Rome Day 4

My day started with a tap from Guy telling me I had a typo in my blog. This is before my alarm went off.  :)  His body clock is still off just a bit and he has been getting up early. I think it has something to do with the afternoon naps and going to bed a bit too early. But I did snooze for another hour as I was going to run this morning and knew I wouldn't have to meet the 10am breakfast cut off (just planning on a granola bar today). So I put on my running gear and headed out. The weather was sunny and cool. A perfect day. The park was small and just as the gentleman at the hotel told me last night, the Chinese were doing Tai Chi and there were harmless weirdos sporadically located around the park. Top that off with homeless guys asleep on the benches and then just a bunch of average people walking around, that pretty much describes the area. I ran through some mud created from the rain the day before, so I had to get creative with my path. It was a bit boring going in circles, but I ran inside, then outside, then down the middle...you get the idea. I went 3.5 miles then walked around a bit. It was nice to exercise and trust me, I'm splurging on calories today! Guy brought me a chocolate croissant and I gobbled it down. The start to a perfect day. As we left the hotel the guy that works here that is the runner told me "a runner's ego is big" so he whipped out a map of the city and he had highlighted the route he took this morning at 5am. He basically ran all the way across the city.  LOL. I'm impressed as he isn't a young guy.

Guy and I were to meet Rosalie, John, Cara and the kids, who took out early to do the Vatican tour, at 12:30 for the Colosseum tour . We leisurely made our way to the Colosseum and diverted off the path a bit to share a sandwich and get a drink. We sat in the shade and we should have appreciated the "sitting" part as the day's steps had only just begun (22,000+ on my step counter). Not yet worn completely out and excited about the excellent Vatican tour they just went on, our family arrived with stories pouring out. The highlight of the Vatican tour for Guy's brother John, was he saw and shook the hand of Minnesota Viking's Hall of Fame wide receiver Cris Carter (he was touring the Vatican as well). Of course I had to ask who that was. I may be kicked out of the family for that...

Tour #1 for Guy and I and tour #2 for everyone else began with "Luigi" (our exceptional tour guide) hooking us up with earpieces and instructions. We first took out for the Forum, Palatine Hill, then finally the Colosseum (from top to bottom). We had ordered VIP tickets for the Colosseum, which meant we got to go into all the secret spots where a regular ticket won't take you. It was excellent as we had been to the Colosseum several times before, but this time we saw parts we'd never seen. The same went for the Forum and Palatine Hill. Guy and I have walked them before, but never with a guide or even the audio tours you can purchase. So needless to say, this was quite the learning experience. Plus it was obvious Luigi loved his job. Occasionally he would say "you can feel the emotions" when we came across areas he was passionate about or had historical significance. Because there is no possible way to blog about everything we learned today, enjoy the pictures as they will tell most of the story. I'll go in and add titles at some point. I'm so exhausted today I'm not sure my brain will be able to remember it all. During the final part of our tour an English speaking lady that had been with us the entire time came over to me and told me how well behaved my children were. Smiling, I explained they were not mine, but thanked her for her kind words. They were exceptional if I say so myself.

After our tour - famished - we went to a little cafe and got snacks to hold us until dinner. Gracie had a gelato so big she said she didn't think she'd ever eat again. I'm thinking no because the restaurant tonight has gnocchi and that is a family favorite :) The hike back to the hotel was uphill and a tad painful for those of us with tired legs. Ibuprofen was my first stop when we hit the room...my heel is burning from the long day. Once I was medicated, I began the process of editing photos. I took a ton, but not all will be necessary/worthy of the blog. I couldn't get them to load so I headed upstairs to get ready for dinner.

It was nice to already have a reservation and know where we are going...makes things easy. So our table at the Vecchia Roma (since 1916) was ready when we arrived and the server said the restaurant was known for their "first plates" which were mostly the pastas. That's good because the gnocchi fell into that category. Out of 10 of us, Guy's dad is the only one who didn't have pasta. Simple but delicious the night ended with full bellies and happy faces. It was really loud inside the hopping restaurant, so we took our dessert needs on the road and headed for the bakery on the corner. Several gelatos and pastries were purchased - again a happy family. Exhausted, everyone headed for their rooms and I headed for the bar where the wifi is a bit faster so I could download my photos. I sipped a cappuccino (my dessert) and sit here blissfully full - not with just food, but life.

Tomorrow is a travel day. After breakfast we will pack up and head to Tuscany in two vehicles. Rome is daunting to drive in...so keeping fingers crossed that our GPS is correct and we make it out of the city without any scratches on the rentals. We will be staying in a Villa in the country about a mile outside of San Gimignano. They have a pool and it sits on a beautiful piece of property. Looking forward to a calmer pace than Rome, my favorite cheese dish in Montepulciano (our stop for lunch), and the best gelalto eva...in San Gimignano. I'll see if the others agree! :)

I'll put up the link for today's images and I'll see if they load overnight. Right now the slow Internet is not playing well with my devices. :) If not, be sure to look tomorrow. There are about 80+ images and they promise to be pretty cool.