Our first day adventures
were focused on the Colosseum and the Forum. Finished in about 80 AD after 8 years, the
Colosseum remains an amazing spectacle of engineering. Nearby we saw a 3D movie about ancient Rome
and life wouldn’t be complete without the amazing Ipad App that our guide had
which allowed you to stand and turn in any direction and see what Rome was like
now and what it was like “then.”
In the afternoon we drove a
few miles out of town on the Appian Way and the kids settled into “Gladiator
School” in celebration of Sydney’s birthday.
A very tough looking yet kind and hilarious guy ran the place. He looked like the diabolical marine sergeant
in Avatar. After learning about all of
the weapons used by the gladiators, it was time for the makeshift arena. Armed with wooden swords, the kids learned
five offensive moves, followed by 5 defensive moves. The instructor would then shout out the
number of the move and the kids had to perform it. It took a few minutes for the kids to get
used to his sense of humor as he shouted “I own you now, not your parents!” and
“Pay attention!” Traci and I were dying laughing as he tried
to get 3 hysterically laughing kids to focus and engage him and each other in
mock combat. After he sparred with them,
he turned them loose on each other and refereed as they went at it with foam
swords. Halle is a demon with a sword. Hayden and Sydney were so shocked and were
laughing so hard at her aggressiveness that she whipped them both. The kids absolutely loved the experience. Gladiator training was followed by a birthday
dinner for Sydney. I can’t believe our
baby girl is 12.
Our second day involved a
walking tour to discover Rome. I can’t
remember all of the places we walked other than the Spanish steps, the Trevi
fountain and the Pantheon. What the kids
will mostly remember was the few hours in the afternoon they spent learning to
make gelato at the famous Giolitti Gelateria. This is the most popular gelateria in Rome,
renowned for their use of fresh and natural ingredients. Back in the kitchen the kids scrubbed down,
put on hair nets and gloves, and helped prepare batches of banana and chocolate
ice cream. The hard work done, the
gracious owner Nazzareno seated us and forced us to choose whatever we wanted
from the opulent menu. Talk about kids in a candy shop. Halle led the charge and insisted on 3 scoops
and of course whipped cream. Pure
delight Outside of the ice cream, the kids most enjoyed splashing each other in
the fountains, climbing anything within reach, jumping off anything climbable,
and trying to decipher many of the inappropriate adult messages on the various
postcards and t-shirts. Quality time.
Day 3 was an unforgettable
visit to the Vatican and its museums. Our
tour guide has worked for the Vatican museums for 25 years and in our case it
was good to know “the man.” He gave us
tickets to see Pope Benedict XVI give his weekly morning address in St. Peter’s
Square. We were 4 rows back and about 25
yards from “El Papa”. There were probably 80-100,000 people packed in the
square, with the loudest being the Chinese delegation seated in front of us.
Perhaps ignorantly l assumed that most Chinese were Buddhist but these folks
must not have qualified for Buddhism as they were too obnoxious. Standing in their seats, answering loud cell
phone rings and talking loudly on their phones when the pope was speaking. I’m confident that based solely on my
etiquette that I’ll reach the pearly gates well before these people even though
they were wearing garments which must hold them in high regard in front of
their flock. So in addition to the 24
Catholics from China, there were pilgrims from every continent in what was a huge
pep rally. The pope gave an address (I
think it was on the Middle East but it was spoken in Italian) for about 30
minutes, followed by welcoming, in at least 6 different languages, many of the
various groups from around the world. As
he called out the name of the country and parish, that group would stand,
scream, maybe sing a little song they made for the pope, and he’d acknowledge
them with a wave. This went on for
several hours while we cooked in the sun.
The whole spectacle was really interesting for me, the history of the
papacy, the power and influence of the pope, and the sheer awe of sitting in
front of the towering basilica.Kids were unbelievably good and thought the pope
was cool, especially with his red shoes, when he kissed babies offered by the crowd,
and lest I forget, the Pope Mobile. At
87 years old, Benedict XVI was really impressive. After the ceremony we were lead past the
throngs with our guide Luciano. Again, he was the man. We were like a hot knife through the butter
of the crowds. We visited the collection
of pope mobiles, from chariot to modern day.
The Vatican museums are extraordinary.
They are enormous. I won’t bore
you with the details but with the access that our guide had, we were able to
see many cool places that were off limits to the general public: Pope Leo’s private prayer room, where the
walls are decorated with gold paint, the gold coming as a gift from the queen
of Spain (Isabella), who got the gold from the ships of Christopher Columbus on
his return from the new world. The room of tears off the Sistine chapel where
the newly elected Pope is first dressed and prepares for his first address.
Huge frescoes by Raphael and Michelangelo. The Sistine Chapel, full of tourists
then waiting with our guide until it emptied and being in there alone for a few
minutes. It was an incredible, wonderful
, educational experience for each of us.
Our final day in Rome was
spent an hour south of the city enjoying the ancient Roman sport of Gocarticus. Invented in 347 BC, these machines are largely
unchanged since their conception, with the only significant change being the
addition of safety helmets in the 2007. After
a couple of rounds of high speed fun, we visited a small town called Albano in
the “Roman Castle” country southeast of Rome.
Romulus and Remus were born in Albano before being abandoned, saved,
suckled and founding the town of Rome. Again
our guide Luciano was able to show us some really interesting sites such as one
of the first churches in Italy. Christianity
was forbidden in Rome until the 4th century AD but it secretly
thrived in many areas, including this summer home of the emperor Augustus. While he was in Rome in the first century AD,
enforcing the rule which forbade Christianity, Christians were secretly holding
services in his summer palace. Our guide
Luciano took us to his home in Albano and his wife and daughters treated us to
home-made Tiramisu. Wonderful family of
a kind man with a seemingly endless knowledge and love of Rome. When I
asked them where they liked to vacation most, instead of the nearby wonders of
Rome his daughter replied: “Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco, New York,
anywhere in America!” The grass is
always greener.
Next stop was Pompeii
(about one hundred miles south of Rome).The forecast called for clear and 75 so
we donned shorts and light clothes (Halle in a beautiful dress of course). We experienced a few small thundershowers in
Africa but for the most part for the last 3 months we have been enjoying an
endless summer of dry weather and temperatures in the 80’s or 90’s. Until today that is. What started as a few sprinkles turned into a
deluge. We had a wonderful guide who was
super engaging but we were drenched and freezing. I took about 5 pictures and didn’t dare take
another for fear of ruining my camera. Oh
that’s another thing. Digital cameras
are wonderful but fragile. Mine has
survived unscathed but Traci’s got something inside the lens which is kind of
like having a flat Stanley in each picture. Hayden’s got dust in it and the shutter won’t
fully open. Traci somehow lost Halle’s
in her helping Halle carry a few things.
Sydney had her first camera stolen in Africa and then spent about $130
of her own money on a new one only to have the shutter dented beyond repair
during travel the next week. Guess what
she got for her birthday? Third time is
the charm. So back to Pompeii .A few things we learned:
ü Pompeii was a city of about 15,000 and was a
port. It was established around 700 BC, similar to Rome and became part of the
Roman Empire in the first century BC
ü Pompeii was buried in about 20-30 feet of ash
by a huge eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 A.D., and was excavated in the 18th
century.
ü Sidewalks were raised above the sloping
streets so the occasional rain would wash away all of the animal feces. Crosswalks were raised stepping stones. We were almost swept away by some of the
torrents in the streets and can attest to the effectiveness of their
engineering.
ü Many sailors would come from far away lands
to enjoy Pompeii’s brothels. There were
penises carved into the stones of the street that served as directional arrows
to point the way to the brothels. Much
like the current day barber poles, brothels were identified by a penis figurine
about the door. Since many customers
didn’t speak Latin they had lovely frescos painted with various sexual acts
that were used to help communicate intent or desire. Now I know where McDonalds got the idea for
the #5 Sausage McMuffin combo meal.
After
about an hour in the storm, completely soaked despite raincoats and umbrellas,
we retreated to the warmth of our minivan and headed to Naples for dinner.
While flat bread was prepared similarly for thousands of years, it wasn’t until
1872 in Naples that Neopolitan Something Something made a tribute to the
Italian flag for Queen Marguerite by combining Red (tomato sauce), White
(mozzarella) and Green (Basil leaf) on pizza bread. Little trivial fact that
like corn, tomatoes originated in the Americas. At a local pizzeria the kids learned how to
make pizza the original way, and we were able to enjoy the fruits of each of
their labors.
From Naples we ventured further south for 2 days to the picturesque cliff-side
town of Positano on the Amalfi Coast. We
visited the Isle of Capri and did some fabulous hiking both there and around
Positano. Huge cliffs, spectacular blue
seas, impossibly narrow streets and alleys. Here, as we watched the kids squeal with
delight as they were pounded by the cold surf into the pebble beach, we came to
the firm conclusion that after skiing in the Alps this winter, our future
destinations should revolve largely around ocean beaches with a nearby places
to hike, bike or run. Kind of like what
we left in Seattle and Idaho…just kidding. No serious homesickness yet and yesterday
marked the completion of 3 months on the road.
We’ve had the kids learn Roman numerals, introduced Hayden and Halle to Latin,
read books on Roman history, visited incredible archeological wonders and the
indelible impression left on them is that they want to be professional go cart
drivers or gladiator trainers when they grow up. They’ll get busy training for
those careers as soon as they are done swimming.
