Home is wherever i'm with you

Rome wasn't built in a day

The family landed in Rome a little after midnight local time. They were exhausted and drove to their rental apartment via taxi and went straight to bed. Their rental was a little above the Piazza san Pietro and the Basilica San pietro. So it was only a 10 minute walk down to the Vatikan and then maybe 15 more minutes more to the old city on the other side of the river tiber. They slept in on the 14th and only decided to go out and see things a little after 3pm. The walked down the Via Gregrio VII and to the big Petersplace or Piazza san Pietro. It is framed with collums and in the middle is the big obelisk. The Basilika San Pietro with its big dome towered over them and it was amazing to see. Nina had read Dan Browns Illuminati and was very excited to see all the sites decribed in the book. The walked the road away from the Basilica towarts the Castel sant angelo and Carina told them all the things, she knew about the buildings. The arcitecture was astounding and both Maya and Nina were amazed by the details of the buildings. After they went over the Angles Bridge, they went to the Piazza Navona. Another place mentioned in Dan Browns book. Nina took lots of pictures. Carina showed them a special place. A little of from the Piazza was the best ice cream place in the world. The portions weren't mesured in scoops but in size and so you could get a small one but up to three different flavors. And a small one wasn't really small. They payed and Meena was amazed, that they payed with different money, and sat down on the Piazza Navona and enjoyed their ice cream. It was already quite late and so they went to a restaurant not very far soon after and had dinner. 

The next day they got up very early. They quickly ate a cornetto and Maya, Carina and Nina had a cappuccino and were at the Piazza San Pietro by 6:30. They went through security and into the big Basilica San Pietro. They weren't really religious, but the building was something they had to see. It was amazing. The detail and the statues. For this specific occasion, they had gotten a carrier for Ellie, as they wanted to go up to the dome of the basilika. There was an elevator up to the beginning of the dome, but not up to the top, and Carina wanted to go all the way up. They parked Ellies wheelchair, which they had would use for the majority of the time for her and went up the elevator. Looking down into the basilica, was already breathtaking, but looking down form all the way up the dome was something else. Nina and Maya were to stunned to speak, but also Meena, Louise and Ellie enjoyed the view. (picture above) Carina explained to them what they were seeing and also showed them a very funny part of the vattican. "Can you see this little garden in between the houses." She said. "That is the Camposanto Teutonico. The german graveyard." Maya and Nina were confused. "German graveyard, why?" "Well around 800 the King of the holy roman empire, so the part nowadays Germany, Austria, Switzerland, some of the benelux countries and some more, was very fond of Rome and so he made a grave yard, that people who go on a pilgrimage down here to rome and die here have a place to be burried. And this tradition prevails. If a person on a pilgrimige, who is from the ex-holy roman empire dies here, they can get burried there. And only people from the ex-holy roman empire are allowed in there." "So we wouldn't be allowed to go in there?" "No. You have to ask the gardists and show your passport." Carina said. "But i have been in there. I had a friend once, who was an international student from Germany and she got me us in there." "Funny."Maya said. "I have never felt so illegal in a graveyard. But it is really pretty. With colourfull flowers and palmtrees and tropical flowers." Carina laughed. "Mamma, you were a real rebel." Nina said sarcasticly. "Oh you don't know anything. The things this city has seen of me..." Carina smiled and Nina pulled her eyebrows high. "Oh. Well, i'll have to ask Gabriella." Nina said. They were meeting Carinas friend the day after. The tripplets were a little too young to do so much city sightseeing and so Carina and Gabriella would take the tripplets out to a park and catch up and Maya and Nina would explore the city on their own.

Today however they decided to spend some more time as a family. They took the bus to the piazza del populo and got ice cream there. Then they went to a little playground next to it and stayed there for a while. After that they walked along the tiber and then went to get dinner at a nice restuarant.

Nina and Maya took the bus to the catacombs the next day. They were taking a tour around the graves and it was amazing and so interesting. Then the went to see the coloseum. They wanted to go inside, but the line was really long and so they just took some pictures on the outside. They walked along the Forum Romanum towards the Piazza Venezia, where they had something to eat. Then they went to see the pantheon. The oldest still standing building. "Most of the buildings from the roman era were destroyed and used as buidling material in the middle ages. But not the pantheon. The name  pantheon means "all gods". It was built because, when the romans conquered land, they would simply ad the gods of the people living there to their catalogue, but they soon couldn't build altars for all the gods and so they built one building, which was just for everyone. So pan all theos god. Pantheon." Nina explained to Maya "How do you know that?" Maya was astouned by her daughter. "Illuminati." Nina said. "I will have to read that book now." "Oh yes. Its so good." Nina smiled.
They met up with Carina, Gabriella and the tripplets for dinner and enjoyed it near the piazza navona.

"Mommy, why don't you like Gabri?" Louise asked, as she was snuggling sleepily on Mayas lap. The six year old was very observant. "Why do you think i don't like her?" "You get all hmf when she speaks and you don't laugh at her jokes." Louise made Mayas facial expression, and in this moment you could really tell, she was Mayas daughter. "Well, when i first met Gabri, she was kind of rude to me and i didn't like that very much, but she made your mamma happy, when she was very sad and that made me happy so we warmed up to eachother, but i still not so sure about her. You don't have to be friends with everybody, You just have to be polite." Maya said and Louise nodded.

The next and last full day they went to the Museo dei Bambini di Roma. A science childrens museum. They spent almost the entire day there. It was great and the girls loved it. But it wasn't only something for kids. It was also great for the adults. They had so much fun. After that they took the bus to the Fontna di Trevi, but there were so many people so they took the next bus to Trastevere. A beautiful part of the City, that Carina used to go out to. It is very pretty and typical italian and so they had a typical italian dinner there. With antipasti, pasta, secondo and dolce. To say they were full was an understatement.

On their last day, they only packed and went to the airport. For their flight so Sicily.

An: You could maybe tell, i love Rome as a city. It is so pretty and the arcitecture is amazing. If i'd have to live in a city, i'd want it to be rome