Time flies. Today is the last day in Rome. This is our first trip to europe, to italy, to rome. I have wanted to visit Italy for as long as I can remember. Happy to be finally here, with my family, and a nice ending to our 3 month long trip.
We have 2 weeks here in rome. We decided to stay in only one place so that it is relaxing and enjoyable for everyone. The place we stayed in is an airbnb apartment in a neighborhood with quite a lot of shops and restaurants within walking distance. Metro and supermarket (which we visit almost every day) were just a few minutes away. Very convenient. The apartment itself is small but has everything we need. A loft which ellie loves most! It is too small for Rian to be up there so it was mostly me and ellie's play place.
By the metro, there is a piazza with a small playground. That is a place where we will go when there is no plan for the day. Ellie enjoyed the swing set very much. At one point she even tried to swing standing up. Not something we can do in the swing sets back home because the seats are almost always made of soft leather.
We love coffee and luckily there is a coffee maker. But not something we have seen before... likely Rian has mastered it! Italian coffee everyday!!
Funny story... first night we ventured out to a nearby supermarket to get food, we were there a bit before their closing time. We wandered and wandered and got a big basket of things. And I heard that the cashier was clearing the cash drawer! I was like oh no, they have closed! We rushed to the checkout counter. Luckily the lady can speak English and allowed us to buy with credit card.
There are a couple french fries places nearby. After a few days of staring at them, we decided to get some and it was yummy!! There is also a place called pompi very close by, and is famous for tiramisu. Consider that I am a fan I had to try it. Did once inside the restaurant and a to-go before we left. There are a lot of different flavors, but I just stick with classico.
Food is a no-brainer in italy, pizza an Gelato everywhere. However Rian is not a snack/street food person and ellie will not eat anything unless she is hungry. So we didn't do that very often. In general we are happy with the food here. The pizza is quite different but very tasty. I like the potato one and also the anchovy one (also found out that Rian hates anchovies :p)
I tried very hard to find kid friendly activities for ellie and it is just not that easy in rome. Most of the tourist attractions are historic places, art galleries, and churches. We did the castle, collosuem and pantheon but skipped Vatican City and all art museums.
We went to villa Borghese the most famous park in rome. The view to the city there was really nice, and ellie got her playground time. We skipped the zoo though as I don't think the zoo would be better than the ones at home.
I bought a book about rome when we were in Florida. Ellie was particularly interested in the mouth of truth and the wishing fountain. So we did them too and she enjoyed them. We went to the fountain at night. It was so crowed, but also very pretty.
Personally I like the castle the best. Walking inside feels like I am in a movie. Narrow dark corridor, big gates, statues, cannon ball piles, walls with paintings, treasure chests... Also nice views on top and from outside (next to the river). Not to mention there is a cafe inside and a playground outside. Perfect for us :)
We also went to the explora - children's museum (ellie's favorite) and a prehistoric museum (which turns out to be too boring for ellie).
We cooked a few times at home and went though many boxes of cereal. Rian made a point that we had to do only Italian food when we are in italy. Easy peasy for me. Pasta all the way. Marinara, carbonara, gnocchi, cheese pasta. I learned that Rome people like pecorino.
2 weeks went by so fast. Although we didn't do much of the sightseeing stuff, but I did enjoy the time with ellie and rian, and a taste of the Italian culture. Next time when I come back I will speak italian! Rian predicted that to be 3 - 5 years... we'll see :)
Very cool elevator at our apartment. We need to open the door ourselves. Inside in a double wooden door.
Spanish steps
View of Rome from villa Borghese
A small play area in the park
Lots of fountains in the park
We managed to see the sunset before we left the park
Castle
We explored different levels and rooms inside the castle
A cafe with great view in the castle
View from top
Pretty view at night
A very crowd fountain. Huge and pretty!
We all made a wish and threw coin in!
The mouth of truth
Colloseum
French fries! King size!!
Visiting the inside of the collosem
Children's museum. Ellie is picking vegetables from a garden.
Chicken, fries, pizza.. yummy dinner at home
An italian park built by Lego
Perfect ending to our 2 week vacation in Rome :)
