Day 6 The Vatican & Rome & going home

We started day 2 in Rome a bit tired already, but we were going to a new country, THE VATICAN so Jackson couldn't wait.

Getting inside the Vatican museums was quite the run around, but we were able to get in 2 hours before the tickets we had bought and still skipped a bunch of the line, so we were happy.  Unfortunately, we are not art appreciators, so after a few rooms of art we were ready to move on, but you have to walk through the entire museum to get to the crowning jewel of the Sistine chapel.  It was SO crowded that we literally were shuffling toe to toe through each room.  Jackson was so short he could barely see things.  Luckily, he was entertained trying to take pictures.  

We finally made it to the Sistene Chapel to see the ceiling painted by Michelangelo and told Jackson he couldn't take pics AND it was so crowded he couldn't see much.  He was so disappointed and annoyed that it had taken so long to go through the museum.  I enjoyed looking, but my neck hurt from looking up.  Wish I had followed advice and brought a mirror (although there was no room to use it anyway). 

After the chapel we were begging Jackson to have the energy to climb the stairs to the top of St. Peters Bascilica. I wondered aloud how many steps the climb had and Jackson started counting...900+steps later we reached the top of the dome and had a spectacular sight of the city of Rome with the many domes and churches.  Jackson was a bit scared to be that high so we didn't stay long, but it was gorgeous.  I also loved looking up into the dome on the walk way at the bottom of the dome.  Counting steps was Jackson's highlight.

 We ate another home-packed meal from Tiffany on the Vatican steps while Jackson gave some change to the beggars.  We then made our way to the Castle Sant Angelo. 

We had to check the scooter at the beginning so Jackson was antsy to leave to get back on the scooter.  I loved learning the history of the castle and the different periods of time and what it was used for.

We climbed to the top and got another great view.  It was interesting to imagine defending the city from here. 

Our final stop was at Piazza Navona.  We sat by the fountain and people watched for a long time as we ate our final gelato.  We got a few souvenirs and then headed back to the Covingtons to get ready to go home.  The final walk to the metro was pretty tiring for Dave and I, but Jackson and that scooter were going strong.  So glad I didn't have to listen to any whining about hurting feet (except my own).

We ended the night with another amazing meal at the Covingtons.  We tried to take them out, but they insisted on feeding us again.  We weren't intending for them to do so much for us as hosts, but they always serve with SO much love and energy.  They make every person they come in contact with feel like they are the most important person they could be with at the moment.  I love being inspired to be better from this family.  The food was delicious and the company better.  We had a final down-the-street gelato and said good night to this amazing country.

We almost missed our very important train the next morning, but luckily we ran (literally) on, just in time.  (Thanks Nikki for buying our tickets early!!)  We made it through the airport bought some final food in Italy and headed back to the states.  Leaving so early in the morning means that you aren't tired until you land, so we watched many, many movies.  Good thing each seat is equipt with a TV screen for games and videos.  Once in Charlotte we had a 4 hour layover to get to SLC.  We were so exhausted and Jackson was begging to sleep (first time ever?!?) but we had to stay up to try to adjust to US time.  Finally, on the plane Jackson fell asleep and we were excited to be headed to see our girls.
We are so thankful for my parents and Dave's parents for watching our girls while we enjoyed this adventure.  We are thankful to the Covingtons for being the impetus for this trip and being the greatest hosts.  Italy was always my dream vacation and now I've done it.  I guess I need to dream a new dream.


      Getting there  Day 1 Venice   Day 2 Italian Alps Day 3 Cinque Terre  Day 4 Florence  Day 5 Rome  Day 6 Vatican

Day 5 Rome Tour

After the Covingtons fed us a yummy breakfast of Nutella Crepes, we headed out early to try and get our rental car turned in on time.  As we got closer and closer to the middle of Rome, the driving got crazier and we realized we weren't seeing any gas station.  We arrived at the address listed on the rental paper, but there was no parking garage or sign for Hertz at all.  We were worried and started driving around town looking for gas. We got completely lost and never found gas or the garage.  We were at a complete loss as to how to solve our problem.  We finally called the Covington's and they found us a gas station and we headed back to the main station to look for the parking garage.  After we circled around the train station 5 times (each circle took 10 minutes or more due to traffic) We finally realized that we need to go LEFT not right ( a one way street that switched directions in the middle of the street...) After circling another 2 times we finally figured it out and turned the car in.  I was seriously SO happy to get rid of that car.

We walked through the train station (Jackson was thrilled to be scooting inside a building) and caught the metro to the Colosseum.  It was so large! I couldn't believe my eyes.

We started by buying tickets at the Palatine hill (NO WAIT!!).  We had to stash the scooter in a bush and pray that no one stole it! The Hill was good, but even with the headphone tour guide, I wasn't prepared with information for what it was all about.

From a child's perspective, all there is is sky. 

I thought the Roman Forums were really interesting and I wished I could've known more about what they were.  I really wanted a tour guide at this point!  But it was getting hot and Jackson was getting tired, so we quickly headed over to see the inside of the Colosseum. 

 The Audio guide at the Colosseum was easier to follow and find the places, but didn't get much information.  It was so interesting to see the 'floor' and the underground passageways and imagine the scenes that were played out there.

Gladiator Jackson?

We ate lunch (Made by Tiffany with love!!) and rejuvenated  in the shade of the outer wall while Dave retrieved the scooter.  

Pringooooals!  The Italians love their soccer!

I was worried Jackson was worn out and that we would need to call it a day.  But as soon as the scooter was back he was itching to get riding, so we decided to start walking and see how far he could make it.  There is really no good way to get to the sights of the city besides walking.  Most everything we saw was in a pedestrian zone.  We were glad we just walked and used Dave map on his phone with GPS to find our way around. 

We first walked to this building.  I'm not sure what it is, but I think a government building?  I thought it was so beautiful and ornate.  I couldn't believe it wasn't on the highlights to see in Rome list!

I'm not sure how I went my whole life thinking the Trevi fountain was a small circular fountain in a square, but when we finally arrived at this fountain I was completely amazed and smitten by it!  Apparently it was recently cleaned so it just shone with white statues and crystal clear water.

 We spent a lot of time just sitting and watching and trying to cool off from the beating sun.  At this point I was wondering how people visit Rome in the summer.  It was so hot!  (and only April).

The Spanish steps were under contruction and thus a bit underwhelming.  But we climbed them to the church at the top for a good Spanish feel.  

The story goes that after a tsunami a boat was found in this exact spot.  It was a beautiful fountain memorial.

I really enjoyed the Spanish church and this sculpture.  I saw a lot more Christ in this than in some cathedrals.

We were pretty beat from walking so far, but Jackson was still going strong on the scooter, so we trudged on to the giant park, Villa Borghese.  We rented a buggy bike and went riding around the park.  It was so nice to change the pace and sit for a while.  We were able to explore most of the park in under an hour so we returned the bike and tried to find a metro stop. 

 We got distracted by another great plaza, fountain, statue and church (Pipolo piazza) and then, finally made our way home.


 I just loved where the Covingtons lived!  They had this great courtyard small side yard.  The overhanging flowers added to the Italian ambiance.  They even had a separate room for us to be in, which was nice to decompress for the day and plan our next day.  

Despite being exhausted, Dave played a game of soccer with the boys.  Only one kick from me and I kicked the little girl in the face!!  I am a terrible soccer player!

The Covingtons had the BEST meal prepared for us and we ate like kings... also, enjoying FRESH basil and FRESH mozzarella.  So amazing.  I love staying with people who live in the country and have experience with how to do things the Italian way.  Keeping in contact with my mission companion was so much fun.  We laughed until we cried about mission stories.  I love that girl!

We ended the night at a local gelataria (turns out we have been paying double or MORE for gelato than the locals do!!) It was so yummy and a perfect way to end the night.  Jackson enjoyed being with a kid again.  Israel is a year older than Jackson.

      Getting there  Day 1 Venice   Day 2 Italian Alps Day 3 Cinque Terre  Day 4 Florence  Day 5 Rome  Day 6 Vatican

Day 4 Florence and Tuscany

After a rough morning, we finally made it to the center of Florence.  We found a close parking garage and then headed off into the city walking. We first saw Santa Croce.  There were some street performers Jackson really liked.  They had ducks heads and played flutes while dancing a story.  It was cute to watch.

We then headed to the cathedral of Santa Maria.  It was spectacular!  SO BIG, so ornate, amazing!  The inside was vast and plain compared with the outside, but it was easy to enter and look around at the dome and ceiling.

 We ate lunch (paninis) in the square of the Cathedral.  We saw the Uzzfi (and I used the restroom there, I accidentally slipped past a guard I wasn't suppose to enter.) and a model of the "David".  We decided an art museum wasn't for us and Jackson together.  Jackson rode a little carousel in a plaza while we rested our feet.

We walked down the river (which reminded us of Dresden) and to the famous bridge Pointe Vecchio.   We grabbed a gelato and finished up with a great view on the bridge.

  Now came the hard part... walking back to the car after all morning of walking.  Jackson was not happy about this and it made me wonder how we were going to see any of Rome the next day.  So far we had varied our trip frequently because we had a car, but I knew Rome would be a ton of walking.
We then started our drive through Tuscany.  We were Ultra aware of the speed limits and the speed traps.  We were NOT getting any more tickets!  This made us focus less on the views and more on the driving.

We finally made it to Sienna, parked, started walking inside the wall and then realized we were REALLY far from what we wanted to see.  We tried to drive around the wall to find another closer entry, but once again, we couldn't find parking or entry.  After a couple of hours of being in Sienna, but really not seeing much, we finally decided we needed to move on.  I was sad I hadn't done more research to figure out how to do this city right.  I thought it was a small town, but apparently it is a little walled city surrounded by a much larger city.

Our drive through Tuscany was a cloudy.  It was pretty but we could tell how amazing it would've been with the right weather.  The cities tucked back all over the landscape was amazing.  We finally found a castle up on a hill and pulled of the freeway to go exploring.  We drove up and up to a sleepy little town of 5 old people sitting on a bench.  The view was great.  The little walled 'castle' had been converted into homes for people.  It was so interesting to see this old town.



 We couldn't find any food, so we had to go back to the freeway and eat roadside food.  It was totally disappointing this time because the spaghetti we couldn't understand what it was ended up being nasty fish flavor and there wasn't much else to order.  An hour after dinner we made it to Rome and found Tiffany and Nikki's house.  I loved their place!  They had a yard and a little garage/studio they let us stay in.   We quickly got ready for bed.  Nikki gave us great tips for getting around in Rome and suggested we take a scooter for Jackson.  I was hesitant because I didn't want to carry it around.



      Getting there  Day 1 Venice   Day 2 Italian Alps Day 3 Cinque Terre  Day 4 Florence  Day 5 Rome  Day 6 Vatican

Day 3 Cinque Terre and Pisa

The morning view at the hotel did not disappoint.  The misty mountain cliffs looking out over the Mediterranean Sea was spectacular.  I especially loved the flowers amazing smell as I sat and stared at the view.  I did some early morning research on what to see/do and parking in Cinque Terre.  Our late planning always results in having to plan at the hotels every night/morning for the following day.  In some ways this make the trip less relaxing and a bit more stressful, but in other ways I like the flexibility it adds to our plans.  We were going to stay an extra night, but then decided we were ready to move on.

 Jackson woke up and we had breakfast and headed out.  We lost his camera battery and I was sick about finding it.  I knew that having a camera made a huge difference in Jackson's engagement in the trip.  We searched high and low and couldn't find it.  so we moved forward in going to the 5 cities perched above the Sea.  Jackson was understandably upset and I was worried about how the day would go.   We found a parking spot and started in the first city, Riomaggiore.  The colors and the way the city is built right into the hill is spectacular.  We went to the castle first and then got lost in the narrow hallways (staircases) trying to find our way to the train station.  It is really an amazing place to have a city!  We finally found the train station and headed to the last city. 

 Here the train dropped us off right at a beach.  There were hundred of smooth flat rocks so the boys had a great time trying to skip rocks.  I walked over the to sandy part of the beach.  We originally planned to spend some hours playing on the beach, but it was much too cold for that, so we just walked on the beach and climbed a huge boulder for a great view of the ocean and part of the city. 

 We walked into the town.  Jackson and I loved the souvenier shops.  We ate Brusheta and paninis at a little shop (Jackson had a hamburger) and it was amazing... one of my favorite meals.   We headed back to the train station and the next city.  Vernazza was even smaller than the other 2.






We spent most of our time trying to find the hiking trail (a very small turn up a narrow walkway between 2 tall buildings).  We grabbed a gelato and started our 4 km hike.  We wanted to hike a shorter portion, but it was closed.  I was worried about Jackson lasting long enough to do this hike without ruining it, but he was AMAZING... always 50 steps ahead of us and still running at the end.  The hike was a beautiful hike along the cliffs down to the sea.  The whole time we got different gorgeous vantage points of the next city Corniglia.  It was quite the experience.  We met a family from France with a kid Jackson's age.  They were really nice and it was cool to see another family.

looking back on the city of Vernazza

 Finding the train in Cornglia was challenge (100s of steps zigzagging down from the city to the train), but after another gelato we made it.


Walking back to the car Jackson had finally hit his limit and complained like crazy.  Getting in the car was a welcome relief, except for the ticket we had waiting on the windshield... apparently it was a 3 hour parking spot and we were there 6.)

We headed back to the hotel so Jackson could play with the ping ping table and little playground (what he loved most about the hotel).  I looked up hotels and finally found a cheaper one a bit outside of Florence.  We then headed to Pisa.  Driving through La Spezia I was so glad we decided not to stay there and to stay in the hotel we did (Campo di Borgi).  We could park for free there and it was gorgeous!  (And it had a  loft room, kitchenette and play place for the kids).  La  Spezia was just another bigger town, while our hotel was in the middle of no where looking over the ocean.  I love hidden gems.

We then headed to Pisa.  We found the tower just before sunset.  The leaning tower was so much more amazing than I thought it would be.  It is so much larger than I expected and the leaning was scary!  Walking towards it and away from it was just astounding!  It was $20 to hike up the tower and for all 3 of us, we just couldn't stomach paying that much, but we strolled around the square, a guard kindly let us into the cathedral despite not having time to get tickets.  The whole square was really gorgeous.  We found an outdoor eatery and ordered pizza and pasta for dinner.  Jackson ate all my four cheese penne pasta and asked for it the rest of the trip.  I enjoyed his 4 cheese pizza instead of what I ordered.  I'm just glad he found things to eat.   We were thankful we didn't get a ticket for parking on the street (we couldn't tell if it was legal or not).






We drove another hour to Florence in the dark.  Jackson loved having unlimited tablet time in the car (although he also listened the audio books and comedy sketches I put on an ipod).  We found our hotel in a sketchy part of town (comes with the price I guess).  But we parked and headed to our room.  We scored a room with a queen bed AND a twin bed.  Perfect for our traveling group.

As Dave and I were researching what to do in Tuscany the next day, I came across an article about the "speed traps' in Italy and how they can send you a ticket in the mail and it can be 1000s of dollars in fines.  We read more and more and found out that they have booths that clock your speed and can send a ticket in the mail up to 1 year later.  Also, driving into the town square pedestrian zones can cost a ton of $.  We had accidentally driven into a couple of pedestrian lots AND had sped a bit on the roads.  We were so sick to our stomachs trying to think about how much $ in fines we had just spend (not to mention how we were trying to save on our vacation in ways like this ghetto hotel).   Both of us did not sleep well.  I finally thought of all my blessings.  If $$$ were the only trial I had, I am ok with that.  I said prayers of gratitude for my family, my kids, our financial situation, our health, etc.  Dave woke up tired and angry.  Unfortunately, it was a morning of trying to regain our composure and Jackson rocked the boat.   Dave really wanted to go home today and looked up flights out of Florence.  Luckily, he softened and gave Jackson a hug and my heart melted because I love the moment of forgiveness and love that comes from Dave.  He is an amazing husband and father.  His willingness to love and forgive is amazing.


      Getting there  Day 1 Venice   Day 2 Italian Alps Day 3 Cinque Terre  Day 4 Florence  Day 5 Rome  Day 6 Vatican