This morning was a beautiful sunrise. Tavis got up early and tried to capture it in a photo. Then he went back to bed and I got up and had a wonderful bath. At 8:00 we went downstairs to enjoy breakfast. Just before 9:00 we woke up the kids and took them downstairs to eat. Since everyone finished eating just after 9:30 we went back tot he rooms to relax and get ready for our day.
Packed with our water bottles we caught the 10:30 shuttle downtown which got us there right at 11:00. Tavis had quite the walking tour planned. We started by visiting the Spanish Steps. After taking some photos we walked down the stairs and tried to find the Aquaduct Ruins which turned out to be a museum so we skipped that but saw a McDonalds across the street. I used the free washrooms. Then we saw the Spanish Embassy. Our next stop was the Trevi Fountain which was much more busy this time fo day. After getting a quick photo we squeezed through the crowd and made our way to the Pantheon. We took some photos outside before going in. There was a window in the top which cast a neat circle on the wall. This was another amazing structure with a high ceiling and lot of detailed art. Next we filled our water bottles and slipped into a door that took us to Piazza Navona. We then went to the Alter of the Fatherland. Here we took a 30 minute rest while Tavis checked us into our flight home.
Next we began our long hike home because the bus service did not run between 1-4 and we wanted to see a few sights along the way. We walked over St. Angelo Bridge toward Castel Sant’Angelo. There were a lot of street vendors on the bridge who were relentless. We decided not to go into the castle because we had already toured a few in Switzerland and we wanted to get back for a swim. We walked past Vatican City and up the hill to the hotel.
We arrived back to the hotel just before 2:30. Our room was getting cleaned so we quickly got our bathing suits and and spent an our relaxing at the pool. At 3:30 Ayva and Ari wanted to go to the Kids IT Club so I took them upstairs to get dressed before dropping them off. Addison decided to stay in his room and have some quiet time and Tavis had a nap aswell. I went to the pool and enjoyed relaxing in the sun for 2.5 hours!
At 6:30 Tavis and I decided to walk down to the store to buy him a 5 euro bottle of wine and some cheese. We also bought some carbonated juice for the rest of us and Tavis and I aimlessly walked the streets looking for a good restaurant to bring the kids to when they finished with the Kids IT Club. The one we were hoping to go to was no longer there but we did find another pizzeria. We made a reservation for 8:00 and came back tot he hotel.
When the kids arrived back at the room they were completely wired from all the Nutella and cotton candy they ate. Ari also brought back 5 packages of cookies for the flight home tomorrow. They met lots of new friends, played lots of video games, and enjoyed yoga and gymnastics. There was a 4 yr old girl who Ayva enjoyed entertaining the entire time. She took some photos of her new friends and was sad that we have to leave tomorrow. We gave them a few minutes to relax before walking back to Ristorante Al 384 which specialized in Gourmet Pizza for dinner.
Dinner was amazing! One of the waitresses spoke English which was nice. We purchased 3 pizzas. The crust was delicious and even the margarita pizza was good. We also got one with meat and another spicy one that really was spicy! The staff was super nice, food was quick and the price was quite affordable. There were a lot of locals that arrived after us so we chose our last meal well! I would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone staying at Rome Cavalieri who would like a good meal without the huge prices.
Now we are all sad to be packing our bags in preparation for our departure tomorrow. We had an amazing vacation and none of us are ready to go home. All good things come to an end though. In a bit we will sit outside and enjoy our Italian grapes and juice to the sound of live music on the patio. Tomorrow we go home and begin the 2 day journey of traveling. We will be leaving our hotel around 10:00 AM and spending the night in Chicago.