Rome, Italy..."That's Amore!"

"Can we go see the Roman Colosseum?" asked Jack one day after school. And that is how our trip to Rome came about. We realize we are truly blessed (and a little spoiled) to be able to say to Jack, "Sure, we will go to Rome for a weekend." The kids have all of these half-term breaks, mid-term breaks, bank holidays, etc. so it was an easy weekend to work into our schedule.

On Saturday 24 October we departed London for Rome. The flight to Rome was a mere two hours. Despite all of its early trouble, Terminal 5 at Heathrow is really well organized and pretty easy to navigate. I was able to check us all in online and we walked directly to our gate after clearing security, which the kids handle with ease these days. Our flight was early - 7:10 a.m. - so the early departure from the Lodge was rough, but once in the air and on our way we were all very excited. We landed at 10:20 a.m. and met our driver from Miles & Miles Tour Company, who took us to our hotel, The Majestic.


The Majestic Hotel is on the Via Veneto - a lovely tree-lined street in a quiet area removed from the city center. We decided to have a quick lunch at the hotel before meeting our tour guide for the afternoon. While we were enjoying a lovely pasta lunch the song, "That's Amore" was playing in the restaurant. John and I started singing along, the kids then joined in...unfortunately we were not sure of all of the words..but we got the chorus down..."That's Amore!" Jack studied the Rome guide book and was really excited to see the Colosseum. Today, however, we had scheduled a tour of the Vatican City.


We hopped into a taxi to the Vatican Museum where we met our guide, Noemi, who was to give us a tour of the Vatican Museum, Piazza San Pietro and St. Peter's Basilica. When I first booked the tour I was concerned...our three kids on a three hour tour of the Vatican?! Really? I had visions of whining, complaining, pulling my hair out and wishing we hadn't bothered. How wrong I was! Noemi took one look at her audience and tailored the entire tour to the kids...and John and I learned a lot more with this watered-down version than we would have if it was the adult version!






Noemi made the entire tour a game and quizzed the kids along the way, adding up "points" and telling them she had a surprise for them if they reached 15 points. The kids marveled at the sight of the Sistine Chapel ceiling and the "The Last Judgment" painted by Michelangelo...paying close attention to the clues that Noemi mentioned. At the end of our tour Noemi congratulated the kids and said they earned their surprise..."your Mommy and Daddy will take you for gelato!" "What is gelato?" asked Owen. "Ice cream!" Enough said! Off we walked to Old Bridge for some of the best gelato I have ever tasted! We took a taxi back to our hotel and asked the concierge for a recommendation for dinner. He sent us down the Via Veneto to a charming cafe where we all enjoyed pasta and what Jack called "Roman food" which for him was grilled salmon and a side of penne.

Day two of our Roman adventure started with a great breakfast at the hotel. Then we met our tour guide, Francesco, for our tour of Rome. Francesco is Noemi's brother and was just as friendly and accommodating to the children as Noemi was the day before. We hopped into Francesco's van and we were off - we didn't miss a thing!






Our day included stops at the Spanish Steps in Piazza di Spagna; Piazza del Popolo, home of the twin churches; Piazza Navona; the Pantheon in Piazza della Rotonda; the Janiculum where a cannon is shot off each day at noon; the Aventine; Circus Maximus; the Palatine; the Forum and of course the Colosseum. It was so much easier to see everything with Francesco behind the wheel, driving us from place to place and giving us such a great description of the history of the locations, buildings and monuments. Not to mention the "quizzes" he gave to the kids to make sure they were paying attention. At one point,Francesco asked the boys, "who served as the king of Italy before the unification?" John quickly whispered to Owen, "say the Pope" and Owen loudly answered, "SAY THE POPE!"




At the end of the tour Francesco took us to one of his favorite cafes and bought the kids their gelato. We bid Francesco arrivederci until the next day. It was such a nice day we decided to walk back to our hotel.

Jack and Owen were delighted to see a bridge named after their favorite pizza, Regina Margherita! That evening for dinner we walked up the Via Veneto and found a perfect place for pizza Margherita and pasta. We toasted to another great day in Rome and sang "That's Amore" on our walk back to the Majestic. This time we looked up the lyrics on Colleen's blackberry so we had all of the right words!

The next morning we were happy to see the sun shining again. Today we were to drive out to the country-side of Umbria with Francesco. He picked us up at our hotel at 8:00 a.m. and we were off. What an absolutely beautiful drive we had. Our first stop was in the town of Orvieto. It is a charming little town situated on the flat summit of a large butte of volcanic tuff. We stopped briefly to admire the beauty of the Duomo, Orvieto Cathedral and the square in which it is situated.



Francesco walked us into a small cafe to have a cappuccino and a juice for the kids. John and I also picked out two bottles of wine recommended by a sommelier friend to have later at the hotel. We walked around Orvieto for a while and then it was time to move on to the next stop, Civita di Bagnoregio.



On the way to Civita we stopped first at the San Severo Abbey, which dates from the 12th century and is now a luxury hotel. Then we stopped at an olive tree farm and Francesco showed the kids how to squeeze the olives for oil - the first pressing makes extra virgin olive oil. The kids thought this was cool and enjoyed squeezing the olives until they were mush. After admiring the countryside for a while we hopped back into Francesco's van and headed off to Civita.





Civita was referred to as the "dying town" at the end of the 17th century due to a major earthquake. It was founded by the Etruscans over twenty-five hundred years ago and was the birthplace of Saint Bonaventure. Civita is most noted for its striking position on top of a plateau of volcanic tuff overlooking the Tiber River valley. It was a story-book setting of cobblestone streets and passages, with cats running in-between buildings and into windows. Francesco took us to a charming home of friends who serve lunch, although not officially licensed as a restaurant. We sat and enjoyed home-made bread, olive oil, wine, bruschetta, cheeses, ham and salami, beans and grilled sausages. The kids were great about trying all of this "Roman food" and like the bread and sausages the best. After a quick photo with our host, he sent us on our way with some of their home-made olive oil.




After our lunch break we walked through the garden of a local woman Francesco knows and enjoyed beautiful views of the country and Tiber river valley...that is until Jack got stung by a bee. Poor thing was minding his own business and the bee just landed on his hand and stung him, so we quickly went back to our lunch spot for some cold water (no ice here) and assured him that he would not lose his hand.


Back into the van we hopped and had one last stop in a town called Montefiascone, over looking Lago di Bolsena, a crater lake situated between Umbria and Lazio. Francesco tried to find a gelato shop in town but because it is no longer considered the summer season, many of the gelato shops are closed for the winter. So it was back into the van for the ride back into Rome. When we arrived at our hotel, we had a nice "happy hour" on the terrace. John and I opened one of the bottles of wine we bought in Orvieto and the kids had some sprite from the mini-bar. Then we again wandered along the Via Veneto to find a restaurant for pizza Margherita and pasta. We had another wonderful day with Francesco and were sad our weekend in Rome was coming to an end.


On our last day in Rome we decided to enjoy a quiet breakfast on our terrace. Then we thought we would explore the city ourselves and take a nice leisurely walk around the Forum.


We walked over to the Trevi Fountain, completed in 1762. We all threw coins into the fountain, which legend says ensures a return visit to the Eternal City. Our walk around the Forum took us to the Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II, the Forum of Caesar, the Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine and finally one last stop at the Colosseum.





It was a great last day in Rome. We returned to our hotel to meet our driver to take us back to the airport and were delighted to see it was Francesco! He cancelled the other driver so he could personally take us. The kids were happy to have a last drive around with him and he nicknamed Kate his "caramela"...his sweet!

We look forward to returning to Italy in August 2010 when we go on our cruise through the Mediterranean and hope to book Francesco and his family to show us Venice, Florence, Pisa and Naples!

Ciao!