There are many things to talk about when it comes to Rome, but there are only five things that I will talk about in this blog and they are the Coliseum, the house that we stayed in, the giant wall, the trains, and last but not least, the garden. All of these things are very interesting, and starting from the beginning I will tell you about all of them.
The subject I will start with is the Coliseum, the Coliseum was very cool, you would think that the out side of it would be cooler, but the in side was way more interesting. The out side of the Coliseum was amazing, the architecture was beautiful and the columns and arches were magnificent, but that did not compare to the inside. The inside of the coliseum was very cool, it did not matter that half of it looked like it would fall over at any second, every thing was beautiful.
Now for the next subject, the house that we stayed in, we stayed with a family of five. They were all very nice, but the kids were never there all together, but they did have three cats that were always there. The also had a beautiful picnic table that was green tile and had an amazing cover over it that was trees grown into a cover over your head that provided shade.
Next in this blog, will be the subject of the mystery wall, the mystery wall was a giant wall that we saw every time we went on the train to Rome, it was a giant brick wall, with giant arches in it, that is really all I can say about the mystery wall, for we never found out what it really was.
Now for the subject that was very important to us, the trains! The trains were a big help because if we did not have those trains in Rome we would never have gotten to do the majority of the stuff that we did, the trains were organized very well, but we were not always very good at catching them. There is not much that I can tell you about when it comes to this subject.
This next subject is the last subject, but it is a very interesting one, and it is the garden near Castle Gandolfo. The garden was beautiful, it had some of the only trees that had the only native trees that were left from before they reforested. It was amazing, I had never heard of the majority of the trees that were in that garden, and there were not only plants, there were also fountains and ancient ruins. I have finished the blog for Rome and I will blog again when I have been to another place.
Hank: Florence
Florence. “Bark, bark, bark.” They must be at the main gate. “Ya Frank ya.” My ruthless canine companion and I raced down the narrow hallways of the Medici palace. I saw a flick of cape race through a door and then we were upon him. The thief glared at me. He was the first to ever manage a feat so great as to break into the Medici palace and city court room. It was guarded by many guards. All Canine controllers because of its wonderful history.
The Medici family took residence in the city hall. The father was the duke of Florence Italy. The oldest son would be the father’s successor and the second oldest son would become a cardinal. The palace is huge with a larger than normal court room and huge tapestries on the walls and even covering the ceiling. Of course my residence is not nearly as grand but I do very much enjoy it. It is a second story apartment with four bedrooms and two bathrooms. It has a small kitchen and living room. The apartment is located about twenty kilometers out of Florence in a tiny town called Le Valli. There is lots of room for me and Frank to run through the fields and we very much enjoy it.
Nadine: Florence
When you are in Florence, you see things that are very different to what a lot of people are used to, like when you are driving down the road, there will be a street with really big stores, and on other streets there are a lot of little bitty stores, that are all really close to each other. That was not the most interesting thing about Florence, there was one really cool museum that used to be a house where the de Medici family lived, it had all of these really cool rooms and there was one secret room that had a door that was disguised as a map on the wall. In that room, the group that we were having a tour with, got to dress up like people would dress when the de Medici’s lived in that house (the mid evil times). There was also a giant vineyard, by the house that we where staying in. The food in Florence was pretty good, we ate a lot of spaghetti. Last, but not least, the swimming pools, at the swimming pools there were a lot of rules that did not apply, like wearing a swim cap, you have to wear a swim cap if you are in the water, there were also rules that did not apply in Florence, and did apply in Austin, like running and diving. These were all of the coolest things from Florence.
Hank: Paris
Paris was to big and Nadine picked it out. It is not a good place for children. The museum of natural history was pretty cool with all the animal skeletons and stuff but I did not get what was so amazing about the Louvre. The Mona Lisa looked just like all the other paintings in the museum and most of the statues were of naked athletes. The zoo was pretty cool and I saw my first Fallow deer. It was weird because the Oxen had darts stuck in them. We went to the arc de Triumph and you had to go through a tunnel just to get there. Our apartment was really nice and the subways were pretty cool to. Then a monkey jumped out of its cage and claimed me as its master and so I became the monkey rider of Paris. Me and my monkey, Dung slinger kept through the streets fighting evil all day. The bad guys cowered in fear when they heard the screech of the baboon of justice and his fearless rider swinging through the streets slinging dung and fighting for justice. Our roost was the tower of eifleness and our throne where we sat relaxing in the sun when the bad guys had been dealt with was the top of the arc de Triumph.
Dear Mom, move to Italy!
Dear Mom,
Don’t move to Bartlesville, Ok. Move to Castel Gondolfo, Italy!
There’s a reason the popes live in Italy and Shakespeare set nearly a third of his plays there. It ROCKS!
Florence is great. Rome is awe-inspiring. But the popes win the genius prize for putting the papal summer villa in Castel Gandolfo on the side of an ancient volcano overlooking Lake Albano. Please, Mommy, move there!
Any of the 17th century villages hugging the cliffs around Lake Albano would be fabulous. The narrow streets, shops and apartments hang on the cliffs like floral window boxes. I bought a scarf for you from a street vendor. You will look fabulous wearing it in any one of the cafes on the piazza as you sip cappuccino and nibble a tart made with tiny strawberries.
And mom, you’ll love the Woodson family which hosted us. Brady Woodson is brother of our friend Ashley Woodson in Austin. His wife Luisa grew up in Castel Gandolfo. We immediately fell in with their rhythm (I hope they would say the same) and had a great time with them and their three fabulous kids.
Can’t wait to discuss your expatriation to the Castelli Romani!
XOX, Sarah Pi
Kurt: Velletri, Italy
Rome (July 18-21, 2013)
We stayed outside Rome in the town of Velletri, with Ashley Woodson’s brother, Brady, and his family. This visit was too short – arriving on a Thursday afternoon and leaving on Saturday afternoon to catch an early flight to Batumi Georgia the next morning. We had a great time with the Woodsons. Brady and his wife Luisa have three wonderful children, all of whom we had a chance to visit with. If Nadine ever has an Italian boyfriend, I hope that he will be one of the Woodson boys.
On Friday we took the train into Rome and toured the Coliseum and nearby areas. Two things struck me about the Coliseum: First, the fact that much of it is still standing 1,933 years after it was completed (will the UT football stadium be here 2000 years from now?), and second, the huge number of people killed at the Coliseum. According to our blowhard Roman guide, many animals and criminals and sometimes as many as 50 gladiators were killed there each day. The guide said that the Romans considered the captive gladiators to be barbarians. Some might think that the real barbarians were the people who packed the Coliseum every day to watch animals and people kill each other.
We spent much of Saturday with the Woodsons around Ariccia and Castel Gandolfo, the little village where past Popes have spent several months in the summer. This region is very beautiful, has two lakes and many ruins, and is known for its roasted pork. If you have a choice to spend a romantic vacation in Paris or in Castel Gandolfo, choose Castel Gandolfo.