Roma! Part 1

Two international trips in 2 weeks!  The last one was to Singapore and this time, Bobby had work in Italy.  How could you say no to Rome!?!  We flew standby again - this time just me and the boys since Bobby was already there.  Here goes! Off to the airport.  Lollies right away to keep the boys occupied.  Awwww.... such brotherly love :)

Never a dull moment with these boys.  One of the flight attendants held Charlie in her arms all the way from the back of the plane to the front while we were leaving the plane. And Graham had multiple kisses from the flight attendants. Lipstick on the cheek for proof.  HA HA!

After the early 6-hour flight, we met up with Bobby and checked into the airport hotel.  We had a quick pizza with Parma ham - and I say quick because neither boy wanted to eat any of that ham! We got on the 5pm bus and headed into the city.  The bus ride was about 45 minutes and our "tour guide" was ready to go!

Right off the bat, you can see all the ruins of the city.  Amazing!  We opted to find Foro Romano (the Roman Forum) which wasn't too far away from our stop.  Ok, up the steps...

Hmm.... seems like we are on the outside of the Forum.  How do we get in??? Still quite the view though!

Well, we just kept walking and oh, look! A gelato place.  I guess we are stopping!

We back tracked and figured that looking at the Roman Forum from outside of the fence was good enough.  We walked on. Amazing architecture everywhere! Then, down some steep steps. Charlie wasn't too sure about this one and wanted me to hold his hand:

Okay... not going up there!

We walk around the corner and come up to this amazing building - Piazza Venezia. WOW!

I'm glad I dressed the boys up in bright yellow and red.  There were so many people and as you can tell, so many steps in this city too!  From the top of the building, you can see the traffic below. It's amazing how many tour buses go around this city:

Water break!... as the boys exaggerate on how tired they are after more steps:

Here's the view from the other side of the Piazza.  You can see the Colosseum in the distance. That will be our destination tomorrow!

A quick look in the gift shop.  I noticed this handbag right away.  I thought the old telephone dial was so cute. Not quite  € 249 (or USD282) cute though! And Bobby is probably glad about that too :-P

Charlie loving the art work by the gift shop:

We manage to find our way back to the bus stop.  Phew! Thankfully there's not much entertainment needed on the bus. The boys enjoy looking out the window from high above the big tour bus:

There are people cleaning the windshield of the cars when the traffic stops at the light:

So many Smart car sightings!  Such cute little cars. As you can see, as long (or actually looks like it's shorter) than a motorcycle!

And then,... we fall asleep:

Thankfully the bus is not very full so Graham has the entire backseat!

Rome is already leaving such a great first impression for me and the boys. Can't wait to see more the next day!

To be continued...