Bella Roma

We have arrived in Italy! From doorstep to doorstep it was almost exactly 30 hours of travel. A three hour drive to LAX, then a flight to Istanbul, Turkey. A five hour layover there and then a flight to Rome, followed by a very speedy taxi ride to our hotel! Considering Logan is 2 years old, he was actually quite a well-behaved little traveler. I can’t blame him for his moments of boredom and restlessness along the way or his loud yell to “Get OFF airplane!” I felt the exact same way! It’s amazing how he can drive me crazy one minute kicking the seat in front of him endlessly while I try to hold his legs down…then fall asleep and be the most angelic little sweetheart I've ever seen a few moments later! All in all, we had no setbacks or snafus along the way. Everything worked out as well as it could have, flights were on time, luggage arrived, and we got to our hotel around 1:00am on a Sunday morning intact and ready to get a few hours of rest before we hit the ground running!

Our hotel offers a complimentary breakfast atop the 7th floor with a view of Rome and church tops. Pigeons flutter around trying to catch a crumb of food dropped, church bells ring in the background. It was a fabulous way to begin our tour of Rome. Breakfast was boiled eggs, crusty bread, cold cut meats and cheeses, fresh and canned fruit, pastries, cereal, coffee and juice that doesn’t quite taste like the juice back home. We have decided that while we are abroad, we will learn to love the things they love here… even if it’s not what we are used to. Logan doesn’t feel quite the same way. We tried giving him milk before bed (shelf stable milk from a carton we found at a pharmacy) and he immediately said “yuck” and made a face. I told him it was Italian milk and that was the only option. By the second evening, he gave in and drank it as it was all he was going to get.

While traveling it’s a balance trying to see the sights but also allow Logan to get out of his stroller to play and do the things that toddlers like to do. We had some logistical things to figure out when we first arrived (local cell phones, a train ticket to Florence in a few days etc.). I entertained Logan while Taylor took care of the mandatory things that had to get done. 

For our first lunch we sat outside at a cute Italian cafe where we enjoyed a delicious Margherita pizza and some spaghetti with ham pieces in the sauce. Then we walked around outside the Colosseum. We heard from two sources where to find the BEST gelato in Rome: Giolitti (our language software recommended it as well as Afar magazine). Giolitti didn’t let us down. Logan slept through that delicious treat. We enjoyed a relaxing gelato outside with some live Italian musicians drifting by attempting to make a euro or two in tips. After a gelato we headed to the fantastic Pantheon. Logan awoke in time to play in the fountain in front of the Pantheon, but not before we dined on a Cafe Americano and Cafe Latte while watching a demonstration in front of the Pantheon protesting Putin and his invasion of Ukraine. In the piazza Logan laughed with delight as he chased pigeons. He also loved splashing in the fresh Roman water pouring from a spigot in front of the fountain. It’s cold and refreshing and tastes amazing on a hot August afternoon! 

I think there is a theme to Rome for us: food, walking, fountains, sights, more food! Our second day included a dusty walk through the Roman Forum juggling the sight-seeing and catching some shade to escape from the heat. Next we headed into the Colosseum where history overwhelms you. It’s a gorgeous architectural splendor, but reflecting on the terrible things that happened there are hard to remember when surrounded by thousands of tourists taking pictures. Rome is trying to facilitate the reconstruction and maintenance of its historical sights. The sad thing is that half the Colosseum was covered in scaffolding. Later we headed to the majestic Fountain di Trevi, only to find that the water was drained and it too was under renovation. It will be almost two years before these Roman sights are uncovered and enjoyable in all their splendor. Guess we will have to come back to Rome in a few years! As we played connect the dots between sights, we would allow Logan to stop and play in fountains, eat gelato, or simply run around in the many piazzas and pedestrian walking alleyways. 

Today we are off to stroll through St. Peter’s Basilica. We will return to Rome next month when Taylor’s mom, Heidi, comes to visit. That is when we will visit the Vatican and really take it all in. Today we are taking it easy, letting Logan catch up on his much-needed sleep. Tomorrow we catch a morning train to our new flat in Florence. That will be a whole new chapter! Arrivederci!