{EUROPE} Day Ten - Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy

Reunited in Rome!

The last time we were in Rome was on our honeymoon about 18 1/2 years ago!

Oh, happy day! We arrived in Civitavecchia before sunrise, and the kids and I met up with our driver, Nico. He was awesome and took us straight to the airport in Rome to pick up Hubby!!!

We then spent the next several hours moving from stop to stop, visiting the highlights...

To me, Rome is one of those cities, much like New York City and Washington D.C., that deserves multiple visits or a couple longer visits in order to see all that it has to offer. It would be easy to spend a week here and not see everything. So, with only a few hours to spend, we were thankful to have our own personal "hop on, hop off" driver. Thank you, Grandma!

Our first stop, the Victor Emmanuel II Monument, was a new one for both Hubby and me... 

The monument was beautiful and offered us our first views of our next stop, the Colosseum, in the distance...

Once we arrived at the Colosseum, we stopped to get something to drink...

and tried some espresso, too!

We then took in the sights around the Colosseum!

{December 2003}

From there, we made a stop at the magnificent Trevi Fountain...

and tossed our coins in, of course, guaranteeing our return to Rome!

Evidently, you're supposed to throw your coins in using your right hand over your left shoulder, but I've always just tossed it in (with my left hand) while facing the fountain...oops!

Well, it's worked both times for me so far!

{July 2001}

Next, we stopped by the Spanish Steps...

and then, over to the Pantheon...

where we got some gelato!

Mango for M, Cream & Chocolate for B, Hazelnut for Hubby, and Lemon for both L and me...

From there, Nico suggested that we make a stop at Piazza Navona...

It was beautiful...

Our last stop of our whirlwind day, was at St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City...

Of course, the kids will have to come back and visit the Sistine Chapel one day...

The last time the two of us were here...

was on Christmas Eve night back in 2003...

{December 2003}

Before heading back to the port, we stopped once more, right outside Vatican City, to grab drinks...

With that, we headed back to the ship to get Hubby checked in and ready to sail...

All in all, I think we succeeded in giving the kids a good taste of Rome, with the hopes that they'll each return someday and get the chance to see some more!

More {EUROPE} 2022 Fun

Day One - Barcelona Day 1
Day Two – Barcelona Day 2
Days Three & Four – Barcelona Day 3 + AT SEA
Days Five & Six – Gibraltar + AT SEA
Day Seven – Marseille, France
Day Eight – Rapallo, Santa Margherita Ligure & Portofino (Genoa), Italy
Day Nine – Pisa (Livorno), Italy
Days Eleven & Twelve – Pompeii (Naples), Italy + AT SEA
Day Thirteen – Heraklion, Crete, Greece
Day Fourteen – Ephesus (Kusadasi), Turkey
Day Fifteen – Istanbul, Turkey
Day Sixteen – Mykonos, Greece
Day Seventeen – Athens, Greece + HOME!