The Borghese Gallery and Park

Rome has a beautiful park some people compare to Central Park in NYC, the Borghese Park. In the park there are several museums and a zoo. We went to one of the main museums, The Borghese Gallery. It was amazing we saw sculptures by Bernini as well as paintings by Caravaggio and Raphael to name a few. Every room in it was decorated beautifully not only with the hung and sculpted pieces but all the ceilings had paintings on them with ornate moldings some of which were painted on! It was great. 

After we were done at the museum we headed out of the park towards where we thought a Modern Art Museum was...but sadly we never found it that first day. Instead we stopped for our first gelato at another art museum which we did not go into we just ate at their outdoor cafe. After that we wondered around by where we thought the MAXXI Modern Art Museum was and then ended up walking quite a ways up stream by the river. The river was a lot higher then it usually was due to heavy rain fall north of the city. We made it to a cool foot bridge which we crossed and then walked back on the other side of the river. It was a fun but tiring afternoon. That night we caught the 8 o'clock shuttle back to the Hotel and ate there in the concierge lounge. 

Our first meal in a Roman Trattoria

We found a great little Trattoria where we each had a pizza and enjoyed every bite. Will got a basic Margarita one but I got a lot of fun things on mine. I can't remember the name of it but it had ham, mushrooms, eggplant and black olives with the pits still in them. It was very yummy. After lunch we had to hurry over to the Bourghese Gallery where we had a reserved tour time. 

Our fist morning in Rome

We started off by walking around the city a bit and looking at the sights after getting a cab into the city. The cool thing is around any corner could be a fountain sculpted by Bernini or a paizzi (a city square). And on the fist morning that is what happened. We came across some Roman ruins and then found a Bernini fountain in the middle of Barberini paizzi. (we spent a lot of time in Barberini paizzi because this is where our shuttle bus dropped us and picked us up from the hotel). We were consulting a map of course but where not watching it too close so when we came upon the Spanish Steps, which we had seen the night before on our tour, we were pleased. It was fun looking over the rooftops and seeing all the gardens on them. We where making our way towards the Bourghese Park and in it the Bourghese Gallery.

Our first night in Rome!!!

We were exhausted from the flights but the excitement won over and we went for our night tour of the city. The first shot below is of Will reading a magazine in our hotel room up on a hill above Rome. You can see the view from our balcony of Saint Peters's Basilica on the right side and of the sounding area in Rome! It was amazing! 

The tour guide who drove us picked us up a the hotel and drove us around the city letting us get out at several points and telling us about the history or Rome. We drove around all of Rome from the thick wall that used to contain the city to the Colosseum and the Vatican. He helped orient us and told us where to shop and about the modern government building that the Romans nick named the wedding cake. He gave us advice of where to eat the Trattorrias as they are where the Romans eat. He was very nice. It was great. 

We were able to get a photo taken by our tour guild in front of the Colosseum and then we saw the Trevi Fountain which we went back to three or five more times while we walked around the city during our stay. 

A snow igloo

We got a few inches of snow at the beginning of November and Elsie and Will took advantage of it! Will shoveled it into a huge pile by the rocks. Then they shoveled a huge cave into it. Elsie called it her igloo and loved it. It took over a week to melt!

Spanish books

It was so nice of Grandma and her sister to give Elsie a few new spanish books. And such fun ones too. She had Will read them to her that night!

The zoo

We finally made it to the zoo again. It was sad though because the gorilla building was being worked on so the picture of the gorillas that you measure up to was not there. We have a picture of Elsie by it when she was only one and a half but this time we had to settle for the orangoutang picture. We did get to see a baby giraffe which was cool too. The zoo is always a fun place to go! 

Trick or Treat

After all the fun we had getting ready for halloween we finally got to go trick or treating on Halloween night. Below is Elsie at our neighbors house. We ended our trick or treating night at our good friends house. While we waited for their daughter (Elsie's little friend) to get back from her trick or treating Elsie helped to hand out the candy. Then they worked together. Elsie liked her vampire teeth the most.

Halloween suprise

On Halloween we got to have a late lunch with Charity and Greg. They were stranded in Washington State due to the hurricane Sandy aftermath in NYC. They were actually having a long layover here on there way back home. I guess they did not loose power in there apartment but the water covered the carousal and closed down the subway nearby. We had a great little walk after lunch as well.

Halloween at school

Elsie got to have a fun day on Halloween at school. It happened to fall on a short day so the party lasted the whole day. They started out with a parade around the school which I got to watch. Elsie is puffing her cheeks out in the picture below...it is called making bubbles the teachers have them walk in the halls this way to keep them from talking. She was also giving hugs to her self to keep her hands to herself. She is so cute and is such a great student! After the parade they had a party which I got to help with too. I did a craft and there where two games, one I prepared and someone else ran and also a cooky decorating station. I think the kids had fun Elsie said she did.