Rome and Pisa

The evening before Rome, the kids did not want to leave the play area. Snow White and Dopey came by to play duck, duck, goose and other games. Josh and Max really don't like the princesses. Last night at dinner, all the princesses came by and went to every table. We saw Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Belle, and Alice from Alice in Wonderland. Since they stayed late and played the night before Rome, instead of PJs for bed, we just dressed them for our day in Rome. It was a lot easier to just have them hop out of bed, eat a bagel, and go.

Marco, the owner of Rome Connection, met us outside the ship. He is popular with Disney families, since he has seven kids of his own and is obviously kid friendly. He does not charge for the kids, which is also a plus. Disney was writing down all the names of the people who had private excursions. I guess since Rome is over an hour from the ship, they want to know who is going out without them? With Marco, we were able to see all the highlights of the city and zip around from place to play pretty easily. We started at the Coliseum. Instead of waiting in line for tickets, he bought them from a kiosk on the way so we would not have to wait. First, we went up on a bluff and he showed us the before and after photos of the Coliseum. We listened to the rich history and took great photos overlooking the Coliseum. We have a few really nice family photos from this trip. Then, we drove down to tour the Coliseum. We saw the ruins and lots of replicas of the gladiator armor. They had images and information on all the different types of animals that the gladiators fought and replicas of the pulley system that brought the animals from the holding cages under the stage up to the fighting ring. We walked around the entire Coliseum, watched the movie, and bought mini gladiators as toys/souvenirs.

After the Coliseum, we drove by several monuments and got out to tour Circus Maximus. Then, the Pantheon. We were getting hungry for lunch and Marco took us to a family friendly restaurant near the Vatican for pizza and pasta. After the break, gellato. I have been resisting gellato, but finally gave in. Scott had caramel, Max chocolate, Josh strawberry, and I had cinnamon and pistachio (you can get two in one cup). Yum. Next stop, Trevi Fountain. It was very crowded, but we enjoyed the huge fountain. The kids put their hands in the fountain and some Japanese tourists wanted to take their photos with Josh and Max. We stayed at the fountain for awhile, then walked the streets. We stopped for coffee and the kids had lemon soda. It was so lemony and they laughed and laughed at how the tart taste and the bubbles tickled their lips and tong. We went to a large square with several fountains next. The kids chased the pigeons and each other. They were getting wild and exhausted. We found a toy store and purchased Pinocchio marionettes, then decided to head back to the ship. It was a whirlwind of a day, but very exciting. Marco also gave us a bottle of wine as a gift.

The kids went to the play area after dinner and we went to see Alice in Wonderland in 3D.

Today, we arrived in La Spezia, Italy. It is a smaller, military port near Pisa and Florence. The sky was grey and the cool weather seems to be back. We had to take a tender from the ship to the port. Quite a few people were heading on buses to Pisa, like us. It is a one hour drive to Pisa, which is an incredibly crowded tourist destination. In Pisa, we received little headphones attached to radios so that our tour guide can speak into a microphone and we can hear it right into our ear. This is a great thing, so tour guides do not have to yell and everyone can hear. We went into the church and baptistery and took lots of photos outside the tour. We only had 30 minutes of free time after the guided tour. It felt a bit rushed. On the way back to the ship, the weather really let loose with rain. Luckily we had okay weather in Pisa. Disney sends photographers out to the major tourist areas, so we also had professional photos taken at the leaning tower.

Tonight is Pirate's Night. Captain Hook and Jack Sparrow will be in the lobby for autographs and pictures. If the rain stops, there will be a dance party and fireworks outside on the deck.