Italy - Saturday Afternoon

After touring the Vatican, we finally found a place to eat lunch. It was a touristy place, but it was food at least.

Jackson loved playing with Lauren while we waited for our food.


Kisses from Lauren!


The meal came with galato. Jackson got menta of course!

After eating, we ended up taking a hop on hop off tour. I really wanted to see the Circus Maximus, and I wanted to return to the Coliseum to get a family picture. When we left the day before, Jackson was asleep. We were not going to wake him up to take a picture!! Everyone promised me that we would return for the picture, and my family was so nice to honor that promise.

On the tour, we went past the American Embassy.

Jackson LOVED sitting on the top deck. Papa J sat up there with him the entire time. Papa J was a trooper too. Eventually, every time a car honked their horn, Jackson would say, "Hey!" He thought it was hilarious that the cars would honk occasionally.

The pretty side of the Coliseum. I took this picture as we drove by it.

We hopped off the bus for this stop and took pictures.

Papa J and Mama J with Lauren. Jackson wasn't really cooperating to get in the picture. That's alright though. One of these days, he will have a 3 year old and will remember reading this blog and will smile in understanding!

I loved just looking at the Coliseum. I kept telling myself that I was really there.

We started walking towards the Circus Maximus. On the way, we saw an aqueduct. Jackson had learned all about aqueducts and he was excited to see one finally!

Our first peek at the Circus Maximus. This is all that is left of the buildings.

The Circus Maximus sign.

Here is the view of the buildings from the other side.

This is it. You can still see the rings in the dirt where the chariots raced. It's cool! People were down running around the rings. There were even people playing soccer! At the far end, tents were set up for a function. I was really surprised at this famous landmark being so open for everyone to just walk on. Since we had the strollers, we didn't go down and walk on it.

The view of the buildings behind the Circus Maximus.

After seeing the Circus Maximus, we headed back to the hotel. I still hadn't had a slice of pizza from the pizza shops all over the place. I quickly ducked into a pizza shop and bought the best tasting pizza I think I have had! It was delicious. The cut the pizza and folded it together like a sandwich. I did share with everyone, and they loved it too!

Here is a picture of the cobblestone streets. This was a smooth street. It was interesting at times pushing strollers on the streets!

Something else that was all over Roma, was graffiti. It was EVERYWHERE!! Evidently, the Romans really like graffiti and think it is pretty. It is all over the place. Mama J told us that they even uncovered graffiti from Ancient Roman times. Interesting.