Kyran has given an account of his trip to the Colosseum. Everyone knows that Rome is home to the Romans so all that is left for me is to give a brief on our visit.
We booked two tours with Dark Rome tours (Aka City Wonders). Please - avoid them like the plague.
I realise now that they are just HUGE and like all large tour companies they are not going to be utterly truthful with their itinerary and any tours with them feels like you are being herded by mother duck.
I'd heard so much about the horrendous queues and crowds to get into the Vatican that I paid the extra for an 'exclusive' early morning tour starting at 8am. If this was exclusive then I'd hate to see it when it's 'busy'. It was packed. The company also failed to tell us that St Peters Basilica (IE the HUGE church which is 70% of the tour) was closed every Wednesday morning until 1pm (which is when we booked) and so all we got was a tour of the museum. Interesting ? Yes, Was it what the kids wanted to do after going to bed at 10.30 and getting up at 6.30...no. I ended up sending the family home at the end of the Sistine Chapel and sat for nearly 2 hours in the Chapel waiting for the doors to St Peters Basilica to open in order to avoid leaving and having to queue and pay to get back in. At least the Sistine Chapel is worth looking at for 2 hours!!!
St Peters Basilica is outstanding for it's architectural beauty and dedication by some well funded Popes to strip the world of marble in order to build the largest ever Cathedral. I was, like everyone else, in awe of the grandiose of it all - however more than a little of me wondered what, exactly would a poor carpenters son would think of it all. Not quite his scene....
The other tour, as Kyran described was a kids tour to the Colosseum. We were supposed to get the forum too (which is next door) which actually was just a 'and here you are at the Forum and I will leave you here to explore yourself'. moment. We were pretty exhausted at the end of the colosseum having spent most of the day travelling from Napoli and so had a quick look around and left. From this, you should gather...You need a day and a good guide to do both!
After this, the kids were toured out. 'No more museums!!' they cried. I think Steve was throwing them 20 Euros each to keep up the tempo. So for the remaining time we took to the streets on foot and just wandered around. Steve had warned me of Gypsys and pickpockets but I have to say I saw none of this. No Africans selling wooden goods but a few indians selling selfie sticks which Steve has still refused to buy.
The joy of Rome is that you can't go 5 minutes before you run into more ruins either standing on their own or incorporated into some later building. We literally fell across the Parthenon (no queue), Trevi Fountain (packed but super clean after years of restoration) Spanish Steps (Still under scaffold as they are still cleaning) but oooohhh the shopping next door in the square! and literally 100s of piazzas and buildings and fountains. We walked around the Borghese park, saw the enormous Largo di Torre Argentina and well, I could go on. I stopped taking photos after day 1. Exactly how many pictures of marble, ruins and naked male statues can you have on your phone?
No, we didn't get to the Catacombs though I would have loved to. Kids just refused and I think you could be in Rome for weeks and not see everything.
We ate, we drank, the kids have had so much gelato that they are frozen on the inside, we walked miles and miles and we watched some football. Steve also got up at 3am to watch the NBA finals. I wish to god it had finished on game 5 but I am now expected to be woken a third night at 3am for game 7 while Steve mooches around to see the Cav vs Warriors.
I didn't have high expectations of Rome but have to say that after visiting 42 countries (yes!!) and a lot of cities in my Rome is now my favourite ever city. Just kicked of NY as the top spot! The hotel probably helped. We stayed in the fabulous Hotel Martis. It took quite a while to locate as it's tucked away but is modern and perfectly located. We could walk everywhere in 15 minutes and I do so much prefer cities you can walk around!
I loved the feel of Rome, the look of Rome, the people (Romans are a friendly bunch and not a woof whistle in site - the joys of hitting middle age??). I could have spent a month or two there just mooching around the squares, popping into churches and Roman forums and hitting all the museums the kids refused to go to! Of course the outstanding shopping, of which I did none because nazi hubby said 'wait till Florence' would also help. Am currently in Florence and while all the shops are located centrally I think (for shoes) the shopping isn't as good so go mad in Rome!