May 2017 was an incredibly special month… first and foremost because it was the time for your “Ten Year Old Trip” even though you were 12. As you know, some time after each child turned 10, we took each of you for a special trip. Madey was first – when she was 10, we took her to Israel. When Dan was 13 I think, we took him to Austria.
And this year we took you to Italy.
The trip was incredible! 3-4 days in Rome and the same on Capri. Amazing!! Some highlights:
When you list the highlights, you start with gelato, and then every other thing you list is followed again by gelato. Some days you had 3-4 gelatos in a day. A small was PLENTY big, the flavors changed regularly and you could get two flavors in any small regardless of which store you went to. The cost was about 2.50 euros (the exchange rate was about 1:1 which was easy to think about).
Other highlights from Rome:
Starting with a segway tour to see all the places we had read about and would visit this trip in relation to each other…What a fun adventure!! None of us had ever ridden one before, so that was just as much fun as seeing Rome! We were working on staying awake to manage our jet lag, and that did it. We were tired when we were done, but we were also happy.
The historic places of Rome were as breath-taking as you can imagine. We had listened to the book Cleopatra’s Daughter before we arrived and WHAT A GIFT THAT WAS!! The book is historical fiction mystery novel told from the perspective of Cleopatra’s 10-year old daughter Selene. Through this awesome adventure, we learned about the famous sites in the context of how this young girl lived them. We met Agrippa who built many of the aqueducts in Rome. We traveled with Selene’s friends to the Circus Maximus to watch and bet on the horse races. We went with them to the Forum to watch trials and shop. We viewed the Egyptian obelisks knowing that they were taken from Egypt to Rome when Selene’s mom and dad died. We were horrified and awestruck at the Colosseum to see what “entertainment” of brutality looked like. We were aware that all of these incredible structures were built when Selene was alive in like 35BC!! Over 2000 years ago, and there they still were!!
Here are some of our favorite pictures:
Starting with gelato of course…
First champagne and first cappuccino…
Starting off with a Rome Segway tour…
PANTHEON
These were of the Pantheon, now called the Basilica… definitely one of my FAVORITE places… the dome was an architectural amazement given what we knew 2000 years ago, and the open circle at the top (ocular I think) allowed the sun to BEAM in like the most incredible spotlight. Some people believe that it doesn’t rain inside the building, but it does… if you look closely you can find the drain holes in the floor. Also, it has Agrippa’s name on it – a person from history that I really came to like a lot from the book.
THE VATICAN MUSEUM, SISTINE CHAPEL AND SAINT PETER’S BASILICA 
TREVI FOUNTAIN
If you throw a coin with your right hand over your left shoulder, your wish to come back and visit Rome again will be granted. Can’t wait for that!!
THE “BIOPARKO di ROMA”
The Colosseum
The Bath House
New Friends from Rome
The cute boy on the bus and your horror with me about noticing him:
Our AMAZING apartment
Other pictures of the ruins, the obelisk, eating in Rome, what we called “broccoli trees” (that were everywhere), the rose garden that was fully in bloom, and DJ’s Italian haircut… What an awesome time!
CAPRI and ANACAPRI
After spending from Sunday – Wednesday in Rome, we headed south to “Napoli” to board a high-speed boat to the island of Capri – where Selene and her family also vacationed 2000 years ago.
The Mediterranean Sea was so blue, the hikes were intense, the sun was ALWAYS shining, the buses were super full, the roads were mostly switchbacks, the shops were fantastic, but by far, the best part of Capri were the new friends we met!! I really hope they come to America to visit:
