Today had us visiting the Coliseum and experiencing the world of gladiators!  The structure of the building is incredible. One of my  questions was if the Romans could put a tarp on it in 880 AD, why can’t the powers that be put a roof on the new Rider Stadium?? The Romans also need knew how to tailgate, support their heroes, hangout in the bathroom together and meet new friends, and enjoy themselves at the Games. I think they were probably the original Rider fans or else we are all descendants of them!

We toured the Forum and truly witnessed the “lasagna” which is the different layers of history of buildings and civilizations in Rome. It makes me question why in Canada we think that buildings need to be torn down after 40-50 years. We could learn some things from the Romans. I guess they put their money into building materials and not so much into labor costs. They mustn’t have had to worry about unions back then. 😜

As we left Rome after lunch, our tour guide played an Italian song, “arrivedeci Roma” as good bye Rome. We were to promise to come back to Rome at sometime in our lives. Our group enjoyed the atmosphere, the hospitality, and the food of Rome very much!  First leg of our journey has been a success and now we are enroute to Florence on our bus with a pirate symbol on it!  One young man from Montmarte enjoyed Rome so much, he and an adult are staying behind to get a new passport created for him. We are told they will catch up to us via train when it comes/is created. We hope to see them soon as no one wishes that kind of bad luck on anyone 😢

We have many pics that we have taken but our wifi has been intermittent so I haven’t been able to post any yet. As a funny side note, Carter has brought a pic of his sister with him and has been taking pics with the pic in different situations. Today we took an Altwasser family pic at the Roman Forum with Justine. 😊.

Jackson and Noah continue to show their youth and exuberance by literally bouncing off the walls on our walks as they run up the walls and bounce off of big stones. I keep trying to capture it on camera, but they are really fast. They both are really enjoying their selfie sticks they have purchased for their phone cameras (many of us have purchased them as they are the “thing” to buy from the street vendors).

Kane’s quiet gentle smile is quite common these days as he quietly drinks in the sights and smells of Rome. He is always quick to notice small details. He quickly pointed out that the lines at the Colisuem were so much longer when we came out then when we came in. He knew exactly where we were and where we had been.

Jordyn is showing that she is a shrewd bargainer as she comes back from the vendors with much better deals than anyone else seems to acquire. She would be great the vendors on the Mexican beaches.

Italian gestures for speaking:

Fingers together and pointing towards yourself- what the hell are you talking about?

Finger in cheek- delicious!

Gunshot – it is finished

Hang 10 symbol – your spouse is committing infidelity

Hand up and sliding away – go away. Add a hand chop and it means or else I will beat you.

Momma Mia- I miss my mommy now.

Ciao Rome and bring on Florence and Pisa!

We stopped at a market and tried some samples of pate, oil, vinegar, wine, hand lotion, etc. A good stop! We saw the train go by us on its track. It was going 280 km a hour. A wee bit faster than our bus. Haha!

Have hit very heavy traffic enroute to Florence delaying our arrival by 2 hours.

We have arrived at the hotel! 2 hrs passed our eta. We have witnessed travel jams in Canada before but nothing like that!  At one point our tour director hopped out of the bus, directed traffic so we could drive down the wrong way to bypass everyone. As he strolled away from us with a purpose, Carter said, “Daniele is going to kick some Italian ass!”  We are all good except for some empty stomachs and very full bladders. All is good!

Welcome to the Montmarte parents who are reading! Hope I haven’t spilled any beans. Your kids are great and very friendly towards ours!  Prairie  kids rock in and out of the country!