When in Rome...

Ah, Italy... What can you say. Italy to me and Eric is one of those perfect places - great history, great landscapes, and really great food. As part of the Spring 2011 Somerville Amazing Race that Eric had booked last Fall, we did our final leg consisting of a visit to Rome for the long weekend holiday here in Europe for Ascension. Karl had studied the Romans at school last year (California students study the Missons; the Swiss do the Romans as they had settled here) so we thought Rome would be a great place to tour a little history as well as soak up some great relaxing Italian life. It started with a 6 am Wednesday flight departure out of Basel, and ended with delayed flights that got us back to Basel at midnight on Sunday, but we packed a lot of fun travel in between...

I have to say this might have been my favorite trip to date. I think the combination of things to do partnered well with making the right decisions as we went (and great weather did not hurt). It started out at the Colosseum: young people were pitching tours of the place, which ususally we steer clear of. However, the line to get in was 2+ hours long, and for a reasonable fee not only did you get a tour of the Colosseum and then a later tour of the Roman Forum, you got into both immediately. It turns out both tours were awesome - kind of funny, continuously engaging, and fast paced enough that you didn't get bored. Jason, our tour guide of the Forum, noted at the end that he was doing a street tour that night if anyone wanted to join (only 30 Euros for all four of us for two hours), as well as a tour of the Vatican Museum the next day (same deal - you get in immediately rather than wait in line). We chose to do both, and were fully entertained. Eric and I pride ourselves on our back-packing ways but we had to laugh at how much we liked the tours - we are probably two steps closer to the big geriatric tour bus vacation: watch out old age, here we come!

Now an interesting thing to note, is that Rome was a zoo. The crowds were truly unbelievable, and most places seemed like a constant ocean of people. It almost had that claustrophobic effect that you can get in sporting events (I think of leaving Giants games) when you are packed in, and if we had any issues (pick pockets, aggresive people) we would have had a really bad time. However, for some strange reason, it was all ok - no hurry to get anywhere, no reason to get the perfect picture with no one else in it - we were going with the flow which made everything enjoyable. Actually, watching the crowds became part of the show. I tried to pick two of the best pictures to show the crowds: the Vatican Museum was truly a circus - the Sistine Chapel was literally standing room-touching elbows only, with guards constantly yelling (no kidding, they were yelling)for people not to take pictures. As I am a rule-follower you won't see pictures there, but instead I got a picture from one of the halls we walked through. To note, that huge bath/bowl on the left side is made from a purple marble from Egypt that the Romans mined until it was all gone - it is so rare that it is worth ounce for ounce more than gold...pricey little bath, I must say... The other photo is of Trevi Fountain - again, circus is the only word that can describe it. In no way is it even remotely relaxing to sit and enjoy the water - it is just a chaotic crowd of coin throwers and snapshots. Maybe if you tried to come out at 3 am you might get a private moment, but even there I am doubtful...

And life in Rome would not be complete without gelato. I think we stopped for the cold snack at least twice a day - pictured here we came across a grand opening of a new store that was offering free cups to everyone - how can you pass that up! Karl stuck with crema and mint - sometimes a caramel if it was offered; Bennett with stracciatella and chocolate, with coconut once in a while. Eric sampled pistachio, while I was always a sucker for hazelnut. In one place I found chestnut gelato - heaven!!
We ended our short trip with a two day jaunt down the coast: we stopped to tour Pompeii (surprisingly not so crowded, and though hot, not as hot as it could have been); from there we continued on and spent a night in Praiano on the Almafi coast. It turned out to be quite crowded, but with the views and the atmosphere you really didn't care. The people at the hotel were so nice and accommodating - life really doesn't get much better than that...

I also have to comment here that my boys are truly the best travelers in the world. They are remarkably well behaved on airplanes (even at 6 am!),and even though they get wild from time to time I feel they are respectful of other people and museums and churches. We actually had a couple next to us at dinner comment on how they were impressed with our conversation - how engaging their questions were, and what interesting comments they had. This is actually the second time this has happened - a guy in Venice stopped by our table as well to comment on Bennett's insatiable curiosity and how he was certain he would grow up to do amazing things. At moments like this it makes all the endless discipline worth it...

But now we stay put. Well, for three weeks at least until the boys and I return to California for a visit, while Eric takes a detour to Ohio...