Monday, January 26

Hello All!!

I can't believe how fast January has flown by (and that we have already taken our trip to Rome!). Dustin will be busy with travel in the next few weeks - so I'm sure the days will go slowly, but the time will go quickly. I'm just going to have to come up with some really fun activities for Brenna and I to do in that time...

So, about our trip to Rome - we didn't do nearly the preparation work that we planned (as previously stated, the time just kept flying by!!), but we took two great tours while there. One the first day, we saw the Colosseum, Palentine Hill (where the old Palace was), and the Forum on the tour. The tour we took was great (and in English) - we learned way more than if we would have just strolled through. Brenna had a great time on this tour - loved the tour guide, the Palentine Hill and the Forum. Dustin chased her all over these places - but I think they both had a good time. She picked up three pebbles that she played with the rest of the trip which was a little funny!! In the afternoon, we found a pizza place and ate our lunch in a park close by - Brenna loved feeding part of her pizza to the pigeons - boy did they go crazy for her pizza!! We strolled in the park and then went down to the Piazza del Popolo (this is a plaza where the twin churches were). It was amazing for the low season how empty everything was - but great for traveling with a toddler. We saw the Spanish steps and Trevi fountain (and yes - Brenna did get to toss her coin in :-) We rode the metro around town - it was pretty easy to use. The A train was much newer and nicer than the B train, but both were quick and easy to use. I loved how nice the Italians are on the train - on all of them, if you have a toddler, they would give up a seat for you - which was very nice on the longer rides. The only down side to the first and second day was the hotel shuttle bus - it was lousy. We waited at the designated point for 45 + minutes in the rain, with no benches, with a two year old... Needless to say, we were not happy with their shuttle service. Our complaint at the hotel got us a bottle of wine (which we didn't drink much of) and some ice cream for Brenna. At least they were willing to do something, but it was still disappointing how poor of service the shuttle was. Dustin tried to give some suggestions, but we are pretty sure they fell on deaf ears... Other than the shuttle, we had great weather the first day and really enjoyed some sunshine and warmer weather.

Our second day, we took the tour of the Vatican, Sistine chapel, and St. Peter's - all were very beautiful. The Sistine chapel was just amazing and so was St. Peter's... I don't know what else to say about them - they were jaw dropping to see...Brenna did great on the tours - which is pretty amazing for a two year old...We walked around in the afternoon and got Brenna some Gelato - (Italian ice cream) - it was Pistachio and Hazelnut - yum (I had a few licks!). They serve it with whipped cream - Brenna didn't really care either way about the cream - she was more about the ice cream. We were lucky on the weather too - it rained on Saturday, but both times that it really came down we had stopped to eat and sit down. We also saw the Pantheon (although we didn't have time to go in). Hopefully, you will enjoy our pictures of this trip. Brenna wouldn't smile for me - so I decided to put up her sad face instead, lol!

The other key things we learned in Rome were that it was hard to find public restrooms (except at the major tourist attractions), and when you do find a restroom, you better check that there is toilet paper. The Italians love kids, but the restrooms for the kids are hard to find. There were a lot of English tours in Rome, so that was a nice change from only hearing German.

Well, that is about all for now! Take Care and enjoy the pics. The one with the mountains is the Alps as we flew over - not of Rome :-)