Category: Italy

On our last day trip out of Rome, we headed to the city of Tivoli.  We first  toured Villa d’Este, an estate constructed during the Renaissance. Inside there are plenty of frescos, but the gardens are what make it worth a visit.

The designer seriously loved fountains.

Kids trying to look cool?

We then toured Villa Gregoriana… some ruins, nature paths and caves.

The Temple of Vesta, constructed in the 1st century BC, sits on the hill above the ravine.

Logan was more interested in the cat resting in nearby pot.

We are now enjoying Chiang Mai… but I still have a few Italy trips to share.

Ostia Antica is a large archeological site that was the port city of ancient Rome. Walking around the vast ruins of the ancient city, you can imagine what it looked like 2000 years ago.

The theater.

There are lots of murals on the floors of buildings.

And some on walls.

This statue, that Logan calls “creepy babies kissing”, was on many of the brochures for Ostia Antica.

And it is near the coast.

The kids and I took introductory Italian classes when we arrived in Italy. Walking to class the first day, we happened upon a bunch of columns and even more tourist. I looked around and guessed that we had bumped into the Vatican (although I was not 100% sure). I think we were the only people there who accidentally stumbled into it.

We waited until Aimee and Tessa arrived to tour the Vatican and St. Peter’s Basilica. We saw the Sistine Chapel too, but photos are not allowed inside it. I had high hopes for being awed by it after having seen Michelangelo’s David. However, it did not impress any of us as much. Perhaps it was due to the overwhelming crowd almost suffocating us as we tried to peer up.

Laocoön

Vatican

Climbing up to the top of the dome at St. Peters’ Basilica, you first reach the interior balcony at the base of the dome. This turned out to be my favorite part of the climb. You can see the mosiacs up close (behind us) . The view down (below) is stunning (the picture does not do it justice), but a bit nauseating.

Continuing the climb to the top of the dome at St. Peter’s Basilica.

View from the top.

Inside St. Peter’s Basilica.

(the photo on the left is not Matthew’s)

 

 

Orvieto is a small city perched on the summit  of a giant stone in Umbria, Italy. It was inhabited by the Estrucans until the 3rd Century B.C. when they were  conquered by the Romans after a two year siege.

There is an intricate system of man made caves below the city. The Etruscan’s started the caves prior to Roman the invasion. They dug wells (1st picture) to help withstand sieges (this is per our guide… or perhaps they just liked not going down the steep cliffs to get water even when there was not a siege?). In the middle ages, many more caves were added and used for storage, workshops, olive presses (3rd picture) and pigeon cotes (last picture). There are now strict rules against enlarging or adding to the caves because they have discovered that one third of the city has caves underneath.

 

Orvieto Cathedral, 14th Century

St. Patrick’s well was built  between 1527 and 1537. It has a double helix staircase that leads to the bottom and back up. Apparently, this is so that pack animals could carry water back up without having to turn around and pass other pack animals.

One of these things is not like the others… Matthew and the kids just about tumbled over laughing at my photo. They say I am falling, not jumping. I think Matthew didn’t catch me at the apex of my jump.

 

 

We have been in Rome for a month now. It was Ethan’s choice to visit Rome. I was more excited to learn about the break up of Yugoslavia than the Fall of The Roman Empire, however, it turns out (not surprisingly to most) that the sites here are impressive. They have even succeeded in making me enjoy learning about the Roman Empire.

Touring Rome was even more fun because we got to do it with Tessa and Aimee. They visited us for a week and we packed in the sites and day trips while they were here.

We took a tour of the Colosseum with what may be the fastest talking tour guide on earth. And this is coming from me… not known to be a slow speaker.  But still, we were able to learn some nifty facts. For instance, I didn’t know the external facade of the Colosseum had been completely covered in white marble.

At the Roman Forum… we were trying to figure out if the free downloaded audio guide was worth it. As you may be able to guess by the children’s faces, it was not.

Above is the Pantheon, one of my favorite sites in Rome.  It was dedicated around 126 A.D. and is one of the best preserved Roman buildings.

Trevi Fountain.

Above: at The Roman Forum, Villa Borghese Gardens, Gucci and walking to Capuchin Crypt. We were not allowed to take photos inside the crypt so the one below is not from Matthew. But you get the idea.

  

One of our day trips was to visit Santa Severa. The photo shows the castle in the distance that we toured. Tessa and Logan buried Ethan.

Earlier this month was saw a Monet exhibit here in Rome. Ethan said that it looked like scribbles.

He suggested that we go to an art exhibit of his choice, Manga. Actually, the exhibit had lots of Asian comic art through the years. (I am sure that is not stated correctly but I am betting most of you don’t know or care).

The last room had the robot projection that you can see above; it moved quite accurately mirroring your body movements. The 6 year old girls doing splits and flailing their arms made the robot do entertaining dances.

A few weeks ago we took a day trip to Bracciano, a small town just north of Rome. I was looking for any reason to escape the crowds and Bracciano has a lake, a medieval castle, and was easy to reach by train.

 

The castle was build at the end of the 15th century but is now a museum with period furniture and weapons on display.

We are near the tourist district in Rome so there are tons of restaurants with pasta and pizza, most of them only average. In Bracciano we lucked upon an excellent restaurant. The owner / waiter was extremely friendly as he tried to help us order. He then proceeded to cook the food. This required lots of banging dishes and a fair amount of time, but the end result was worth it.

After leaving Ljubljana, we spent the weekend in Florence so that Ethan could see works from the Renaissance. Basically, when your kid is excited about seeing the sites of the Renaissance, you say, “of course, I would love to!”, even if you think a relaxing weekend in the mountains might be a nice option.

Logan needed to learn about the Renaissance, so we took a few free walking tours with Adam (above). He provided lots of information, and quite a few poop jokes. He thought the poop jokes were really funny. We thought… well, look at Ethan’s face.

The central city (historical / tourist district) is small. We passed by The Duomo probably a dozen times. It is impossible to capture the detail in photos, but I don’t think any of us got tired of staring at it. Renaissance enjoyed.

Climbing Alnorfo Tower.

We saw a copy of Michelangelo’s David in Palazzo Vecchio during our first tour. It was interesting, but not remarkable. The next morning we went to The Accademia to see the authentic David. As every art critic on earth has previously noted, it really is impressive.

 

Lovely children.

Adam suggested we visit the Basicilica di Santa Croce. He had a story of someone breaking down in tears when they saw it’s beauty. We didn’t. But it was nice, and it had Michelangelo’s tomb.

My family ate this. I did not. It was expensive.

 

We are feeling a bit down today because we leave Ljubljana tomorrow. We love walking around the pedestrian zone of the city and bumping into whatever daily market, fair or festival has popped up. When Matthew leads the walks they seem to veer by the ice cream stand. We love hiking up the hill to the castle because, well, there is a castle.  Life is tranquil and I have no worries about letting the kids take walks, go to cafes or do the grocery shopping for me.

But tomorrow we leave for Italy. We will spend the weekend in Florence and then head to Rome for a month.

Last weekend we had our first taste of Italy on a day trip to Venice. Lots of canals.

Where’s Waldo? Or, where is the clump of Logan, Natalie and Ethan?

We stopped by Trieste, Italy on our return to Ljubljana. The photo above was taken there.