Italy Highlights! (with TONS of pictures)

FLORENCE

We made it!!  Yahoo, as my baby girl would say!

Gold anyone?

Behind us is the famous bridge (Ponte Vecchio) over the Arno river where they sell fine gold jewelry.  No worries we didn't get any but I had visions of me and Miles coming back one day and splurging. 

The Duomo (Cathedral)

Ghiberti's Famous Bronze Doors on the Baptistery 

- he spent 27 years working on these panels, can you believe that?  I don't know if you can see but there is a little head right above Emi's purple head which is Ghiberti own head.  He carved his own head into his masterpiece, brilliant!

The view from the top of the Dome.   Yes, we climbed the Dome (8 Euro each BTW) and the kids loved it.  We have decided that wherever we go we HAVE to climb something.  It is the only way for the kids to really remember it and enjoy it.  They absolutely LOVE climbing each church Dome and/or tower. Isn't the view amazing!!  Miles loves this sort of thing too!    

POMPEII

This is probably the thing we loved most.  Miles and I have been wanting to go here forever!  The kids loved wandering around, climbing on everything, and exploring with no rules.  It was the perfect way to end a day of traveling.  Even better was our kids were FREE.  The man at the ticket office asked how many kids we had and was shocked when we said 5.  He asked if we could pretend we were from Canada for the day so our kids could get in free.  Sure, I was born there, why not!

Here are the kids pretending to be at a 'fast food' restaurant.  Apparently after attending the public baths the people from Pompeii would then cross the street to get food.  It was your ancient 'fast food' experience.  Evan is being the gentlemen and ordering food for Anika.  Paige is being the diligent owner.

Family photo opt

Amazing huh?!  Here are the kids in the Theater - it was huge!

my little goofballs

NAPLES

Here is a good story --
See the women on the right side of the photo carry bags?  This woman is our bird lady.  She came up with a bag full of bird food (or bread crumbs) and started throwing them at the birds.  Tons of birds came flying towards her to enjoy the food.  The kids saw this and started toward her to watch her and the pigeons.  Notice Emi (in white) and Anika (in red) in the center of the photo.  The girls are trying to get in on the action.  Emi and Anika eventually knelt down in the grass and watched the woman and the pigeons.  They were only there for a second when the woman started speaking to them in Italian while making this disgusted look.  Now take note of the crowd of men on the far left of the photo.  These men were surrounding a table while a couple of other men played a game of some sort (probably gambling or something).  As soon as the woman started speaking and moving towards the girls these men turned around to see what the commotion was all about.  They started speaking Italian and making the same disgusted look.  We tried to get the girls away since it was apparently gross ... we honestly didn't know what was going on.  Now notice the very center of the photo ... it's a water faucet.  The woman and several men came toward the girls attempting to help them over to the faucet to wash their hands.  Paige and Evan finally joined us and everyone was trying to get our children to wash their hands.  We then looked around and noticed all the poo on the grass.  Our kids were so excited to finally see grass that no one noticed how gross it really was.  Yuck!!  Everyone washed their hands!

Here we are taking the Rick Steve's old down-town walk.

I seriously can't believe we took our children here! Definitely not the safest thing to do with a family of 7. At one point we sat on a bench to rest while Miles checked out what we just walked through and what was coming up.  We were right smack in the middle of the famous organized crime area.  Fantastic!  All we were looking for was the first Gelato store so we could get a dessert!  Oh man, that was the best Gelato we had though!  Delish!  That was also where Anika peed her pants. Perfect!!

This is how our children slept at night.  We had a hide-a-bed and 2 twins for our family.  We just pushed the twins together, re-arranged the cover and ta-da!  It worked out great - it was super cold in our room and since the kids were sharing they were all snug and warm.  The only down side was we didn't realize we could close the sky-light, so we were up and at it bright and early the next day.

Naples was probably the scariest city to drive in for Miles - no rules and extremely narrow roads.  It was also probably the dirtiest and run down city.  The people though!!  They were, by far, the most friendly and happy people.  They loved our family.  They loved how many kids we had.  They loved Anika and Kenneths Bear costume I had him in to keep him warm. They tried so hard to communicate with us.  I can't tell you how many times they counted our kids, said it out loud in Italian, shook their right hand up and down while saying "Mama, Mia!"  It was hilarious and charming and I love the memory!  

At one point someone asked Miles if all our kids were from the same woman, as if it were impossible for one woman to give birth to 5 children ... or impossible for Miles to be with only one woman to have so many children.  We had a good laugh about that one!  

ROME

The Colosseum 

Above: the kids actually standing still for a moment inside the colosseum

Below: Miles sporting his "I pooped today" shirt -- ha, ha, I got him that for Christmas.  It even has a gold star for a job well done!  I love this picture because Miles was so excited to really, truly be inside the Colosseum!  I also love it because of the facial expression of the woman on the left.  I am almost certain I have made that expression in a million strangers pictures.

The Pantheon!

Paige and Evan in the Vatican Museum in front of a REAL mummy!  Emi thought it was disgusting and refused to get her picture with it, actually she refused to stand near it for too long. 

Standing in front of St. Peter's Basilica - with Bernini's statues all along the columns.

The kids loved these guards, and the guards were very kind and professional ... I cannot wait until we see the London guards. 

This picture made Miles' day!

We were so thirsty from walking all day.  Inside the Roman Forum was this fountain and the kids went a little crazy.  I showed the kids how to cup their hand in order to bring it to their mouths for a drink.  They tried it and then Evan said, "this is how you really do it" and proceded to do this!  All I can say is, I'm glad they had their rain jackets on so it somewhat protected them from getting soaking wet and being miserable the rest of the day.  It was hilarious!

Titan's Arch inside the Roman Forum

The Roman Forum

A Sleepy Bus-Ride

Poor little guy, he was SO tired!

PISA

Paige and Miles on top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa

Only children 8 and up can climb the tower.  We told them that Paige was turning 8 in just 2 weeks and asked if they would let her go up.  They said YES!  Paige was so excited!  

Can you see us?  We are the 5 dots on the tip of the white triangle type thing in the center of the picture.  Great explanation I know!

Miles took this picture of us waving at them while they were up on the tower.

Can you see us (again)?  

Miles took this picture of Emi and me on top.  Our arms are raised in the air so you can see us (to the left of the flying flag).  We had to take turns - one of us went with one of the girls while the other stayed with the rest of the kids.  It was so neat to climb the tower.  It would be super hard to climb the stairs on one side and then super easy.  You could literally feel yourself tilting to the side with the building.  The grooves in the stone stairs even followed which way gravity pulled you while climbing.  When we reached the top the guard there asked if I was Paige's mother.  Um, yes I am.  She then invited us to her beach house on the Mediterranean Sea.  I love my friendly little Paige!!  This guard was totally serious too and reminded me again when we were getting ready to go down.  So funny!