The minute the girls were out of school this summer, we took off! Mrs. CB’s sister and her family were in Rome for the start of a wonderful cruise, and we jetted off to meet them. We had the most horrendous last-minute flight cancellation, but I won’t bore you with the details. I’m sure you have heard plenty of terrible travel stories from this summer, and we did not escape the chaos. But we hit the ground running when we landed with a tour of the Vatican. Unfortunately, our oldest Cinnamon Stick and I missed the tour due to motion sickness. But the rest of the crew enjoyed the tour. Of course, Rome is a crazy busy city, and it was super hot. One of our tour guides said, “you want to know what August in Rome is like? It’s like today. Today is August in Rome.” It was mid-June, 32°C. Hot.

The food more than made up for the heat. Here we are enjoying a fantastic dinner on our first night out:

I think we sampled 50% of the gelato establishments in the city. And we found some great ones. There is one called Guttilla and we only found it on our last day. Here’s a typical action shot:

One of the highlights of the trip was our tour of the Colosseum. Our tour guide was fantastic and lively. When sharing stories about the Colosseum he talked about all the fierce animals that were released onto the grounds. Our youngest Stick suggested he add feral hamsters to the list. The whole tour group got a good laugh and he said he was going to add it to his schtick, which he hasn’t changed in 10 years. So we’ve got that going for us. Later he used the word “deflowered” in one of his stories. Again, our youngest daughter patiently raised her hand. When he was finished he called on her, “What does deflowered mean?” she asked sweetly. Let’s just say she was a crowd favorite.

Later we had some more fantastic food!

The next day, we wished our cousins well as they departed on their cruise. We will miss them:

Given that it was so hot, Mrs. CB managed to find a great hotel with a beautiful pool in the hills above Rome, so that we could spend the day relaxing in a style to which we are not accustomed. It was the perfect end to a wonderful Roman experience, complete with lots of shade and fresh granitas to keep us cool!

Arrivederci, Roma! To be continued…