Wandering the streets of Rome

We got off to a late start this morning, due to a bottle of wine last night. It was a really good time though, so no regrets.

The plan for today was a little less firm. We bought these Roma passes so that we could skip the line at the Coloseum, and had thought we could use our other free entry to visit Galleria Bourgese, but realized today that you need to pre book your visit. So we picked a different museum and headed out. When we got there though, Kris and I both admitted that looking at more art was kinda the last thing either of us wanted to do so instead we hit the streets to find Fontana di Trevi (it was in the film La Dolce Vita). On our way we stopped for lunch, which was delicious. I had a plate of fried fish, which came out with heads on the fish and shells on the shrimps. Kris thouht it was gross. Trevi Fountain was a bit overwhelming with all the tourists, but still neat. I fed Owen and we took off. Our next stop was a Gelateria I read about and wasn't dissapointed. We also bought a watercolor painting from a street artist.

We hopped on a bus for the Pantheon and got somewhat sidetracked by a Bascilica. On our way in Kris said "How good could it be?" Upon entering, his words were "Not too bad." It's hard to know how big these places are going to be when everything is wedged into everything else.

We did eventually make it to the Pantheon and took a 6 euro audiotour. There's an opening in the roof of the rotunda called the occulus. It rains inside and is drained by a sloped floor and drainage holes dating back to the 2nd century AD.

We snaked our way back through a few more piazzas and ended up at the parliment. There were lots of police and malitia and while we were there, they closed off part of the square for some VIP's. I snapped a couple of photos on the off chance we might be able to identify them later.

Dinner was at the same place across the street from our apartment as we ate last night, thought not as late. Owen had a good hunk of bread to eat and I tried not to freak out for fear of him choking. He did very well.


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When in Roma

Poor Owen had a pretty hard time staying asleep last night. Truth be told, we all did. This morning, though, we were all pretty sleepy, so we got a bit of a late start. We had some cappuccino and pastry downstairs from our appartment to get us going and then on to the Metro for Basillica di San Giovanni in Laterano. It was the Pope's residence until the 14th century. Everything inside was so beautiful. Even Owen was awe struck. He couldn't seem to stop from looking up. The ceiling was guilded everywhere, it seemed, with these huge statues of Christ, saints, and all sorts of other holy things. All throughout there were these little side rooms, some spectacular, some ordinary. Some were open to the public, where people prayed, others closed with signs saying "no photo". There was a pope sort of on display near the front of the basillica, but you couldn't see anything because the glass that covered it was opaque. In the back there were nuns selling various religious items. I bought my mom a rosary. Outside, in the square, we stopped to feed Owen before heading on.

We stopped for some pizza on our way back to the Metro. Kris had zucchini and ham and I had spinach. I ordered as best as I could in what broken Italian I could remember from my podcasts. It's hard to perform under pressure.

Next was the Colosseum. We got a tour by a young italian man who looked like Johnny Bravo. He spoke decent English and gave us a pretty good history of the structure. It was every bit as (actually, more) gruesome than in the movies. It was easy to imagine he crowds. One interesting thing that I didn't know was there was a retractable fabric roof on top. Aparently stadium technology really hasn't changed much.


We also took in Palatine hill and the Roman Forum. We spent so much time roaming around in the ruins that they kicked us out.




We ate dinner at a resturant about a block from the Colosseum. Once again delicious. Owen sat in one of those chairs that strap to the table. All the waiters came over to talk to him and he loved it! He also tried his first piece o bread. We gave him a crust to gnaw on and he was pretty much in heaven. By the end of the meal he was getting pretty cranky. We headed home. Whew!


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An audience with the Pope

We started off early today to visit Vatican City. Owen slept way better than either of us thought he would. So much so, that at 3 am, when he didn't wake up, that's when I worried. No problem though. He seems to have adjusted to the time better than either Kris or I. We ran a little late and rushed to get to the tour office where we had booked. There was a long and bouncy (for Owen) walk to the train station. We arrived at about 9:40 am - we were supposed to be there at 9:30 - and thankfully they were still taking people's money. I even had time to get a cappuccino and latte, which I ordered in Italian. I had to ask how to say "take out", but I did so in Italian and I think the old Italian caffe guy was impressed that I was trying. As always, the coffee was impressive. Take out (or take away, as the guy called it) comes in double cupped plastic with tin foil covers and in a tin foil disposable tray. Crazy.

Our first stop was Piazza San Pietro for he blessing of the Pope. Walking into the square kinda gave me goosebumps, it's just so big and beautiful. Owen slept through most of the ceremony. The Pope entered in a popemobile made by Mercedes. He is, after all, German. There was a short reading - thankfully - done in about 6 different languages. Then the Pope blessed everyone in the square, again in about 6 languages. We left after English.



When he woke up, I knew he'd be hungry, but our tour had about 70 or so people. They weren't stopping for me or anyone else. Even though the tour said we would skip the line, there seemed to be a tour line of line skippers. I'd never tried it before, but the carrier claimed that a person could feed the baby while in it, so I threw on my cover and away we went. It worked like a charm. It was kinda wierd to feed him while standing, but I got over it quickly enough.

The tour through Museo Vatican (Vatican Museum) was pretty cool. We crossed the Pinecone garden to get to them, where we stopped to get an explaination of Capela Sistina (the Sistine Chapel) and all of it's various works. I didn't know that Michealangelo wasn't the only artist to work in there. Or that he didn't want to do the work at all. Apparently, Popes can be very persuasive. Most of the art, of which most is sculpture, in the museums is Roman, Egyptian, and Greek (I think that's what she said). Pagan was the term our guide used-"so don't be disappointed". It was pretty overwhelming. Aparently, if a person spent 60 seconds with each piece, it would take 12 years to get to the end.








We spent about 15 minutes in Capela Sistina. What a beautiful place. No photos allowed though. Michaelangelo painted the ceiling over 6 years looking up with his neck craned back. My neck hurt after 5 minutes.

We ended off the tour with an explanation of the inside of Basilica di San Pietro and then were left to wander about inside. Yesterday, I thought that San Giovanni was spectacular. Today, it seems like small potatoes in comparison. It is massive beyond comprehension. Everywhere is covered in gold. There are tombs of previous Popes all around and marble, mosaics, statues, and paintings. I can barely describe it but to say that it was amazing.

It was a long day for all of us...


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We missed our train today for Firenze (Florence). We bought from the self serve yesterday and there was a guy at the machine pulling a scam to get money from tourists. He was so slick, we both thought he worked for the train company. He pushed all the buttons for us and by the end of it all, we had two tickets to Florence and he was asking for a "tip". Oh well...

Well, we thought our train left at 11:50, but that's when it arrived. In Florence. We did manage to get it changed to the next train, at 12:45. Whew!


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Leaving on a jet plane

We just had the scare of our life. No, nothing to do with Owen, but I'm still trying to come down from the stress. I had just put Owen to bed for the last nap in his bed for the next two weeks. We were doing some last minute surfing. Kris went online to check our flight and read it leaving at 15:12!!! The original time of our flight is 18:05. Meaning we had an hour to get to the airport and get on our flight. So Kris hammered all our bags into the car while I called the 1-800 number to confirm. Aaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!! Thankfully, they were able to confirm that our flight hadn't changed. Turns out that Kris had looked up an arrival time for a different flight from Amsterdam. Whew! A pretty stresful 15 minutes. Thankfully, I hadn't woken Owen yet. He'd have been cranky.


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Only 4 teeth...

Only four teeth and he's figured out how to grind them together. Unbelievable and kinda scary. I hope he learns how to do something else soon so he can forget about this "skill" soon. It's kinda awful to hear him grind away and potentially wreck his new pearly whites. Speaking of that, I'm pretty sure a couple more are on the way. He's been kinda cranky and red cheeked for the last couple of days.

Hungry Hippo

Owen has been eating us out of house and home lately. Day before yesterday, Kris fed him an entire jar of baby food, plus about four additional tablespoons of cereal, and a one ounce cube of beef stew. Owen just keps opening his mouth for more. Yesterday, he ate almost he same amount at dinner, and breakfast and lunch were pretty sizeable meals too. I haven't checked any of the books yet, but he can't possibly be going through another growth spurt, can he? I keep reminding myself of what the public nurse said, that he'll tell us when he's full, but really? His stomach can't even be that big...

I don't dare even think how much food he's gonna eat when he's a teenager.