When we left Borgo Pignano we decided to make a quick stop in Siena for lunch before really hitting the road to Rome. I was so glad we decided to stop here! Each town we visited had it's own unique flavor distinct from all others. In Siena the ceramics shops were to die for! I so wanted to buy a big platter and bring it home with us but it just wasn't feasible with our extremely light packing. Next time!
Siena had narrow roads with no sidewalks and cars zooming in and out of them. There were crazy colored street lights attached right to the sides of the buildings. Such a cool little place!
The town features the blinding white Duomo di Siena and a red brick clock tower in Piazza del Campo. You don't see a lot of red brick in Italy but this place was full of it!
We had lunch at a cafe on the Piazza and Topher enjoyed pasta and a lemon before beginning to totally melt down for nap time.
Christopher really was so good for the most part on this trip but this was one of his big melt-downs. Must have been too much sun and walking around this day!
When we arrived in Rome we went to see the construction of the new LDS Temple there. We thought we would be able to pull in and see it but we had to settle with zooming by on a crazy busy street and finding a view from a nearby neighborhood.
We decided to stay in for dinner that night at the hotel since we were all just pooped. Topher took to his bed with the TV remote and telephone where he refused to do anything but watch cartoons for the rest of the evening.
First thing the next morning we headed to the Colosseum. I have to say that while this place is one of the most iconic sites in the world, I didn't really enjoy it that much. I know that might be surprising but let me explain. The place was absolutely crawling with tourist! The worst part though is that there were so many people trying to sell you tickets and tours. We couldn't take more than a few steps before someone else jumped in front of us asking if we had tickets. Luckily, we did have advance purchase tickets but even then had a hard time figuring out which line to wait in and where to go. It was just so chaotic that I was already super stressed out by the time our tour started.
We had booked tickets for the underground tour which was really cool! We got to see where the animals and gladiators were kept before entering the arena and how they ran the whole place. It was really interesting but Topher wasn't having any of it. He wanted to run away and put his toes in the water and to climb down up and down the walls. It was a little stressful.
We wound our way all the way to the tippy top of the arena where the views were unbeatable. By this time Topher had calmed down a little and was content to play with his construction trucks in the dirt.
We stopped for some lunch at a restaurant that happened to the same one Thomas had eaten at many years before on his last trip to Rome. We wandered through the city for a while just taking in the many sites and ruins. Rome reminded me so much of New York City but with way more old stuff sprinkled in.
Here is a little travel tip for you- gelato can always buy you a few minutes of happiness in the stroller. Most days we had at least one cup of gelato but more often we had two helpings.
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