The girls finally had a full night's sleep, having been tucked in at 9 pm and falling asleep moments later. We woke up around 10 am and the girls had been awake a short time. They were up in their loft working on their sticker books.
The ancient sites called us: the Foro Romano, Palatine Hill, Caligula's palace, and the Colosseum. What caught the children's imagination most was the temple of Vesta and the home of the Vestal virgins - girls who were chosen at the age of about six to serve in the temple and keep the fires burning. We saw their gardens being kept by modern day Roman men who carried out the freshly cut grass in buckets to a tiny truck. The fact that one man drove the truck away while another sat atop the enormous mound of grass was fascinating to them.
The other attraction they liked was the Colosseum, and it's not hard to imagine why. We visited the building for a few hours and they were still interested in seeing more.
What they found coolest, though, were the giant leaves of a plant we found around Caligula's palace overlooking the Roman Forum. So while Derek and I took in the breathtaking views and the amazing architecture, the girls sketched the leaves in their books (why bother sketching old broken buildings when you can draw a living leaf?).
Maia managed to take in quite a bit of what Derek explained while Solanne contented herself with picking flowers and looking at the stones on the ground to figure out which ones were marble. As Derek described the grandeur of the ancient civilisation and how everything had now become ruins, Maia noted quite astutely, "but the birds still sing." Indeed: nature carries on her business as great empires rise and fall.
Solanne's most favourite part was discovering all the semi-wild cats that live among the ancient ruins. She made me photograph every one she saw (over two dozen; thank goodness for digital cameras).
Random thoughts
Cheese, wine and pizza are ridiculously cheap here. For lunch we bought some bread and cheese. We paid about 2.50E for half a kilo of Edam, which would have easily cost us four to five times more at home.
Pedestrians rule here. Despite the scary first-time experience of having to cross busy streets without crossing lights, one learns quickly that the instant you show that you're crossing, motorists will stop - the only catch is that you have to be brave enough the step out. Also, on the smaller cobblestone streets, pedestrians have right of way, so if there's a group of people, the cars will have to roll along at a crawling pace behind them. Scooters are a slightly different story, but they still respect those on foot.
Washing clothing by hand is best done each day rather than once every few days. I've also managed to do more ironing this week than I have in the whole year (hand washed clothes are so stiff and wrinkly!).
IKEA is alive and well in Italy: our apartment is entirely furnished by the Swedish store.
The handiest thing we've brought on our trip is our iPhones. We have used them to call our parents, to catch up on email, to post blog
entries (where we can find wi-fi). We have apps that have guided us around the Vatican museums and ancient Rome, apps that tell us where the closest washroom is (an essential with kids!), an app that turns the phone into a digital clock, and an app that gives us the weather.
I've learned that a forecast for rain in Rome isn't so bad. Since we arrived the forecast has been for nothing but rain, which was very disappointing. It turns out that all it means is that it will rain at some point in the day, likely a light shower for about ten minutes. And that will be it. The sun may even come out for the afternoon. I can't say the weather has been glorious, but being prepared with umbrellas for Derek and me and K-Ways for the kids has meant that we haven't suffered because of the rain.
I've been reminded that travelling with children, although trying by
moments, can be a great way to get good service. People like children, almost without exception. We had eperienced this phenomenon while travelling in Egypt and Cuba with Maia when she was a baby. I thought the good treatment was reserved for those with infants, but not so. It turns out people like slightly older kids too - I'm sure it doesn't hurt that mine happen to be adorable and relatively well behaved.
I've discovered that my kids are pretty good walkers. As long as we build in stops along the way - say for cat-watching and snack-eating - they are quite able to walk a few kilometers to our destinations.
Travelling seems to be a series of negotiations. At home we've built our lives around routine. Everyone knows what is expected of them and it's not too complicated. When we're travelling, nothing is routine and we don't quite know where we stand and what the others expect of us. So we're feeling our way through: Derek and me with each other, and us with the kids. So far, there have been a few trying moments, but we have learned and moved on. And all in all, we have some pretty good memories - not bad for day four, I'd say.
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