There's no place like Roma

The A1 highway opened early the next morning and after a leisurely and tasty breakfast at the hotel, we left in high spirits for Rome to stay with my sister and niece.  Joey was ready to go.

We felt my sister had been appropriately warned and yet she still offered to house us for several days!

We arrived around noon.  The parking gods were with us, granting us a spot just outside Katherine's apartment.  She came to meet us during her lunch hour. 

We then disgorged the entire contents of the Peugeot into her comfortable and spacious apartment.

Shortly after settling in, Katherine returned with Ella and we went for a walk in her neighborhood and down to the Coliseum.

The boys were thrilled to see all the centuries old city walls that blended so easily with the major streets in Rome. I marveled again at the strong construction and what these walls have endured over the centuries.

The grassy areas near the walls were now dog parks and small soccer fields. A large walkway abutted the grass with bikers and families pushing strollers filled with little Romans.  It was very peaceful.

We then passed through the old city walls and made an uphill hike to the Colosseum.

I was so excited for the boys to see this famous building.  Joey and Sammy had been hearing a lot about gladiators inside the Colosseum and were hoping to spot a few of them on the way.

Lanna and Ella, however, were pretty content and quietly passed out in their strollers on the way down (which is impressive given the long, long stretches of bumpy cobblestones).

Then, as we ambled down the hill, the Colosseum came into sight.  The boys faces lit up in awe.  Lanna and Ella slept.

Fortunately the girls woke up shortly after that.  Ella was apparently ravenous and decided Sammy looked delicious (fortunately my sister prevented any cousin cannibalism).

The walking had worked up quite an appetite, so we decided to head back to Katherine's apartment where she generously offered to prepare one of her favorite pasta dishes (and since she had been living in Rome since 2000, we highly respect her execution of Italian cuisine).

After dinner we took another small walk down the block to introduce the boys to gelato.  We ourselves were impressed that we had been in Italy for a full week and had not yet had gelato.

At first they were quite distraught that a frozen dessert would not be a popsicle.

Fortunately they quickly learned to appreciate the joys of gelato. 

They also created some dynamic gelato-staches for themselves.

So did Lanna.

Tired and coated with delicious Italian gelato, we made the slow walk back to my sister's apartment.  

It was time to get some sleep because the next day would be busy - a ride on the high speed train line to Pompeii!