euro"  ...... "for you 7 Euro - good price".  Now that's a phrase we wont miss whilst travelling around Europe.  I'm sure our SLR camera poised on the tip of a flimsy telescopic rod would be fine whilst held at arms length....what could go wrong?  You'd think the size of the camera hanging around our neck would avoid the obvious question...but no.  Couldn't resist asking one guy if would work though....clowns... :)

We are now packing up to head to the airport to come home.  It's been a fantastic holiday, and we've really (really) enjoyed it.  Totally the trip of a lifetime, and I'm sure the kids will remember parts of it forever.

We've missed you all, but we'll see you all at home soon.

Take care,
Greg, Ink, Em, and Thomas


Dear 5/6 White and Miss Ferguson,
This will be the last blog to you guys :( Today we catch the plane back to Australia and our holiday will be over! I have had the best time on my holiday and I have missed you guys! I will see you guys on Monday! Bye

From your awesome classmate Emily

Dear 2 White and Mrs Barrett,
I have had a great time in Rome, especially going to the Vatican. This holiday has been the best.  I also really loved Legoland, Disneyland and Paris.
From Thomas