Matthew and I got up at 7am local time. He played on electronics and I went back to sleep until almost 10! Got everyone up and walked down to the coliseum in the rain (just drizzle really - but the travel umbrellas were useful!) Kaitlyn and I took lots of pictures of the street and stopped in for a Roman croissant (hard pastry that comes chocolate or cream filled - we had chocolate). Bought our Roma passes and went through the Coliseum - I was hoping to see cats, but I think the rain had them all hiding underneath! We were starving after that and stopped in a local place to get out of the rain and have pizza (for me) and pasta (for everyone else). The food was reasonably priced, but I had a bit of a fatigue headache and wanted a coke badly enough to pay the 3 euros for it! We were decently wet, so headed back to the apartment (10 minute walk from Coliseum) and dried off a bit. The kids were tired, so they stayed while Tony and I ventured back out to visit the Roman Forum. It was pretty amazing - walked all over the capitoline and the palatine. We walked back, grabbed the kids and a taxi (luckily our apartment was near a major road, so not hard to find) and headed to Gladiator school. Drove on the actual Appian Way to get there! Gladiator School was Matthew's choice for the thing he wanted to do on our vacation. I was a little hesitant about it, but Gladiator school turned out to be pretty cool! The guide went over history and weapons, talked about the legions as well as gladiators, then sent us through warm ups, then practiced fighting moves, then we had matches. It was great and we saw a gorgeous sunset from the ring. I loved my Roman gladiator name - Nemesis (goddess of revenge)! Took a taxi back (I never want to drive in Rome!), got a tasty toast sandwich for Matthew and settled him in the apartment then Tony, Kaitlyn and I headed to the restaurant next door. We all had pasta- kaitlyn's gnocchi was the best! The waitress asked after Matthew! Checked in with Matthew after dinner, he opted to stay while we walked out to find gelatto (chocolate and hazelnut - yum!) and walked by the coliseum, trajan markets and the vitorio monument and then back. 13.2 miles this day!
you can see the coliseum in the distance, right around the corner from our apartment
gladiator training barracks and coliseum
first pizza in Italy! - yummm. They don't cut their single size pizzas - not sure how you are supposed to eat it - I just tore it. 
saw a few gladiators
looking at vestal temple from the palatine
circus maximus
what's left of temple of jupiter - one of the oldest ruins 
matthew and kaitlyn with our gladiator trainer
the elevator in our apartment building
my ravioli
elevator
the photographer
gelato!
gelato shop next to the carbeneri!
No comments:
Post a Comment