Rome

Our trip to Rome was amazing!  Out of all the places in Europe we've wanted to go, Rome was at the top of the list.  And it certainly didn't disappoint.  We were a little worried about taking the kids with us, since we knew we would be walking a lot and sometimes a short trip into Copenhagen wears them out.  But, they were absolutely amazing.  We walked around 7 miles every day and they never complained.  Only on the last day did Noah tell us he was a tired of walking and had to be carried for a while.  It was actually such a neat experience to get to be there with our kids.  To get to share with them these amazing sites and wonderful history.

During our trip, we took over 2000 pictures.  So, I've decided to separate each day into it's own blog post, mostly with pictures.  But, I just thought I'd write here briefly about some of my thoughts about our trip. So, here it goes:
 - It's hard traveling with kids.  But our kids are awesome and we are already talking about where we are going next.

 - It's hard finding food when traveling with kids.  They are always hungry. I think we did a pretty good job of keeping tummies filled.  And although we had a couple of good meals, I'm pretty sure we didn't really experience any great Italian food.  When it's evening time, everyone's tired and hungry, you tend to go for what is closest.  Probably not always the best.  But, the gelato, oh, the gelato.  I'd go back to Italy just for that.

 - On the first day of sightseeing, the street vendors are kind of fun, something different, unique, but by the 3rd day, they are just the most annoying things ever.  And by the 4th and 5th day, you kind of want to just give them a hard shove, to get them out of your face.  Or maybe step on their crappy sunglasses they've laid down right in the middle of the Spanish Steps.  So annoying...
 - If you give your camera to the kids, you'll end up with over 2000 photos, many containing various finger parts.  
 - As far as big cities go, I've been to London and Copenhagen, so I don't have too much experience in big cities.  Rome seemed so much larger, more crowded, dirties, noisier, busier...  The smell of urine was so strong in places, I wanted to gag, groups of homeless people were found in many areas, the beggars were like the plague.  After finding out that many of the beggars are part of a group that go around and dress up and beg for money, I was a little disgusted by that.  But, what was really sad was the amount of people we saw begging for money that had severe physical deformities.  It's was really sad and eye-opening.
 - We thought the Metro's in Copenhagen were crowded, well, we were wrong.  I've never seen so many people crowded into such a small space. 

 - I really enjoyed visiting Rome, but I wouldn't want to live there.  I'd go back to visit again though.  It actually made me feel very grateful that we live in Denmark.  Things here are so much cleaner and smaller and less crowded.  Yet, we still get to enjoy the "big city" feel.
 - Going to Rome was Amazing!  And did I mention the Gelato?

Preparing for Rome

In preparation for our trip to Rome,  we decided to have a few lesson with the kids to prepare and teach them about some of the things we would see. We started out with Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel.  We learned that it took Michelangelo over 4 years to paint the Sistine Chapel and contrary to popular belief, he did not lie down and down the painting, but stood on his feet with his arm up and head tilted back.  He said that after spending all that time in that position, it caused him to have several health problems.  He didn't really want to paint the chapel in the first place, he was more of a sculptor.  We looked at paintings of the Sistine Chapel and talked about Vatican City and what we would see there.  For our activity, we taped coloring pages to the underside of our table and let the kids try their hand at coloring them.  They really got into it, bringing out their blankets and pillows and even the next day kept at it.  It was a fun activity.

For our next activity, we talked about Ancient Rome.  We showed the kids pictures of some of the Roman Ruins that we would visit.  We talked about what the area use to look like when it was first built.  We also talked about the Colosseum and about some of it's history.  We showed the kids a short clip on Gladiators and then we hosted our own Gladiator battle.  One of the big entertainment shows back then was the gladiators fighting animals.  So, we set the kids up with a "sword and shield" and threw all their stuffed animals at them.  Then we battled it out with Noah's foam swords. 

 For another activity, we watched Roman Holiday.  I haven't seen this movie for a very long time and I had forgotten that it is rather slow.  The kids lost interest a little, but were still excited about seeing some of the places we would visit.  They were especially excited about the Mouth of Truth and eating Gelato on the Spanish Steps.

Day in Copenhagen

Prior to our Rome trip, I bought new shoes, so we figured a day walking around Copenhagen was in need help break them in.  A little cold and rainy, but we love the city!

 

 National Museum

 Love Rosenborg Castle!

 The kids practicing their somersaults.

Taking Pictures.

Zoological Museum

We've been here several times before, but the cold weather and the need to get out of the house sent us here again.  I love that we can go to these museums multiple times.  We always get to see something new!  And because we handed off the camera to the kids, we ended up with a lot of pictures.

 Quite a stretch for those little legs.

 Lunch time!  I love that all the museums have little cafeteria's, so we can bring our lunch and have a nice place to sit down and eat.