Arrivederci Roma!

Day 12: It's been great, it's been really really great but some of us are
cooked! So, we got up and had a lovely breakfast and then we left the ship. That's when the fun began. Today was very overcast and rainy at times- I think the weather is trying to prepare us for our return to Ireland! Anyway, we had to wait for a shuttle bus to take us into the town of Civitavecchia where we had a rental car waiting for us. We picked up a lovely van (it makes the Homy- the beast we drive in Ireland- look small) and headed in to Rome. It took us about an hour and a half to get there (with the shuttling etc). After about 10 minutes in the car, Emery was ready to go back to the ship. "I want to go back to the hotel!" The other kids were almost as excited as Emery to see Rome.

So we started at the Colosseum. We didn't know where to get tickets and someone asked if we wanted to go on a tour ("no waiting!"). There were a couple of other people who had joined this tour and we thought that it sounded like a great idea. Then we met the tour guide and the 25 other people who were already in the tour group. Did I mention that it was raining at this point? So, Danny bought 5 umbrellas (one for each short person who would complain without one) and we followed the tour guide. It wasn't our best tour- but we did learn some things. Did you know that:
* 5000 people were killed a year in the colosseum?
* There was seating for 70,000?
* Even children could be gladiators? (They would use 10 year old boys to help get the animals angry.)
* Years later when the colosseum was no longer in use, they pulled lots of the marble off of the colosseum to use in building other structures? (Churches, etc...)

Our tour then continued on to Palatine Hill (where the Caesars built their palaces) and the forum. We had a new tour guide here, a lovely English redhead (we are talking scarlet red hair) who was actually wonderful. (She was so good that Dawn and Cheri are going on a tour at the Vatican that she is leading tomorrow. Luckily they get an extra day in Rome, so they will be able to see more of the sights.) After this- our kids really had had enough, so we went and had a late lunch/snack (Dawn needed some lasagna). Our restaurant was excellent and we enjoyed our italian food. Then we headed back to the ship. The kids really wanted to eat dinner (not that we were super hungry...) in the Golden Pearl restaurant and see Nina and Peter one last time.

The return trip was much easier that our morning jaunt had been. We had a lovely dinner and packed everything up. The kids had a party with their friends in Camp Carnival (and Circle C) and the day ended. Tomorrow we return to the real world!