7 Quick Takes: One Night in Rome

Rome was hot, very hot.  And I was often wearing a baby, so multiply that by 10. 🙁  So, needless to say, we were sweating all.day.long.  But something really wonderful would happen each evening –there was a coolish breeze and the scorching sun went away –so an evening walk was a great way for us to end our time in Rome.

Honestly, Rome by day is impressive — but by night — it’s kind of amazing!  This is true for cities all over the world, but especially the cities of Italy.  At night, families come out and spend their evenings in their favorite little piazzas.  The old and the young, romantic couples and families, all hanging out together enjoying la dolce vita.

It was so nice to not have to worry about our ruffians ruining the romantic walks of lovers in Rome. Did I mention how loud the Italians are?  They are always yelling — I absolutely love it!  Our loud crew fit right in with the Italians.

The stamina of our own kids amazed me.  I mean, our 7 year old kept up with us the entire trip and there were days when we walked close to 12 miles!  And if our kids ever grew weary, a short gelato break and we were back in business.

So, for more about our trip to Rome, you can go here or here.  But here’s my 7 Quick Takes on our last night in Rome.

1.First of all, a great little spot to visit with kids is the Torre Argentina.  It’s a little cat sanctuary nestled among some of the oldest ruins in Rome.  We went on a whim, but they loved this place.  Looking for cats as the sun sets in Rome?  Gotta admit, it was great fun.

2.  If you keep walking down from here, eventually you’ll get to the colosseum area.  We tried to bring the kids to the Mouth of Truth, right next to the Church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, but it had just closed. 🙁  So, here’s a lesson of traveling with kids — make the most of it no matter how disappointing missing that place may be.  There are always things being covered over for restoration or churches shut for special events.  You just have to expect it.  So, we decided we would try to create an optical illusion:  maybe not so much.

Us trying to create the optical illusion of putting our hands in the mouth:

And while you’re in this area, you could just walk by and pick up some amazing free naturally sparkling frizzante water by the colosseum metro and look at this while you re-hydrate:

4.  We chose to keep walking rather than take the metro at night –it was just too lovely.  And then we came upon the really cute Trastevere area of Rome.  There was a film festival going on and we decided to dine al fresco in the pop-up dining area of the festival.  There are loads of lovely places to eat in this area, and people eat late here, so be ready to eat later than you might be used to eating in the states.

You know what we heard all over Italy?  “Complimenti”! People all the time walking up to us at dinner or in streets and saying “Complimenti” which means “congratulations”.  They were referring to the fact that we had 6 kids and they loved seeing the kids.  And they never charged for kids in museums and often they’d bump us to the front of entrances or turn a blind eye to water and snacks on hand when they saw all of our kids.  It’s a great place to take kids.

5.  After dinner, we strolled the streets and headed back towards our apartment by the Vatican.  This was our last night, so we had to go back to one of our favorite spots in front of the Pantheon and the Piazza Navona.  Both are really lively spots and there’s a  great little market right next to the Pantheon as well –don’t forget to pick up some cured meats or lovely Italian cheeses for a late-night snack.

And a quick goodbye to the Fountain of the 4 Rivers in Piazza Navona

6.  And we couldn’t miss seeing the amazing Trevi Fountain at night.  You have to see this place at night — but be prepared because it is crowded!  And hold onto your valuables because the pick-pockets find this spot especially easy because everybody is so distracted by the big, beautiful fountain in front of them.

7.  And we had to wrap up our last night walking the Bridge of Angels and seeing St. Peter’s for one last time.

On our last night, we walked this bridge twice: Once to begin our evening, and on our way home again later that night.  It was a fitting path to end our pilgrimage as it was the path that all Pilgrims once had to take to get to St. Peter’s.

Thanks for visiting.  Linking up with Kelly.

Have a great weekend!

~Moira~