Monday Blog Hop Fun

Feel like checking out some other blogs? It's a Monday meetup session :D Join in on the fun.

Covered in Grace Monday Meetup

Rome Part 1

Day 1- Colosseum

The Colosseum is located in piazza del Colosseo and is surrounded by beautiful Roman ruins. Our apartment was just a few blocks away. We could see the Colosseum from our front door. Its such an amazing view, especially after nightfall when the arches are lit up. 

Construction begun in AD 72 by Emperor Vespasian and completed in AD 80 by Titus. The Emperor ordered the Colosseum (known to Italians by Colosseo) to be built upon Nero's Palace to be disassociated with the tyrant. The Colosseum had 3 levels for public viewing. The highest level sat the poor and those without Roman citizenship, middle level was reserved for Roman citizens, while the lowest level houses the wealthiest of Rome. Gladiators and animal fights were at the center of attention in the Colosseum. 

When I think of what a Gladiator was back then I imagine tough fighters who were popular and well-liked. However, this is not the case. Roman Gladiators were usually slaves and prisoners. Most were male gladiators but occasionally there would be females as well. 

There are 80 arches in the Colosseum.  During inclement weather a canvas could be stretched across to protect the spectators. The Colosseum held 55,000 spectators, all of which could enter and find a seat within 20 minutes because of the many entry points. 

On the second floor of the Colosseum you will find a small museum filled with artifacts from the Roman time. I cannot remember who this is. 

I could never figure out what this is but it can easily be seen from inside the Colosseum. 

You can also see the Arch of Constantine, a 25 m high monument built in AD315 to mark the victory of Constantine over Maxuntius.

Here is a good view of the 'basement'. This housed animals, gladiators, probably doctors and prostitutes. The floor of the Colosseum eventually fell revealing what we see today. The original floor was covered in dirt so that blood could easily be soaked up. If there was too much blood between battles they simply threw more dirt down to dry it up. 

The kids were trying to see how strong they were! 

After the Colosseum we grabbed some groceries from a local grocery and relaxed a bit at the apartment before heading out for dinner. We wanted to try a recommended pizzeria but didn't realize it opened at 7 pm. It was 6 pm and an hour wait was just too long. We made the mistake of walking a few blocks towards the Colosseum and finding a place there. Mistake meaning it was SO expensive! The food was decent. James got a pizza and I got gnocchi (wasn't too impressed). Drinks were outrageous. They were 5 euro per small soda and 6 euro for apple juice for the kids! We were also charged 1.50 euro per 'seat'. The kids didn't eat (because they are just so damn picky) but our bill was still 58 euro. Just one tip for now: Don't eat close to the tourist attractions and if you see lots of Italians eating somewhere its probably a good place to go. I'll post later about things we thought were a good idea and those that just didn't work out for us. 

After that shocking bill we went home, relaxed, and slept well for our next day's adventure. 

Happy Thanksgiving from the Vatican

Sneak Peak

Hello Colosseum!

Italy bound!

Domani andiamo a Roma! That is Italian for "Tomorrow we are going to Rome!"

We are packed and ready to go, but we're all sick! James felt nauseous tonight. Kylee has a cold (or something) and doesn't feel well at all. Wyatt is congested, but that isn't holding him back. I still have residual kidney pain. Hopefully we are all ready for the next 5 days, and no one ends up in an Italian ER. I really don't want to spend my time in Rome seeing the inside of our apartment. I'm sure everyone will be feeling fine soon though.

We will have internet in the apartment so I'll try to get on and add a few pictures. If I don't get a chance to post on Thursday just know that I hope you all have a very Happy Thanksgiving!! 

Where to go?

I am probably going to rattle on for a while in this post. I'm stuck at home with a Kidney infection (I'm starting to feel better now) but there isn't much for me to do around the house that doesn't make me want to cry. So, a nice long post about traveling:

There are SO many opportunities to travel here, and it is so hard to decide where we should go next.

-We have our trip to Rome next week.
-James and I are going to Amsterdam for New Years Eve.
-Our 10th anniversary will be spent at the Edelweiss Lodge and Resort near the Bavarian Alps.

Those are the trips we have lined up so far. As much as we want to take a few trips this Spring, my semester will be packed with my last set of classes. I do not think I could manage a week trip somewhere and still get homework completed. A short trip would be ok though. A weekend trip to Paris would be nice. I know Kylee would love that. Spending the day in Strasbourg, France would be fun too. But those are short getaways that do not need as much planning as other trips.

Our base (as like many other bases) has an ITT office (information, tickets and travels). They plan daily trips, overnight tours, and week excursions at an 'affordable' rate. I say affordable because it would be IF you were only a family of two. Once you add on the price for kids it would be cheaper to drive their yourself rather than take their bus tour. However, I would much rather them plan a trip, deal with the driving and parking problems to some locations. I guess it would be worth spending a bit extra to have them deal with the headache.

ITT offered a Rome Trip for Thanksgiving (thats where I got the idea to go to Rome) From November 20th till November 24th AND the bus was taking everyone to Rome. Thats a long bus ride. Each adult would cost 398 Euro. Each child would be 348 Euro. Total cost 1492 Euro, and a really uncomfortable bus ride. I searched for tickets flying out of a local airport. For the four of us the total cost was 250 Euro (about 300 USD). Instead of a hotel room like ITT had planned for their trip, we found a really nice apartment for 600 Euro. I think my planned trip is a much better deal. Less time traveling there (1 hour plane ride) and more time touring. Oh, did I mention the weather is going to be gorgeous while we are there? 60's and sunny most of the time :D

They had a trip planned to Nuremberg, Germany Christmas Market (THE largest in Germany). I wanted to go, but its a LONG bus trip and the whole family didn't want to do that. I couldn't find anyone else to go with. We will just find some nice Christmas Markets around the area this year, and maybe explore Nuremberg's next year.

ITT also has trips planned for Spring Break and other upcoming long weekends. Once again, I cannot do a Spring Break trip, but it did get me thinking of our options after my classes are done.

Here are some things we would like to do:
-Possible Easter Mediterranean Cruise. Kids are FREE! Price is all inclusive and not bad either.
-Canary Island
-Turkey!! <--- I really want to go here!
-Dublin, Ireland. We thought about this for Spring Break but I will have to see how my classes are going.
-London- of course we must go here. Cheap flights or short drive.
-Poland

Those are just some ideas we have. We won't be going any time soon but I hope we do before we leave.

Where would you want to go if you lived here?

'Laterne, Laterne'

Saturday was the Martinszug in our village. Kids gather around with their handmade lanterns (Laterne), walk through the village singing songs, and get a Martinsbrezel at the end.

St. Martin was a Roman Soldier who later became a Monk after being baptized as an adult. The most famous legend of St. Martin states the he was riding his horse through a village in a snowstorm and found a homeless man. St. Martin cuts his coat in half to give to the poor man. Later while St. Martin was sleeping, he had a dream that he saw Jesus wearing the coat he gave to the poor man.

The kids made these lanterns in their German class. kylee has a snail and Wyatt has an apple. They are really proud of them. 

St. Martin on his horse. He rode through the village with the kids.

Kids either carry lanterns or the torches. You can see some young kids in this one carrying torches. I find this highly dangerous. I wonder how many children are injured each year!

St. martin and the bon fire

Enjoying a Martinsbrezel after the walk. These sugary pretzels are delicious! They only make them this time of year. I'll be sad when our Bakery no longer makes them. 

Here are the kids singing a song they learned in German class. They sing this while walking in the Martinszug.

Laterne, Laterne,

My Lantern, my lantern,

Son-ne, Mond und Sterne,

Sun, moon and stars that turn,

brenne auf, mein Licht,

Sh-ine on, my light,

brenne auf, mein Licht,

Sh-ine on, my light,

aber nur meine liebe Laterne nicht.

Please don't let my pret-ty lan-tern burn tonight.