Most of today was spent travelling, in time and space, and recovering from said travel. The flight to Frankfurt went very well and a little too quickly. The kids got about four hours of sleep, I a little less and Derek none at all. Our connecting flight to Rome was a close call; we ran a fair bit to the far end of the airport in another terminal to barely catch our connection. Thank goodness for rolling sidewalks!
We landed in a soggy, grey Rome; not a sight that was familiar. We waited for what seemed an eternity to pick up our luggage (ah, the inefficiencies of Italy!) then sought out a train. The ticket seller told Derek that we would have to wait half an hour since we had just missed our ride to downtown but for the same fare we could take a bus that was leaving now. Our "bus" driver immediately materialized and we were escorted to our ride: a chauffeured car.
The driver was nice enough but spent far more time chatting with Basile and Maria than finding where exactly we wanted to go. He dropped us off at the far end of the train terminal downtown, and Derek paid as I roused our now fully sleeping children to get them to walk the seven blocks I'd hoped we'd be spared.
The last leg of our journey consisted of picking up the keys to our Roman apartment, taking a crowded bus for the couple of kilometers I
would have walked on my own, and trying to find our temporary home in the tiny winding streets around Piazza Navona - quickly, because by now Solanne really had to go to the bathroom.
We settled in quickly and had a nap for the better part of the afternoon (aka la siesta).
When we got up we freshened up and figured out a direction and headed out. We had fantastic pizza in Campo de' Fiori. The girls had aranciata and we had lemon infused sparkling water. Maia and Solanne
both declared it the best pizza ever.
After taking a break and watching the girls sketch the piazza on their notebooks, we took a stroll around the neighbourhood. We ended up on Piazza Navona, where the Fontana dei tre fiumi is unfortunately
covered up for renos. We found a highly recommended gelateria and enjoyed some fantastic gelato in the warm evening air.
OF NOTE
Solanne's discovery: "the floors (at the Frankfurt airport) sparkle! We don't have that in Canada."
Maia's discovery: "I'm a mango person" (after having sampled eight flavours of gelato).
Reality check: seeing Rome this time will be very different from ten years ago. Touring a city by foot and seeing it from wheels of any form is not the same. And we will be on wheels a lot more than I was when I was on my own, if only to spare the kids their little feet and us our patience.
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