After very good progress (we havent really seen any traffic problems in 7 weeks!) with the temperature dropping nicely as evening approached we figured we might as well continue to rome as it was now only 2 or so hours away rather than drive an hour out of our way to stop for the night. We stormed rome under the cover of darkness negotiating its double helix under passes/over passes and surprise-a-passes with sore knees from the steering and a need for loose fitting underwear, arriving at camping Tiber at about 9pm. Having organised the van into sleeping mode (move the slovenian wicker basket, 'pinky red' as charlotte calls it - wicker seat, makapaka II, bbq and everything else we've accumulated ! And we thought it was full when we left!), we hit the sack planning a full day of relaxation by the pool.
The pool was great, no frills, just oblong but with hammocks, sun beds and tables and chairs around the edge and shade provided by parasols and trees, and a kiosk selling snacks, beer, a mojito for daddy (thinking of you in the office gazza!) and ice cream - it was just what we needed. It was quiet too and we managed to get a couple of hammocks and table under the trees and spent most of the day there jumping in the pool to cool off and have a splash about with our water babies. Jem's doggy paddle improved with an occasional few metres of breast stroke, charlotte floated about or got piggy backs from daddy and zoe splashed about objecting profusely to going in her baby float and snoozed in the hammock with mum. Back at the camper the kids amused themselves with the fallen leaves which made into helmets, shields or bunches of flowers whilst we got ready for a day in Rome, then early to bed.
We left early (9am - about 5 hours after 'american dad' who had pitched next to us late the night before...they left at the crack of dawn, dad striding in front checking watch, kids in synchronous check plus fours behind, no doubt the words 'son...take no notice of the guide..i'll tell yer why the romans couldn't have won the iraq war' would have been uttered at some point that day) on saturday heading to the vatican city as realised that the museum was closed on sundays. A shuttle bus then a 20 min train journey got us into the centre of the city then a couple of stops on the metro and we were there. The moment we emerged from the underground we were approached by a friendly tout who persuaded us to take a formal tour promising that we'd be inside within 15 mins rather than the 1.5 hour wait in the queue. Probably about 40 mins and 80 euros later, after walking around the complete outside wall and playing about with dodgy radio sets on a street corner, explaining to jem that no, 'hope' wouldn't be here (neither would the 'pope' today) and we were inside - no queue, phew! It started out well and our guide knew his stuff but the comms gear had seen better days and after much whistling and beeping to the point where charlotte refused to wear hers the guide gave up using it and resorted to shouting which, 10 people deep and with 3 children to contain meant that we missed most of what was said, losing him completely in the cistine chapel after having to hold back for charlotte to remove her knickers (to wee in a nappy..but another good wedding day story - the only girl to take her knickers off in the vatican), catching up as he was saying his goodbyes (and we thought we still had the basilica included in the tour too!). So all in all we decided tours may not be our thing as they don't wait for buggies or wee stops, you can't speed up when the kids get bored or stop for a rest and hand held radios only work with kids if you have 3 preferably 4 hands and then they crackle through the important stuff and give up completely.... but at least we avoided the queues! Dazed by the sheer quantity of art and scale of the vatican city we headed off in search of a bite to eat. Finding ourselves back outside the restaurant where we'd handed over a pair of folding nail scissors (security almost as bad as heathrow) and against our better judgement we went inside and ordered reasonably priced food for the location but omitted to check the price of slush puppy at 7 euro each - we had 3! (1.5 Eu in venice) or single scoop ice cream at 6.5 Eu each and we came out feeling somewhat ripped off. Putting it all down to experience we headed back for a cool off in the pool and trip to the playground where ant and i fed the local mosquito population for half an hour before we called it a day. Another early start to day 2 in the city was rewarded as we came out from the metro to see the massive collosseum right in front of us. Again another tout offering a queue jumping all inclusive tour for 25 euros each though he thought zoe might be free! Learning from our vatican experience we thought that we'd do a little exploration first, to find yes quite a long queue but with an official guided tour for just 16 Eu each (kids free) would take us straight to the front. 15 mins later and we were inside this gigantic structure where gladiators, lions, leopards, elephants had been fighting in around 80 AD and then penguins and baby cheatas in the 21st century. Built in less time than it took to build Terminal 5 (only 10 years). Unfortunately once again the comms gear failed and again our very knowledgeable guide resorted to shouting so again we missed some of the good bits, but we got to explore afterwards at our own pace and the kids loved it. After a stop in the gift shop we grabbed a bite to eat (water to drink only today!) and carried on walking north taking in the palentine hill, pantheon, trevie fountain and the spanish steps as well as many other monuments and beautiful yet gigantic structures the romans seemed to have just constructed here and there, along the way. We couldn't get over how much there was to see. You'd turn a corner in a side street next to the 'Spar' to find 8 huge columns... And the depth of the beauty as you looked beyond one gorgeous building there was a beautiful arch and beyond that another extravagant structure. The romans certainly knew how to build with style and on such a massive scale they must have thought they'd gone to a model village when they went to england. Lots of cheers for the children for their mammoth sight seeing achievement then back to the campsite for the last 40 mins of the pool then supper in the restaurant before taking our tired tribe off to bed.
We were sorry to leave the next day as we'd very much enjoyed Rome and had aclimatised somewhat to the heat too (though cooler than venice it was still incredibly hot), but we were conscious of time and wanted to spend a little while chilling in the italian alps after 3 cities in a row, so on monday morning we packed up again and set our sights on a campsite that looked from the map as though it was on a little spit just past Pisa.
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