Day 5: Rome

So our next port was Rome, and we abandoned the group tours in favour of our own private car and driver.  We were taking Declan with us, and wanted to have the flexibility to go where we wanted and cut the day short in the unlikely, yet distinctly possible event that he might become incorrigible. Besides, I have always wanted to disembark from something and be greeted by a limo driver holding my name on the sign for a change.  Today was my day!

Our driver, Angelo, was awesome.  We were able to pack so much into the day, and he had all the hookups to skip the queues to get into the various attractions.  We could go at our own pace, and spend as much or as little time at each stop, and we were also able to go to the more authentic local restaurants for meals instead of the more touristy places that you go to in the tour groups.  So this was a much preferable method of travel for us. 

Our first stop was the Colosseum.  Hilariously when I asked Declan if I could take his picture in front of it, he reflexively put his hands up as though he were pushing up the Leaning Tower of Pisa still.  That photo session may have scarred him indefinitely.


Happily there was a new novelty photo opportunity at the Colisseum:  For a mere five Euros, a local ne'er-do-well dressed as a gladiator will terrorize your child.  A bargain at twice the price.

What's that you say?  Why are we doing this?

I'm not sure why the gladiator was pushing the stroller, but it makes me love this picture a little bit.

 Our visit to the Colisseum was somewhat hampered by their having run out of audio guides.  So we walked around without really knowing what anything was.  Here's a picture of Declan and Shane posing above the catacombs, where the trackerjackers are stored in between bouts, awaiting for the release from trap doors whenever Emporer Sebastiani scratched his nose. 

Next stop, Circus Maximus, which  Declan was very excited about considering that it's a racetrack.  Here, Shane is patiently trying to explain to a skeptical Declan that the empty field was really in fact a very interesting historical site.

Colour him unimpressed.

At the Trevi Fountain.  These pictures hide how crowded it was there- about 25 people per square foot.

Tossing a coin and wishing to return to Rome one day.  Also wishing that we had a smaller coin than a 2 Euro to throw.

Getting into the tourist spirit.

For lunch Angelo took us to a lovely rustic Italian place, where we had all of our respective Italian favourites:  Caprese salad, carpaccio and ravioli, with pizza formaggio for Declan.  We breezed through the Spanish Steps, and the plaza where Caesar was assassinated.   Then Angelo took us to the Vatican for the next part of our tour.