Rome- the Gladiators and More...

While we were in Rome we stayed in a great little apartment and had a kitchen, etc. We enjoyed it and so did the kids. While we were there, Madison found that she really enjoys nutella- preferably by the spoonful.


So, our tour guides (Danny and Kailey) found this place where you could go and be GLADIATORS! It sounded like fun...

Here are our gladiators. (Notice the tough fighters- and then there's Kailey. The only gladiator with fashion sense.)


The cheering section.


Our gladiator trainer really made them work! They had to stretch and get ready for some heavy fighting.


They had to do some cool maneuvers.


Jake is running the gauntlet.


After the initial stretching and warm-ups another family arrived. Raj (the dad) and Adam (who is Jake's same age) from Michigan made it really fun for the dad and son in our family.


Sword fighting practice.


The boys were having such a great time!


See what great form our fighters have?


Danny and Raj have armor on and are ready for combat.


Danny versus Adam, Raj versus Jake


Father against son...


Now Danny appears to be Poseidon.


The mock battle- Raj and Danny - they used padded swords so no one was injured.


Adam and Jake fight to the death (not really- but it was almost that intense!)
The gladiator experience was great! We would highly recommend it!


We are at Castel Sant`Angelo. It was originally a mausoleum for the Emperor Hadrian but was later used as a fortress for the Pope. It has a great view of Vatican City.


There's also a Merry Go-Round right next to the Castle and the kids had a great time- especially Madi. She didn't want to get off her horse.

Rome- the beginning...

Rome is a fascinating city with ancient and modern all side by side...


Our first stop in Rome after we got settled into our apartment was dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. Here are the kids with Elvis.


The next morning- we got to see a lot of Rome. We went to a fun "Time Machine" that took us back through the history of Rome. We saw Julius Caesar, Michelangelo, etc. It was fun. Then we had a bit of lunch- yes there is McDonald's in Rome! (But we ate lunch in front of the Pantheon!)


All of us in front of Rome's Piazza Venezia. We went on a Walking Tour of Rome and saw the ancient highlights- the Colosseum, Palatine Hill and the Old City, the Trevi fountain and the Pantheon.


Emery with the Colosseum behind her. This is a face that her mother really loves.


The kids... They were so good for the tour!


Claire enjoyed climbing around at the Colosseum.


The Carrells at the Colosseum. The weather was gorgeous!


Madison had pigtails in her hair at the beginning of the day- she looked adorable! Then she took them out and lost the hair bobbins. She's still a cute little trashy thing!


Us by the Trevi Fountain. Emery was toured out!


Dinner- with some of our favorite things- note the water, the olive oil (we LOVED dipping bread into it) and Italian hot chocolate (the thickest hot chocolate you will ever have- one of my absolute FAVORITE parts of Italy!!!- you can also see that Emery enjoyed it...)


The hole at the top of the Pantheon- it is open- so rain can come in! The Pantheon is probably the oldest Christian church in the world. It is a fascinating place. (Of course, it was originally a temple to the Roman gods- then converted it to Christianity!)

Bella Venice #2

We stayed at a great little hotel on the Lido. The Lido is Venice's beach island. We had fun walking along the beach.



Then we rented these cool bikes and rode around the island.



It was really fun- although I was a bit irritated when Shelby asked me why I was so slow! (I'll have you know that we kept up with the boys.)



Jake and Danny powered the other bike.



At our favorite little restaurant in Lido, they made this cute little pizza for Madison.



Kailey in the Doge's Palace courtyard.



Of course, we had to go on a gondola ride! However, they only allow 6 people in one gondola. So- we split up! This is Danny and his crew (Shelby, Claire and Madison).



Jake, Emery and Kailey were with me.



Here we are with Anthony- our gondolier. He was really interesting. He has been a gondolier for 27 years and owns his own gondola. His father and his father's father were also gondoliers. I asked if he had a son (he does) and if he would follow in the family tradition (he wasn't sure...). On our motorboat tour, our guide told us that the gondoliers are very successful and make as much money as an attorney or doctor.



Shelby



Claire (the Doge's Palace is behind her.)



Jake has this fascination with Ferraris. (Just ask him what cars he would like to own when he grows up!)



On the Vaporetto- Water Taxi. We spent lots of time on these babies.



One Day we went to the island of Murano, where they make beautiful glass creations.



Danny and Claire at the same place- just looking the opposite direction.



Gelato makes every day even better! Thanks for all of the great memories Venice!

Bella Venice #1

The kids were out of school for a week for midterm break- so we went traveling!

We left early in the morning on Friday the 23rd (Happy Birthday Kailey!- more on this later...)and flew to Treviso, Italy (about 45 minutes away from Venice). A man with a big van took us into Venice and dropped us off at the main bus station. We took a vaporetto (water bus) to one station where we should have been able to catch the next bus to the island our hotel was on. BUT- they were having strikes and we had to walk for a bit. Danny reassured us that it would only be a 10 minute walk. Now, keep in mind that we had all of our luggage with us (8 people, 8 suitcases plus 6 backpacks)and Madi was not to be trusted walking alone. If only we would have taken a picture of us! As it was, we walked through a crowd similar to this one:



There was some murmuring from the shorter ones, but it is a fun memory for me. And we did arrive at the next bus stop about 20 minutes later. (Danny's optimism already at work.)

After getting on the correct waterbus- we headed for the island of Lido- which is a 10- 15 minute boat ride outside of Venice. The island isn't very big- so Danny and I decided that we could walk the 10 minutes to get to our hotel. Another slight miscalculation- 25- 30 minutes later we arrived at our hotel. The kids were tired and hungry- so after we checked in at our hotel- we went to eat at a nice little restaurant.



Our first day was the only day in our entire vacation when it really rained. We were so lucky!

On day 2- we went into Venice and went on a walking tour of the city. Kailey and Danny planned our entire itinerary and did a fabulous job.



Shelby thought the carnivale masks were great.



Emery with gondolas and St. George's church in the distance.



We saw St. Marks church (where he is supposedly buried) and it has loads of amazing mosaics. It is a beautiful church. (Jake just reminded me that the tour guide said there were more than a million mosaics in the church.)



How our family entertained themselves during the tour...



A typical canal behind us. Isn't it beautiful?



Our teenager with gondolas in the canal behind her.



Claire on the Rialto Bridge- one of three bridges that cross the Grand Canal.



We decided we needed something different from Italian- so were thrilled when we found this nice little chinese restaurant. (Who else would eat chinese food in Italy?)



Here we are with the Rialto bridge behind us.



Gelato at St. Mark's Square (Piazza de San Marco)



Claire and Shelby with their Carnivale masks.



Madison and Claire on the boat tour.

After the walking tour and lunch- we went on a motorboat tour of Venice. Talia, our guide is from Connecticut and has lived in Venice for 8 years. She was excellent and gave us fun information. My favorite story was the rich family who would tell their party guests that they didn't need to wash and reuse their gold plates- they would just throw them over the balcony. Little did their guests know that they had a net to catch all of the plates and their servants would fish them out of the canal, wash and reuse them.



A view of the Rialto Bridge from the canal.



Danny, Emery, Madi and I and Jake.



All of the houses in Venice are called palaces. I thought that these were beautiful.



Jake with St. George's Basilica behind us.



Danny and the kids outside of Piazza San Marco. The Doge's Palace is in the background on the left. I love how Madi posed for this photo!