Yes, we made it to Rome! Finally and yipee!
I need to preface all of this information about this trip by saying that we did all of this on our own. No help from Rick Steves or really any guide books and overall I am satisfied with how our trip turned out. We did have a friend give us some suggestions for tours, but by the time I got them, I had made all of our plans.
On our arrival, it was very evident that it has snowed recently. There was snow on the ground on our way to the hotel and some of the parked cars were covered with snow, though the streets were clear. The temperatures were really chilly but the sun was shining!
Upon our arrival, we took an over priced taxi from the airport to our hotel, Residence Candia. The hotel was located very close to the Vatican City. We stored our things and checked out our room. It was just what we needed: three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a little kitchenette! It was decently furnished, definitely kid friendly. It was not a luxury hotel by any means, but it was fairly comfortable and warm, very warm. Along with not being able to handle the snow, Rome is also bad at the cold. The gentleman at the front desk told us to turn up the heat in our room as we were checking in. After we were all settled, we grabbed our map and headed out.
Sunday was meant to be a day for us to just walk around and check things out. We walked around a bit to check out the neighborhood and made it to the Vatican.
My dad has traveled to Europe quite a bit and he had told me that Europe was nothing special, that there was trash all over and the people smoked. He is right, the cities that I have been in have trash all over and there is a lot of smoking not only in Italy but in the UK as well. The neighborhood that our hotel was in also had a lot of graffiti all over the buildings. We had seen this in Milan, last May as well. It is always disappointing for me to see it emblazoned all over the walls, especially when it is done on the beautiful stones that are used in building. Despite the graffiti, we still felt relatively safe in the neighborhood where our hotel was located. Safe enough to wander around several evenings!
We ended up grabbed dinner in a little passterrie that had a little restaurant attached. On our way out, we grabbed a few things for breakfast and then found a little grocery store to grab a few other things. We went back to the hotel and settled in for the night. We had to be up bright and early, because I had scheduled all day Monday to be out. We were headed to Naples and Pompeii.
I emailed Dark Horse, the company that I had scheduled our Saturday night tour, The Dark Heart of Rome. The were willing to rebook for a 10Euro each fee, WHAT!!!
We got up the next morning and paid for another taxi to take us to meet up with the tour group. We could have gotten a ride for free, but I did not make the arrangements in time. <poor planning, sigh>
So, off to Naples and Pompeii we went! The Naples tour was very short, we spent about 45 minutes and we stayed very close to the bay. We saw just a few things while we were there. The most interesting thing was the excavation of the old port. We could see evidence of the old port and buildings, it was fascinating! They discovered it when they were digging to put a metro stop in that location.
We then headed to lunch and our tour of Pompeii. Lunch was ok, we started with a choice of soup or lasagna. Our second course was pork or fish with potatoes. For dessert we just had vanilla ice cream. It was ok, but really kind of disappointing.
Here is a picture of the volcano that caused all the destruction in Pompeii. It is still considered an active volcano and last erupted at the end of World War II.
Pompeii was really interesting and we had a good tour guide. He showed us the main things to see in the city and it was fascinating. We saw many of the artifacts left behind by the residents and a few of the plasters of the bodies. Pompeii is a bit unique as it was buried before Christianity took hold, so their is no evidence of Christianity in the city at all, just of the Greek gods. We were also told important things about the architecture, specifically how to tell if the bricks are Roman by their unique appearance! If you look in the picture, they are very flat and small compared to what we are used to seeing in the US or UK.
Pompeii was inhabited by 22,000 people and had 24 brothels. Seriously! We walked by two and went into one that had frescos, antique porn! It was very amusing to Super Handsome and I because the tour guide was trying very hard to make the tour PG, even though he showed us two of the brothels. The tour guide seemed to be assured that my older boys were knowledgable about brothels and such because they had the internet available to them. He asked Second Son (in front of the group) if he had a computer and the internet and assumed that because he did he would 'know all this', I was not sure if I should have been offended or amused. Super Handsome and I choose to be amused. Funny thing about the antique porn and visiting the 'red light district; of Pompeii? It was one of the most memorable parts of the tour for Oldest Son... (covering my ears and singing lalalalalala!)
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| Youngest Son on the plane! |
On our arrival, it was very evident that it has snowed recently. There was snow on the ground on our way to the hotel and some of the parked cars were covered with snow, though the streets were clear. The temperatures were really chilly but the sun was shining!
Upon our arrival, we took an over priced taxi from the airport to our hotel, Residence Candia. The hotel was located very close to the Vatican City. We stored our things and checked out our room. It was just what we needed: three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a little kitchenette! It was decently furnished, definitely kid friendly. It was not a luxury hotel by any means, but it was fairly comfortable and warm, very warm. Along with not being able to handle the snow, Rome is also bad at the cold. The gentleman at the front desk told us to turn up the heat in our room as we were checking in. After we were all settled, we grabbed our map and headed out.
Sunday was meant to be a day for us to just walk around and check things out. We walked around a bit to check out the neighborhood and made it to the Vatican.
My dad has traveled to Europe quite a bit and he had told me that Europe was nothing special, that there was trash all over and the people smoked. He is right, the cities that I have been in have trash all over and there is a lot of smoking not only in Italy but in the UK as well. The neighborhood that our hotel was in also had a lot of graffiti all over the buildings. We had seen this in Milan, last May as well. It is always disappointing for me to see it emblazoned all over the walls, especially when it is done on the beautiful stones that are used in building. Despite the graffiti, we still felt relatively safe in the neighborhood where our hotel was located. Safe enough to wander around several evenings!
We ended up grabbed dinner in a little passterrie that had a little restaurant attached. On our way out, we grabbed a few things for breakfast and then found a little grocery store to grab a few other things. We went back to the hotel and settled in for the night. We had to be up bright and early, because I had scheduled all day Monday to be out. We were headed to Naples and Pompeii.
I emailed Dark Horse, the company that I had scheduled our Saturday night tour, The Dark Heart of Rome. The were willing to rebook for a 10Euro each fee, WHAT!!!
 |
| Here are the boys at the end of the tour |
We got up the next morning and paid for another taxi to take us to meet up with the tour group. We could have gotten a ride for free, but I did not make the arrangements in time. <poor planning, sigh>
So, off to Naples and Pompeii we went! The Naples tour was very short, we spent about 45 minutes and we stayed very close to the bay. We saw just a few things while we were there. The most interesting thing was the excavation of the old port. We could see evidence of the old port and buildings, it was fascinating! They discovered it when they were digging to put a metro stop in that location.
We then headed to lunch and our tour of Pompeii. Lunch was ok, we started with a choice of soup or lasagna. Our second course was pork or fish with potatoes. For dessert we just had vanilla ice cream. It was ok, but really kind of disappointing.
Here is a picture of the volcano that caused all the destruction in Pompeii. It is still considered an active volcano and last erupted at the end of World War II.
Pompeii was really interesting and we had a good tour guide. He showed us the main things to see in the city and it was fascinating. We saw many of the artifacts left behind by the residents and a few of the plasters of the bodies. Pompeii is a bit unique as it was buried before Christianity took hold, so their is no evidence of Christianity in the city at all, just of the Greek gods. We were also told important things about the architecture, specifically how to tell if the bricks are Roman by their unique appearance! If you look in the picture, they are very flat and small compared to what we are used to seeing in the US or UK.
Pompeii was inhabited by 22,000 people and had 24 brothels. Seriously! We walked by two and went into one that had frescos, antique porn! It was very amusing to Super Handsome and I because the tour guide was trying very hard to make the tour PG, even though he showed us two of the brothels. The tour guide seemed to be assured that my older boys were knowledgable about brothels and such because they had the internet available to them. He asked Second Son (in front of the group) if he had a computer and the internet and assumed that because he did he would 'know all this', I was not sure if I should have been offended or amused. Super Handsome and I choose to be amused. Funny thing about the antique porn and visiting the 'red light district; of Pompeii? It was one of the most memorable parts of the tour for Oldest Son... (covering my ears and singing lalalalalala!)
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