1. This picture is taken inside the Colosseum, the floor is missing , so you can see the hallways and rooms that were beneath the main "stage" area.
2. The tallest part of the Colosseum. Taken from the outside.
3. The white benches are where the Senators sat during "performances"
Here are some of the pictures we took while in Rome.
1. Basilica Di Santa Maria Maggiore- Consecrated by Pope Sixtus III in 431
2. Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II- The building of this gargantuan monument to the memory of the first king of united Italy began in 1885 and continued for half a century. The classical style structure, decorated wth bronze scultrual groups, houses the Altar of the Nation and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
3. Castel Sant'Angelo- was originally the Mausoleum of Hadrian, designed and built by the Emperor in 130 AD as his final resting place. Under Aurelian, the mausoleum became part of th edefensive system raised to protect the Pons Ealius, today's Ponte Sant'Angelo (Sant'Angelo Bridge), while still continuing to play it's original role as a place of burial. 1n 520, Theodoric transformed the building into a prison, a function it carried out until 1901. It also continued to operate as a fortress.
4. Temple of Vesta, dedicated to Hercules Holivarius, patron of the Portus Tiberinus oil merchants. built in the 2nd century BC.
5. Kimberly, Mac, and Kendra on the tour bus in Rome. What a group of good-looking kids!! :)
6. Bocca della Verita-(the Mouth of Truth) Made famous (in my opinion) by the movie Roman Holiday. This is believed to have been a sewer cover, the face is that of a river god. The myth is that if you place your hand in his mouth and lie, the jaws will clamp shut and cut off your hand.
7. Trevi Fountain- If you make a wish and throw a coin in the fountain it is said you will return to Rome one day... Paul and I threw in our coins :)
I've seen this sentiment so many times throughout the journals here in J-land. I think we all need to write to AOL and make this wish obvious...... I wish that there were more moods to select from... or at the very least.. the option to type in your own mood!
Having said that.... HAPPY EASTER!!!! Even though I know that my kids are "too old" to do the whole Easter Bunny thing.. I fixed them up some Easter Bags with some goodies for the day.
Well.. this is just a quick check in.. the vacation was fabulous and I will be back with pictures (I hope) and lots of details later!
We're taking off on Tuesday to Rome. We are using a local european company called RyanAir. They have some great prices.. Kind of like the prices you can find between Phoenix and San Diego (and other short trips like that). The draw back is that it's truly a no frills airline and you have a weight limit on your luggage. You can't double up the amount.. so like Paul and I can't share a suitcase and have double the weight limit. Sounds like fun, huh? Trouble is... we end up with five suitcases, but no one person reaches the weight limit (although Paul and I both come close).
So.. this afternoon was spent doing the laundry and then packing the suitcases and weighing them. On the plus side, we'll have some room for souvenirs :)
I need to get going on my day, but wanted to stop in and tell you all about our fabulous weekend.
We arrived at Edelweiss at a good time, checked in and stowed all our stuff up in our rooms. Dinner was next on our agenda. Friday nights fare was German. There was schnitzel and herbed chicken, all types of potatos and "spaetzelkase" (a cheesy noodle), as well as a fresh salad bar. I wish I could say I made great, low cal choices.. but at least I can say I made great choices. The hardest part to pass by is the dessert cart. But I did keep myself to one selection.
Later in the evening, we took the kids down to the video game room and we (Paul and I) stopped off at the bar next door and had a drink. The kids had a great time challenging each other on the various games and Paul and I had a very leisurely period where we savored our drinks and talked.
Saturday morning, after breakfast, the boys were off to their snowboarding lesson. The girls and I went down to the pool and swam and played, did some aerobics in the pool. Then we sat out in the hot tub and enjoyed that delicious feel of cool air on the shoulders and head, while the lower body is being bubbled into bliss. After that, we sat in the steam room for a while and caught up on what's been going on.
We met up with the boys for lunch... a quick affair with choices like hot dogs, chicken, hamburgers. After lunch, the kids once more headed off for the game arcade and Paul and I went shopping in Garmisch. I found some really great fabric for Paul's mom (she's a quilter). She is always after us to send fabric from the places we get stationed overseas. This time I hit the jackpot, having found a store that makes the traditional garb of the Bavarian area of Germany.
After walking through most of the shopping areas, we headed back to the hotel. We grabbed up the kids and went back down to the pool. I wanted Paul to soak in the hot tub. While I know he enjoyed the snowboarding lessons, I also know that he fell a few times and I wanted him to soak some of that soreness away. Late afternoon we headed back up to our rooms to clean up for dinner.
After dinner, we just relaxed in our rooms.. watching TV and I gave Paul a much needed foot massage.
Sunday morning it was the relaxed breakfast, followed by the hectic scramble to get the car packed up . We had a great week end.. even if it was a little short. :) Still it was a nice break before we take off on our trip to Italy in 9 days!!
Edelweiss has put together a really good package for the returning soldiers... room and meals one price (which is a great deal because the food is good and expensive). We are gettting two rooms plus breakfast and dinner each day we are there, for about the same price I paid when the kids and I went up earlier this winter .... but the price I paid was for one room and NO MEALS!!! So I'm thrilled with this deal.
Garmisch itself is a quaint little town with lots of shopping possibilities, so I'm hoping we'll get a chance to go downtown and do a bit of looking around. When I was there with the kids before, it was too cold for them <eye roll> so I did not get to see anywhere near as many shops as I would have liked.
