Hong Kong here we come!

Sunday 22nd June 2014

Blog post by the mother

Apologies for the lack of pictures today.  There really weren't a lot of great photo moments.  I could of course have taken photos of the madness that is the family all trying to get packed and cleaned up ready to leave our lovely Rome apartment - but I just didn't have time!

Joseph, our lovely driver from RomeCabs arrived in good time and was a wonderful source of information on the drive to the airport.  For instance, I now know why all the monuments in Rome are covered in scaffolding and are being renovated/cleaned.  Apparently the Italian government has passed legislation allowing private companies to sponsor the restoration of famous Italian monuments.  In return for an injection of cash the companies have the image rights of their sponsored monument for a set number of years but no advertising on the monument itself.  Tod's (an Italian shoe company) are paying 25 million euros to restore the Coliseum and Fendi  are sponsoring a 2.2 million euro restoration of the Trevi Fountain. Very interesting!

Arrived at the airport with plenty of time before our flight so the father went shopping for an Italian tie (apparently his sock collection is now complete).  Our flight to Hong Kong departed at 12.30pm - see you in 11 hours!

Castel Sant'Angelo

Saturday 21st June 2014

Another blog post by the mother

A slow start this morning following our late night last night.  We made our way to the Piazza San Pietro and joined Nana and Grandad and a very long queue of others to visit St Peters basilica. The queue did move relatively quickly but we still had a bit of time to chat and do a bit of people watching.  Interesting things spotted in the square - sneaky queue jumpers "Oh, is there a queue?", nuns from at least ten different orders, lots of young priests - not something we see a lot of in NZ these days.

 The Swiss Guard are doing their usual sterling job of guarding Papa Francesco and trying to look dashing in their court jester uniforms.

 Inside the basilica was very ornate and also very crowded. What did make our visit special however was that mass was being celebrated so it was nice to see the basilica being used for it's true purpose. Only one missing person today - Grandad - who we managed to find without too much difficulty. From St Peters we walked down (via a gelato shop of course) to the Castel Sant'Angelo which has been the traditional bolt hole for the Pope if trouble has arisen.

 It was wonderful to escape the heat inside the cool heart of the castle.  We made our way up the ramps to the top of the castle where there is a statue of the Archangel Michael.  Apparently in 590 AD the angel appeared at the top of the castle signalling the end of a plague epidemic and thus the castle got its name.

 The views from the top of the castle are fantastic and you can see right around central Rome.

 Nana and Grandad were keen to do some more sightseeing after the Castle but the grandchildren were keen on lunch and a rest.  Nana and Grandad set off for a grand walking tour of Rome while we went to catch the bus home.  We ended up at the same bus stop as the previous evening and  history then repeated itself.  We waited, and waited, and waited, and waited ... Finally after an hour or false promises by the electronic bus arrivals board the bus turned up.  By this time everyone was hot, fed up and totally ready for another gelato.

 We took so long to get back to the apartment that we had barely eaten a late lunch before Nana and Grandad arrived at 5.30pm to out to dinner.  We decided to walk up the Janiculum Hill before dinner and see the botanical gardens.  Well, we didn't manage to see much of the gardens but we did find the Acqua Paolo Fountain which we now know is a favourite backdrop for Roman newlywed's wedding photos.  In the time we spent up at the fountain we saw five different wedding parties.  The girls were in heaven and I was pretty happy too - I do love a good wedding!

Apart from all the bridal parties there were also some pretty amazing views out over Rome.

 Walking back down the hill we gave Nana and Grandad a brief tour of Trastevere including a visit to the basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere.  Evening mass had just begun when we wlaked in and we were treated to beautiful singing and the opportunity to see the basilica being used as a place of worship rather than just as a tourist spot.
The kids insisted that we take Nana and Grandad to Ivo's for pizza for dinner.  It was a lot busier tonight but the pizza was still delicious.  I'm not sure that our homemade pizzas are ever going to make the grade again once we get home!   The father finally got to have his long awaited Tiramisu for dessert tonight - fortunately Mr 14 helped him out with it as it was enormous.

 

We walked Nana and Grandad back out to the main road and then said our good-byes before they headed back to their hotel.  It has been lovely to have been able to share this time with them in Rome.
Up early again tomorrow to pack before we head off to the airport and our flight to Hong Kong.

Nana and Grandad arrive!

Friday 20th June 2014

Blog post by the mother (albeit a week or so in arrears)

The arrival of the grandparents in Rome this afternoon has been much anticipated.  In order to stop the children asking every five minutes "When are we going to see Nana and Grandad?", we thought we would keep them busy sightseeing for the morning. Across the muddy old Tiber we went and caught the number 8 tram up to the Capitoline Hill. 

View from the Ponte Garibaldi looking towards the Vatican city.

At the tram terminus is the incredible monument to Victor Emmanuel II constructed to celebrate the unity of Italy.

Tucked down a side street to the right of the monument is the oldest surviving apartment block in Rome.  We had some great conversations about what it must have been like to have lived in Ancient Rome and how different it would have been to the current day.

The chapel in the old apartment building.

Miss 7 and Miss 9 were particularly taken with the cordonata (wide stairs) that Michelangelo designed so that horses could be riden up them to the piazza.  From the Capitoline museums there were also great views down onto the Forum so we could see what we had missed out on due to the strike. 

After a brief stop to do some clothes shopping for Mr 14 we caught the bus to the Spanish Steps.  Unfortunately the church at the top of the steps is completely covered in scaffolding so we couldn't appreciate the beauty of the exterior.
What we did discover at the top of the steps however were several artists who draw caricatures and portraits.  Before we left NZ Miss 9 had a wishlist of things to do in Europe which included having her portrait drawn in Paris.  We didn't manage to find any portrait artists in Paris so Rome seemed like a good second option. We found a delightful Italian man named Augusto who drew a gorgeous portrait of Miss 9.  She is absolutely thrilled with it.

We walked down the steps (note the carefully positioned photo to avoid all the scaffolding in the background!) and then broke our McDonalds rule again.  To be fair, this time we were in need of their facilities and the lure of their air conditioning and 1 euro milkshakes proved to be too much for us!

After our McD's recharge we headed off in search of the Trevi Fountain.  Would you believe it!  Again with the scaffolding!!  I seriously think that the Italians should consider staggering the work on their monuments so that not every one is covered in scaffolding at the same time.  We still threw our coins into the empty fountain - I don't think we hit any of the workers - so according to legend we should now all return to Rome again in the future.

On the way to see the Pantheon Miss 7 spotted a toyshop full of wooden toys and couldn't resist the Pinocchio photo op'.

Hooray!  The Pantheon was not covered in scaffolding and we really enjoyed looking at this almost 2000 year old building.

 We were all fascinated by the opening or 'oculus' in the centre of the dome .  The oculus is open and the girls were particularly concerned about what happens to the inside of the Pantheon when it rains.

By this point we were all ready for a rest so it was back on the bus and the tram to the apartment.  After a quick dinner at the apartment we got changed and then headed off to the Vatican Museums to meet Nana and Chugchug.  We were all very happy to meet up and catch up on each others adventures. We had tickets for the evening session at the Vatican Museums from 7pm onwards which made for a lot less people and also less heat than during the day. The kids all had a special treasure hunt audio tour which they used to find specific pieces of art as we walked through the museums.  I think their version of the tour was possibly a lot more interesting than the adult version.

With Nana and Grandad at the start of the Vatican Museum tour

We had one slight mishap in the museum when Mr 11 got separated from the rest of the group.  It seems he thought we were all in front of him and so he just kept going through the galleries and eventually through the Sistine chapel in an effort to find us.  He completed the whole tour in just under 15 minutes.  While he was doing his solo speed tour the rest of us were backtracking, checking bathrooms and starting to have a mild panic.  The guards were very helpful once I was able to get them to understand that I had lost one of my bambini - initially they couldn't work out why I was worried when I clearly still had three bambini with me.  Long story short, Mr 11 eventually found his way back to the group much to his relief and the relief of everyone else.  Needless to say, he stayed pretty close for the rest of the evening.
I enjoyed seeing the Sistine Chapel much more this time round as there were relatively few people and there was plenty of time and space to stop and really enjoy Michelangelo's work.  The kids all enjoyed regaling us with facts from their audio tour about Michelangelo's 'Last Judgement' and finding and pointing out lots of little details from the painting.

The Tooth Fairy - or so we told the girls!

St Peters by night

When we got out of the museums at 10pm we were all in need of gelato so we joined the queue at a place which Nana said had been busy all day.  You know it's a good sign when you are surrounded by locals and not other tourists and the gelato did not disappoint.
Nana and Grandad headed back to their hotel and we went to catch a bus to take us home along the river.  Forty-five minutes later we were still waiting for the bus and trying to work out how to ask for a maxi-taxi in Italian.  Just as we were about to give up entirely the bus arrived and we crammed onto it along with half of Rome.  Finally made it home and had the kids in bed by midnight - it will be a slow start tomorrow morning! 

The Coliseum and other fabulous things

Thursday 19th June 2014

Blog post by the mother

A very warm day in Rome but the sun is shining and there are no thunderstorms - hurrah!  Caught the bus from Trastevere to the Coliseum this morning.  The cobbled roads in Rome make for rather bone rattling bus rides but they sure beat walking in the heat. 
We had another 'wow' moment when the kids first saw the Coliseum up close and personal.  Although to be fair the 'wow' could also have been at the sight of the tour buses lined up and the huge throng of people waiting to get in - at least a one hour wait in the queue.

Fortunately we had pre-booked our tickets online and that meant that we trotted happily to the front of the line and made our way inside. Although there is a lot of restoration work currently taking place the Coliseum is still an amazing place to visit. 

The girls were enthralled by all the gory details of the gladiators and animals that were part of the Coliseum's history.  They were particularly concerned about what happened to the children of the Christian's who were thrown to the lions - were they thrown to the lions too?  Our explanation that the children probably went to work as slaves was not met with any great sense of belief.  In order to set their own minds at rest the girls came up with a great scenario where the children would all hide in the cages meant for the beasts and then jump out and surprise the gladiators and the emperor. 
After spending quite a while in the Coliseum we went across to the Palatine Hill to visit the Forum.  On the way we spotted a Roman maiden who clearly is not enthralled with her job - or perhaps just had a late night?

Would you believe it?!  When we got across to the Forum there was a tiny sign taped to the closed gates - "Closed for the strike".  We walked up to the church at the top of the hill and in the end decided that enough was enough and headed home for a late afternoon siesta.  We had dinner at home and then went out to wander the Trastevere neighbourhood in the evening. 
Our local church 'St Maria de Trastevere' is one of the oldest churches in Rome. It is rather unassuming from the outside but on the inside is incredibly beautiful with gold mosaics from the 12th century.  Apparently Papa Francesco has been known to celebrate mass in the church - sadly not while we were there.

Part of our wandering also took us in search of a couple of local English language bookshops.  One had bargains and the other had a delightful English owner who gave us tips on which restaurants to avoid and also gave Mr 14 a discount off the book he purchased.

Off to Roma!

Wednesday 18th June 2014

Blog post by the mother

Onto Vaporetto number 1 this morning and off to the train station.  I have decided that I really enjoy travelling everywhere by boat - it seems a lot more relaxing than going by car or bus.  I do however also love trains and I particularly love the view from the front steps of the Venezia S. Lucia train station.  It does make one sad to be leaving.

There was the usual amount of waiting around.  The children are becoming very accomplished at working out our flight/train numbers and which gate/platform we should be heading for.  Miss 9 in particular takes great umbrage if trains/planes/boats are not running to time.  We have joked that if she was in charge everything would run like clockwork - watch this space...

Mild excitement (well from the parents at least) when we realized that our train was leaving from the same platform as the Orient Express.  Didn't manage to sneak aboard this time but it's still on my bucket list.


The FrecciArgento was perfectly fine and got us to Rome in fine form.  Lovely older Italian couple on their way to Naples kept offering the kids apricots and we all did our best to chat using sign language and my ten words of Italian.
Arrived into Rome to thunderstorms - hooray for the pre-booked taxi!  We were picked up from the railway station and then whisked off across the Tiber to Trastevere where we will be spending the next four nights.  Danielle and her daughter Silvia met us at the apartment and, once we established that French was our common language, gave us a tour of the apartment and a quick run down on supermarkets, restaurants and the all important gelateria in the local area.  Et voila, l'appartement!

Kitchen

Bedroom 1 - girls happy not to have to share a bed!

Master bedroom

Living/dining room - boys sleeping on fold out couch

Study alcove off dining room

View out the window to the right towards S.Maria de Trastevere

View out window to left looking down via San Francesco a Ripa

Neighbours across the road.

Once again the apartment has proven to be even better than the photos that we saw when booking and it is in a great location.  After waiting until after 7pm for them to open we went to Ivo across the road for pizza - highly recommended!  Loving Rome so far.

Piazza S. Marco, Gelato and Pizza

Tuesday 17th June 2014

Blog post by the mother

Even though we have only been in Venice for two nights it feels like a lot longer.  I am definitely loving Venice this time round much more than I had anticipated.  I think this is helped by the fact that we have our great little apartment right in the thick of things.  We woke this morning to the sound of the church bells ringing and the fragrant odour  of freshly caught fish wafting on the breeze (the one downside of staying so close to the Rialto markets).  After a quick look at the fish markets and the vast array of seafood on offer we crossed the bridge and headed over to the Piazza S. Marco.

The kids were all impressed by the exterior of the Basilica and were keen to get inside to explore further.  Even at a fairly early hour of the morning the queue to get into the Basilica was already snaking across the piazza and out towards the canal.

The father and the boys were keen to go to the top of the campanile and get some aerial views of Venice, so the girls and I held our place in the Basilica line and off they went.

As is always the way with these things the Basilica line then moved very quickly and we were at the front door well before the boys came back down.  We didn't have quite enough time to count all the arches on the Doges Palace but Miss 9 was rather put out that the boys came back before she had time to see the bell striking the hour.

The Basilica was still as beautiful as I remember inside but it feels much more like a tourist attraction than a place of worship.  Mr 14 was becoming quite irritated by the number of people taking photographs despite the signage clearly indicating this was forbidden.  I was becoming quite irritated by the number of people who felt that the request for silence in the Basilica did not apply to them and that they should give guided tours very loudly in Russian.  Bah, humbug!

Anyhow, we all made it out unscathed and still smiling politely so that is one miracle for the Basilica S. Marco.  Pigeon numbers in the square have dropped considerably due to a culling programme but we still managed to find a few for a photo.

Near the piazza is a little canal where the gondoliers hang out while they have a break and wait for their next fare.  I love just watching them chatting amongst themselves and having animated conversations on their cell phones.

From the piazza we walked along to the Bridge of Sighs and the girls were quite fascinated by the idea of the prisoners walking across it. After a walk around the area surrounding the piazza it was back on the vaporetto to the apartment for lunch with a few more sights along the way.

St Maria Salute basilica

A wedding boat!



After lunch, a siesta for the father and homework for the kids we were off out again in search of our daily gelato fix.  This time our destination was Grom - another of Agatha's recommendations.  We visited some churches on the way and found the shop and enjoyed our gelati very much - flavour of the month is raspberry cheesecake mmm mmm!
Miss 7 was also able to realise her dream of buying a purple lace mardi gras mask.  She was very pleased with herself - especially when the shop owner gave her a discount.


As we walked back out to the canal to get the vaporetto back to the apartment we came to the S. Toma traghetto stop. Forgive me as I will now sound like a complete stalker but ... she was there!  The only female gondolier in Venice.  She was conversing loudly and enthusiastically with the other older gondoliers and is clearly used to having to hold her own.  The best thing was that she had long nails with fluoro pink nail polish - fantastic! It completely made my day seeing her.

 

 

Last stop for the day was dinner in a little trattoria about three streets away from the apartment.  The kids are all loving the breadsticks that always appear on the table and their adoration for pizza is still enduring.  It helps when you have 20 odd topping combination choices.

Miss 9 though has a true loyalty to her pizza prosciutto.  Possibly keeping it simple saves her from being overwhelmed by all the other choices!

Back to the apartment to pack the bags, do one last load of washing (it will be dry by morning on the fabulous outside line) and generally get ready to head to Roma.