Roman Forum and the Palentine

Our first full day in Rome we planned to do the Roman Forum and the Palentine. The day before was our first real day which we spent getting off the cruise ship, waiting in the rain and cold for our driver and heading to the hotel. Once settled at the hotel we realized that we were not prepared for rain and cold which was forecasted again that week so we headed out to find some warmer clothes. We got incredibly lost, were miserable but we finally found some store, found some food and hoped that the next day would be much better!

We walked from our hotel to the Roman Forum/Palentine and it was a long walk but a beautiful day! We passed through Campo de' Fiori which is a square just across the river from our hotel. We walked through there almost everyday. On the weekends there is a busy market, in the evenings there are lively street entertainers which were a blessing when trying to entertain kids during long dinners and best of all there were many restaurants that served food earlier in the evening! We ate at one twice and it was delicious!

We made it to the Palentine. We did the Palentine/Roman Forum first mainly because the line is MUCH shorter than the Colosseum and you can buy a combo ticket for all three that is valid for two days. So, we did the Palentine/Roman Forum and then the next day was able to pass all of the lines and walk straight to the front of the Colosseum which was perfect!

The Palentine was interesting....kind of. John was in love with all of Rome and the ruins and I just got bored after awhile and had a hard time picturing all of it. I did love how restful the whole Palentine area was and the beauty of the trees and feeling of seclusion from Rome.

The Roman Forum was more ruins but some impressive arches. Peyton loved that this arch was the arch of Titus. She liked that it was the same name as our dog. 

A beautiful sunny...and eventually hot day in Rome! We headed back to the hotel after this as we agreed to keep things easy and not do too much in one day. It was the perfect amount of things to see and after naps we went out and explored some more and ate dinner. And we bought a stroller....more to come on that....