Rome

The fun in Rome started up just as soon as we got there with the kids booked in for an afternoon of Gladiator school. We all learned about the different kinds of gladiators and the weapons they used and why they were so motivated to win: if they won enough battles, they could buy their freedom. After several training exercises, the kids (and a few of us adults) battled it out in the arena. Thankfully, none of us lost our lives. Here’s Paul’s video of the action.

We spent most of the next day hopping on and off our hop-on double decker tour bus visiting Piazza Navona, Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, and learning heaps about the city.

Our first two days had us well-prepared for Day 3 and our awesome tour of the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. The kids loved learning about the how they got the animals up onto the floor of the arena and how they sometimes flooded the Colosseum so that they could have mock sea battles. I loved wandering around the Forum and imagining how things looked 2000 years ago.

We ended the afternoon with a trip out to the Catacombs of San Sebastián which we learned were the very first catacombs and that they had once held the bones of Saints Peter, Paul and Sebastian. There were three levels of underground tombs in tunnels stretching over seven kilometres and housing more than 100,000 bodies.

On morning of Day 4, we fought the crowds and toured the Vatican museums and the Sistine Chapel, and visited Saint Mark’s Square. We spent the afternoon in Piazza Navona - the kids enjoying the entertainment of the buskers (Elliot even got involved), and the adults enjoying a wee tipple. After a quick visit to the Parthenon and a last supper of pizza, we stumbled upon a free concert in a square which really was a perfect way to wrap up a fantastic couple of weeks travelling with Ryan, Jen and the kids. 

The next morning, they were off bright and early to the airport. After a few tears, we were able to convince the boys to go for a pretty epic bike ride alongside the ruins of the Roman aqueducts before hopping on the train to Naples. You can catch some glimpses of our Roman antics in Paul’s video of us crazies.