Rome

August 15, 2022

A little voice calls out in the dark “ï’ve got a sore tummy!”it says. The sky lightens here very early, Ben is up in the other room working so Alila has snuck in next to me. I doze off but something wakes me, unfortunately April has vomited and amazingly holding it in her mouth, but the loo is occupied and the splatter of water on cheap laminate floor has me jumping out of bed, lucky its just a watery mess.

April is sound asleep with her little bucket, we have a couple of hours till check out and let her sleep while we pack our bags and Alila and I pop to the nearest Pret a Manger store to pick up a coffee and breakfast. Ben is analiysing google maps - a taxi will take 40min longer than if we walk - bus - train. So at the last moment we wake April and help her dress, as we head out the door I grab a plastic shopping bag just in case as April is looking like a little ghost. The walk-bus goes well and we find our platform easy enough, then we’re gliding along to Gatwick with the city flashing past our window and only one little spew.

Somehow the check in on Whizz Air takes over 2 hours, even though we lined up 3 hours before our flight, so we are dashing for the security line and on to the gate, a brief moment in another line gives me and Alila a chance to grab a few bags of chips and a bottle of water which will have to suffice as lunch. But then the line is inching forward once more to board the plane, we’ve done a lot of waiting in line and no ones had chance to use the loo. We buckle up and as the plane moves April realises she is desperate to go. The air hostess shakes her head, I cross my fingers. As soon as that seatbelt light flicks off I’m up with April racing down the aisle and the air hostess leans over and clicks the door open as we dash in, phew.

Its only a short 2 hour flight and we’re disembarking down the stairs to 3 awaiting buses, we take the first one thinking it’ll be quicker, but they all leave at the same time, stopping together, doors opening together then everyone piling off together and trying to file through two doors into the arrivals hall. It was a long bus ride to the terminal and then a long walk back to security. We’re through quickly to the baggage claim where we wait for our bags for an hour. We have a few grumbles about flying low cost airlines as we’ve wasted so much time today. We’re all hungry cause we missed lunch so we skip the train ride and grab a taxi to the Centro. The taxi driver thinks he’s in the Grand Prix and is a quite gruff, they definitely drive aggressively here despite the streets becoming so narrow we can only just squeeze round corners. We wheel our suitcases noisily up the narrow cobbled street, the sound echoing off the 5 storeys all around us. We reach the doorway of our apartment and here is Carlos to greet us. We take two lifts as they are super tiny. The place is very authentic and has an interesting spiral staircase which is next to the normal staircase which is a bit odd but makes for fun and games hiding and racing each other to the bottom as you can cut between each one on the landings.

Its very much dinner time so we line up the suitcases and head down the spiral staircase and out the big doors to the street. We duck down a side alley, passed some restaurants and find a spot with a gregarious host who waves us in. April is dead keen to have pasta but when her big plate of spaghetti bolognaise arrives she’s not so sure. Her little tummy does manage some bread and pizza before I whisk her off to bed. Ben and Alila dive deeper down the narrow streets, as the sky darkens and the day cools off they really come alive with people. Alila tells me in the morning that they had gelato, saw the Pantheon and watched a very cool mime which she insists we try to find every time we near Piazza Navoni.

Early in the morning I peer down at the street below. The tables are empty and there’s no one bustling by, but there is traffic noise from a nearby street. This is a very old part of town and its amazing to think of the people who’ve passed by this window. Today we have a tour of the Colosseum booked and so smelling of sunblock we head down the stairs, through the big doors onto the street. We head south east past the Pantheon towards the Colosseum stopping by a tiny supermarket for water and a snack. Ben suddenly realises how late its getting so we race to the underground so as we don't miss our tour. The ticket machine is tricky but spits out two tickets, we take two stops and change trains, and two stops later we exit the underground into a crowd of people milling around in the shadow of the Colosseum. I find Fabiola with a ‘Jones Family’ sign and after she’s checked we have water and a brief introduction to the other two families we’re away to the entrance.

We’ve done some research about the gladiators so the girls soak up some of the information Fabby is pouring over us in her thick Italian accent. Its hot and the girls look tired and we have accidentally bought fizzy water, after a small bribe of lemonade at the exit and a few sips of water later they seem to perk up. Alila really enjoys the Roman Forum as she's researched Julius Caesar and we even see where they laid his body after he was betrayed and murdered, grim.