There was nothing specific on the agenda for our last full day in Italy, so we headed back to the big Villa Borghese park in the morning to check out Casina Di Raffaello which was a fairly random house full of books and toys for kids to drop in and play with. It was pretty good.
A bunch of random lobster art was set up in front of the park
Some random Italian kid tried to get in on story time. Ich don't think so!
Penny playing with some random toys
After that Oscar split off with Daddy and Grandpa to take a ride on the electric "tiny bus" that he had seen all over town, while the older kids rented electric aided super bikes for a tour around the park.
Oscar was pumped to get on the tiny bus!
We had the whole tiny bus to ourselves!
Electrically powered cheater bike
Everyone met back at the apartment for lunch, then the big kids went downtown to shop for activity books for the plane tomorrow. Grandma, Grandpa, Daddy, and Jasper stayed downtown to watch Canada's last world cup match at a pub then went back to our old favourite restaurant for supper while everyone else had supper at the apartment. Each kid went out for one final gelato.
A general strike that includes most public transit employees is planned for tomorrow for reasons that are not clear, so we might catch our flight tomorrow or we might not, see how she goes.
The weather was good again today, so we visited Villa Borghese (a giant park with multiple playgrounds) on our way to the children's museum. The big kids took turns helping Penny practice her walking around the apartment before we left.
The park is several kilometers wide with a mix of forest, open fields, and various buildings. Jasper and Daddy played soccer golf, where Jasper picked a far away tree and tried to guess how many kicks it would take him to hit it. The other kids went from playground to playground, and we gradually worked our way from one side of the park to the other.
Grandpa skipped the park to try to get in to a tour of something in the Vatican City that is usually very busy. The Pope was chilling on his front steps, so there were lots of people and no chance of getting in, but he did get to see the real live Pope (he looks shorter in person than he does on TV).
The children's museum was nice, but we only got a 2 hour time slot to fit everything in, so each kid split up with a grown up and raced through their favourite parts. This place included the mandatory pretend grocery store and farm that every single children's museum in the world has, plus some unique features like a cooperative ball movement game and a fun pneumatic tube scarf mover.
There was a small zip line swing outside the museum that we ripped around on for a while before getting some ice cream from McDonalds. Traditional Italian supper of cheeseburgers and french fries.
We were up and ready to catch the bus to the Colosseum first thing this morning.
The bus ride went smoothly with no delays, so we were early for our assigned timeslot and were some of the first people at the Colosseum site.
The colosseum is a pretty awesome sight. Unlike a lot of other ancient ruins, it's so well preserved that it's easy to picture its use in ancient times.
Pat let the kids watch a few minutes of Gladiator (before the really gory stuff) to get an idea of what it may have looked like.
There was a pretty good interpretive display on the second floor of the building. I didn't know that the building was abandoned for so many hundreds of years, even being used as a place to store livestock and as a garbage dump. It's amazing how intact the building still is, and how much restoration work has been done.
Penny had a massive blowout at the Colosseum, naturally on the one day we didn't bring a spare set of clothes. So, while the rest of the family went to a playground up the hill from the Colosseum, Pat and I went on a mission to find a new baby outfit within a 15 minute walk of the park.
After successful acquisition of clean clothes, we went back to the same restaurant that we went to 3 weeks ago when we were in Rome.
Ellis claims that they have the "best pizza ever!". To be fair, she has sampled a lot of pizza on this trip.
The waitress remembered us from last time, including remembering Oscar by name. I guess we're a memorable group.
After lunch we went down to the forum and other ancient ruin sites nearby the colosseum.
We attempted a kids walking tour of the sites that I had found online, but everyone was running out of steam. The ruins in the forum area are impressive, but definitely tougher to imagine being used in their heyday.
We had a bit of a hiccup trying to catch a bus back to the apartment, but eventually made it back for dinner and some kitchen dancing.
Ellis is in a choir concert the day after we fly back to Canada. One of her songs is Feliz Navidad, so we practiced it together. Penny is now able to dance standing up and is so close to taking a few steps on her own.
Today I set up and "amazing race" route through Rome for the kids and their adult teams. We started at our apartment and took the bus towards the Pantheon.
Next stop was the elephant statue in Piazza della Minerva.
Then for a coffee break,
Next to Piazza Navona for some running around.
A little walk over to Castel Sant'Angelo and the playground behind.
Then a quick trip over to St Peter's Square in Vatican City.
Hopped on the Metro over to Trevi Fountain. It was empty and being cleaned today, but some still threw in a coin for good luck.
Some ended their tour there, and some continued on to the Spanish Steps, and for a gelato treat.
The Vespa hunt continues, and Rome is a treasure trove of Vespas. Jasper reached his 200th Vespa in the count today.
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