OK – this day was QUITE LONG so I am going to give you a breakdown of each part of the day. By the way – we are on the train to Florence – can’t wait for NEW SCENERY!
Wednesday morning 9am…met Armando in our lobby for a tour of Ancient Rome. What an incredible experience! We started our tour of the Colosseum and spent about an hour and half there getting all the scoop. Here are the Fun Facts we learn about the Colossom:
Clark – Much of the marble that was used in the construction was pillaged for other religious buildings commissioned by the Popes. It was FREE to get in for all the people. Crowd participation was encouraged – interactive to determine death. No evidence that Christians were martyred there. There is a great ongoing exhibit dedicated to the emperor who commissioned the colosseum.
Anne – That Jewish slaves built the colosseum. The amazing structure of the building – they put much detail in the brick pattern and then cover the walls with plaster. The entire structure is completely amazing. 1/3 of the building was left standing for the religious processions that took place along the road.
Catherine – The gladiators were prisoners. The amazing awning that they constructed. There were these pilings that went around the entire colosseum and they were ropes tied to them and you would pull on the ropes and this awning would cover the colosseum.
Taylor – The Gladiator got its name from the sword. The statue of the part of a horse that stands in the entrance was found last year when they were excavating a road nearby.
Blakely – They are still finding artifacts around there. They ruined architecture to build St. Peter’s.
Ford – The Gladiators were mostly slaves and prisoners and the people would determine whether or not to let them live. There were trap doors that the animals could come up through. There was an entrance for the chariots and opposite was the door they took the dead people out of.
It was truly amazing to get all that information – never knew!
From there we had about another 1 and half of touring the ancient ruins of Rome – I am sure I got some of that in my History classes – but that was not my strong subject in high school! It was good to have Armando there giving us a ton of INFORMATION – so glad we decided to do the tour.
1 PM: Armando gave us directions to go to the beach for the afternoon so we were all heading back to the hotel to grab our suits and go when all of a sudden – on the streets of Rome – Catherine tells me she saw something in Fords hair. FREAKED out about LICE – we rushed home to check everyone and found out that he did not have any signs of it BUT Taylor DID!!! Now, I have NEVER had to deal with this at home and always thought that I would freak out if it ever came near us – but I will say – I was very calm – went straight to the pharmacy to get the comb and shampoo – spent about an hour getting EVERY strand (so I thought) of hair combed out – loaded up all our laundry – the clothes that we were all in contact with – stripped ALL the linens/towels (luckily we were in a hotel and I did not have to wash all of that!!) and the six of us strolled our bags down to the local laundry mat – spent 21 Euros and cleaned our clothes…I thought I had to stay there with my clothes, so I sent Clark, Catherine, Taylor and Ford on to the beach while Blakely and I stayed back. When the lady came out and told me she would dry and fold my clothes, Blakely and I decided we would take and adventure and go and meet them at the beach. Now this meant that we would have to take 2 trains (did not realize that these trains had NO A/C and it was in the HEAT of the day!) We got ourselves a ticket and boarded the first train (Metro) UGH – hot and CROWDED! We got off and boarded the second train – we did get a seat on this one BUT it was still HOT and we were not even sure where we were going or IF we would even find Clark and the kids. I was praying for many ANGELS to surround us! We arrived 45 minutes later and started walking towards the beach. Let me just say that it was NOT Ponte Vedra nor DeBordieu nor Kiawah!!! We walked through some entrance and to a ‘HUT’ where a man (who spoke little English) asked me if he could help me – we told him we were looking for my husband and three kids – ‘AH, man in white shirt? He at the FREE beach right next door!’ Where Blakely and I were standing – there were a few people there – lounging in their chairs…to the right with some construction type fencing – was the FREE beach SLAMMED with people!!!! It reminded me of the book ‘Where’s Waldo’ – ugh and as we worked our way to the FREE beach we saw Catherine and Ford in the water. YEAH – we found them!!! Catherine comes immediately out of the water (wide eyed) exclaiming ‘MOM – some people do not have tops on!!!’ I told Ford to look at his toes and explained to them that we were in Europe and that is just the way it is! We were there for oh about 20 minutes when we decided that we had had enough and time to go home!
On the train again – HOT and SWEATY – I don’t think I sweat this much when I exercise! I guess this is what Hot Yoga is like – never tried that but think I experienced that on the train yesterday!
Home to shower – check hair – go have dinner. We finally sat down to dinner at 10:30 pm…Hard Rock Café in Rome – long day – long night – but everyone stayed HAPPY! Blakely was the happiest because she got a drink with tons of ICE – she didn’t even have to ask for it! We all got a pitcher of water (with ice) without having to pay for it!!!
We are almost in Florence – hoping for a new adventure!
Update on Taylor – we cut out (we hope) all the nits in her hair…last night we lathered olive oil all over – wrapped up in plastic and put her to bed. This morning, we packed up and I took her down the block to the Chinese Barber to get her hair cut!! That was another experience – but will not bore you with the details – you can ONLY imagine! We ALL have NEW brushes, NEW ponytail holders. We are PRAYING that we have that behind us! Would love your prayers as well that it will NOT spread!
I am proud of my kids – they have really been troopers in all our travels! You should see them rolling their bags all over the streets of Rome!
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