This trip was very memorable for our family. A lot of people have told me that Europe is not for kids, and I refused to believe it. I thought, my kids are exposed to different cultures and locales, I'm sure they will appreciate Italy. Glad I didn't put money on that. While I think they enjoyed the trip, I don't think they appreciated the Roman/Italian architecture, art, culture, and cuisine enough. I got comments from the younger kiddies like:
"I thought I was going to get the best pizza and pasta here in Italy!"
"When will we get out of this museum???"
"Too many people smoke in public here."
It did not help that I tried to do as Romans do (we were in Rome after all, right?). All the blogs and articles I've read say that all the locals drink from the water fountains (also known as "nasoni") that can be found all over Rome. So I figured, if the Romans do it, so shall we! Biggest. Mistake. Ever. An hour after I let the two younger kids drink from the water fountain, they start throwing up all over the place. At the Colosseum, at Palatine Hill, all the way back to the hotel. We had to cut our trip of Palatine Hill short, and go back to the hotel to let them rest throughout the first day (that's why you won't see many pictures of them in this post as they were recovering at the hotel throughout that first day), hoping that they would recover soon enough. Thankfully, it seemed like a 24-hour thing, and they were back on their feet the next day. The moral of the story: Stick to the bottled water. Our gut flora is not accustomed to the local water so do not risk it.
Some tips and observations:
- The public transportation system in Rome is dependable and inexpensive, just 1.50 euro for each person/trip. Bus tickets can be purchased at Tabachi (tobacco) shops located on almost every corner.
- If your hotel is actually centrally-located, most sights are within walkable distance. We stayed in the Tiburtina area, which is close to the University of Sapienza, but not so close to the tourist spots. The upside was that there were plenty of inexpensive dining and hotel options.
- Taxis are also quite inexpensive, and may be a better option if travelling as a group. You can flag them at taxi queues or bus stops. We did not know this at first, and tried flailing our arms in the middle of the street to flag one down. Someone then told us to go to the bus stop. smile emotico
- To get the cheapest tickets to the colosseum, go to their official website. Colosseum tickets cover Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum as well. I'm not fond of tours (and neither are the kids) but I've heard good things about the underground colosseum tour. Unfortunately, none were available at the time we were there. Private tour operators also offer this.
- Italian drivers are c̶r̶a̶z̶y̶ really good drivers. smile emotico
More Italy posts to come!
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