Hello all,
Our main thing on the docket for today was a tour of the Colosseum at 11:30. Our Airbnb is only about a 25 minute walk from the Colosseum so we left around 10:45 to make it there with time to explore the outside before heading in for our self-guided tour time slot. When we started walking, the weather was beautiful! Sunny and 60. When we got to the Colosseum to go inside, it was still a little early, around 11:20, and they wouldn't let us in until our scheduled time. Unfortunately, it was that moment that the weather changed and it started POURING rain on us! After braving the moisture, we were finally allowed inside the Colosseum.
It was slightly drier by the wall - Connor
Now, this is where the story gets a little touchy depending who you ask in our group. But the gist of the story is that Kayla got lost looking for Griffin and MacClain and ended up missing some of the tour. (Parent note: we all separated by agreement as soon as we entered at 11:35. Now that we are seasoned group travelers, before splitting up we identified a meeting point on the main floor just by the entrance, and agreed if we hadn't found each other to meet there at 1 pm. Excellent planning, right?!?!? Griffin also had the excellent suggestion that we buddy up. Which was his very nice way of saying "family, I love you but I am sick and tired of you and I just want to go hang with MacClain." Frankly, I think we all would have preferred to buddy up with MacClain by this time but Griff grabbed him first, so Kayla was stuck with Connor and Gage was stuck with Mom and Dad. Anyway, Griff and MacClain immediately raced upstairs to separate from the rest of us/see cool things, Connor and Kayla were a little behind them, while Gage, Matt and Jen took our time on the first floor. But then Connor and Kayla quickly learned that we needed to do the arena tour BEFORE going upstairs to the main part of the regular tour, which is why Kayla followed Griff and MacClain to try to bring them back, while Connor came to let us know of this development. Let's just say there was a miscommunication between Connor and Kayla at this point. We later learned they have pretty strict rules about doing the entire first floor and then doing the second floor and then exiting the building; they generally make you exit the building from the second floor so you can't go back to the first floor. Which makes our first floor meeting point a little unhelpful. But we didn't learn this until mich later. Jen, being a skillful negotiator, was able to get permission to use the super secret elevator to the second floor, and was able to find the boys in about 20 minutes with help from Matt's eagle eye (he was downstairs looking across the arena and saw them on the upper balcony - very helpful here that MacClain is 11 feet tall and was wearing red! Jen and the boys did another sweep of the entire second lever loooing for Kayla, but were unsuccessful. Then Jen managed to sweet talk the fierce protectors of the realm so she and Griff and MacClain could use the super secret elevator and rejoin Matt, Connor and Gage. Now remember, dear audience, that Kayla was without cell phone, and also without ticket, since they are electronic and on the cell phones. So after more than an hour of separation (the longest separation since Connor and Kayla started this trip!), there was some freaking out. At this point, Jen took the younger boys out to the Arena floor, since that was a special part of the Colosseum we had paid extra to see, partly in the hopes that maybe Kayla had sweet talked her way there (it was the only place we hadn't searched!) and partly because it was extremely cool! By some crazy coincidence, Griff spotted Kayla across the arena at what we later learned was the exit to the Colloseum. Rejoicing! After much yelling (which very much annoyed the tour guides in our vicintiy), Kayla agreed to stay where she was (not that she had much of a choice; they would NOT let her back in); Connor raced through the Colloseum tour in record time to be with her, and the rest of us completed the tour and we eventually met up at the end. Whew! Now back to Connor:)
However, the tour of the Colosseum itself was fantastic! The views were incredible and the architecture of it all was breathtaking. The pictures below speak for themselves.
MacClain made friends with a local!
During most of our visit, the rain subsided which was much appreciated when exploring the arena and other outdoor parts of the Colosseum. However it picked up once again (parent note: understatement!) when we decided to walk back to the Airbnb. We had planned to go out for lunch, but due to the rain picking up once again as we left, we went back to the Airbnb to change shoes/clothes before heading out for a late lunch. (Parent note: when our stuff was stolen, Matt was fortunately wearing his awesome new Gor-Tex waterproof shoes, so his feet stayed mostly dry. Jen was wearing her absolutely not waterproof sneakers, and her fabulous waterproof Columbia hiking boots are back in Barcelona with the earner of the Bitch Mints, and others who had fabulous waterproof pots were not wearing them, so there were definitely some wet feet. Matt was the here with the hair dryer and was able to get the necessary footwear wearable, which is extra appreciated because Matt was the only one with dry feet!❤️)
We found a small pizza place near our apartment and everyone enjoyed a few slices and several of us enjoyed a large beer! (Parent note: pizza here was Italian style - big square pizzas on foccacia with various toppings are laid out under a glass counter - you pick what you want, including how much of the pizza, and then you pay by weight. We also all tried what we were told is Rome's signature dish, supplis, (fried balls of rice, cheese, and tomato sauce, and sometimes other things if you are adventurous - quite delicious! And BTW, this is lunch at about 4 pm!)
After getting some food we walked around some more and explored a plethora of different places. (Parent note: we started this second journey dry, but the rain started again as we left the pizza place. Gage and Jen had been smart enough to each grab an umbrella from the airbnb. Oh, wait, did we forget to mention that there were umbrellas at the airbnb? Yep, 5 of them. And we knew it was going to rain. and yet we did not take ANY of them on the outing to the colleseum. Because we are seasoned travelers, but we have had excellent weather so far and are overly optimistic. But at least Gage and Jen had learned a lesson. And Jen is a mom so her umbrella went to Griff, who at 17 had wisely decided to go out on this second outing in just a short sleeved shirt and light pair of pants. Connor tried to get Jen's umbrella, but 17 year old lack of planning is more forgivable than 22 year old lack of planning, so he lost out on the umbrella. Fortunately for Connor, Kayla had 2 ponchos so he was taken care of as well. )
The first of 2 Basilicas we saw today: Basilica of St. John Lateran
The Colosseum was really cool to see at night!
Some ruins that were actually part of a large connected Roman Bath's area near the Colosseum. No pictures. Sorry :(
Second Basilica we saw today: Basilica Papale di Santa Maria Maggiore
We eventually made it to the second Basilica before heading to the grocery store and calling it a night. Matt did choose to stay out a little longer and explore the area some more before joining everyone else back at the Airbnb. (Parent note: Matt was hoping that with 5 kids along, he would find someone who could hang out late with him after his early-riser wife calls it a night. Alas, no. However, we've got some more special guests coming on Saturday and fortunately at least one of them is a night owl - stay tuned! Also, it should be noted that when Jen announced her return to the Airbnb, the junior population were adamant that they would return to the Airbnb, have dinner, then head back out to explore the city further. We got back around 8. Dinner always takes forever. And when Matt returned to see who was up for round 2 of nighttime city exploration, everyone was lounging on the couch with no intentions of going anywhere!)
Tune in tomorrow for more!
- Connor
Comments