When In Rome

On the road again destined for more family adventures! This time our destinations are Italy and Greece. Italy has been at the top of our wish list for some time now, and we had an opportunity to combine a trip to Italy with a floatilla sailing trip in Greece. So off we go!

We had a quick stopover in Montreal with no time so spare, yet the girls spotted a macaron kisok in the airport. Macarons are a family favorite from our time spent in Paris. "How many can we have?" they asked, to which I responded: "One each if you order in English, two if you order in French." Guess what, their French is impeccable with the right motivation!

Our first destination on this adventure was Rome. Unfortunately during our journey it became clear that Fiona was feeling under the weather. She was running a fever with a sore throat, which was later confirmed by a doctor to be strep throat. With antibiotics and a good sleep under our belts, today we decided to get acquainted with the city on a hop-on-hop-off bus to make it a little easier on our little trooper (and that she was!). We saw so many incredible sights from the top of our bus, but in the blazing sun eventually it was time to get off to find some shade and a cool refreshment.

Matt eagerly cooled off with a €5 fedora and an "icy gin & tonic".

From our stop it was an easy walk to Via del Governo Vecchi, where I had read in a blog post that it was a great destination for boutique and vintage shops and some of the best wine bars in town.

It was on this street that we also, by luck, stumbled upon a place recommended for "the best" pistachio tiramisu (coupled with espressos of course). Verdict? Delicious!

We stopped at a wine bar for a glass of wine on the patio, where the girls wrote postcards to their friends. Then we continued wandering, destined for the Pantheon, with a stop for iced tea along the way.

With iced tea (and other brewed beverages) in hand, we sat on the steps in front of the Pantheon and took in the sight of this historic and majestic structure, originally built in 125 AD as a temple to the Roman Gods. Inside, the roof reveals a large circular hole where, on summer solstice (June 21), the sun shines directly through the hole onto the floor. To capture and release rain there are 22 almost invisible holes in the marble floor. Almost 2000 years after it was built, the Pantheon's dome is still the largest un-reinforced concrete dome. Fiona took a special interest in this site as she plans to write about it in her journal this evening.

Next stop was the famed Trevi fountain. From photos and movies I knew it would be beautiful, and from what I'd heard I knew it would be busy. It was both things, but far more beautiful than I'd imagined! I've read the best time to be able to really take in this site (and take the best photos) is around 6am, but only time will tell if that becomes a reality for us. We are known for a lot of things, but early departures is not one of them!

With Fiona hangin' in there, we carried on to the Spanish Steps. Another busy spot, and another famous site in Rome. The Spanish steps were built in 1723-1725 to link the Trinità dei Monti church that was under the patronage of the king of France with the Spanish square below. It is difficult to capture the view of this site and the people you love in a single photo, but I tried!

After a full day of traveling all over the city in spite of a sick child, it was time to ask Fiona what her heart desired. So our next and final destination was the pool on the roof of our hotel where the girls were able to unwind and cool off.

The rest of our evening entails room service and rest. We are looking forward to another enormous day tomorrow.

With enormous love,

Laura & gang

xo