Day 20/venti

That morning we had along sleep in and a yummy breakfast. After Tom was out of nursery we went to a museum to discover new things. I am also a bit of a fan of doctor who so I went to see some of the places where the clips had been filmed. We had a great day even if Tom did grizzle a bit. We had a yummy lunch with fishfinger sandwiches. Delicious! We had a delicious dinner. One of my favourites, fishpie. After dinner, we had a special surprise awaiting us. We were going to my uncle Mark's  book launch for a book called dopplegangers. The book has a variety of stories inside to read in a genre of si-fi. So we jumped in a taxi and set off. 

We arrived in time. We went through his amazing book launch with my Aunt Fie in fits of laughter and everyone else with sheer joy. He earned a reasonable amount of money from his selling of books ( we got one!) I had some lemonade and chips and My dad and I came home in a heap of exhaustion and I went straight to my comfy warm bed to sleep. 

Day 19/dieci nove

The week went past quickly and before I could write on my blog I had jumped on a train down to Crewe train station. My excitement was emerging since my dad and I were going on a backpacking train trip all the way from London,England,United kingdom to Flaminio train station,Rome, Italy. Taking a long detour of 65 minutes with a train malfunction we were chugging along the icy,misty and cold railway line again. At about 11:45 pm I dozed off into an entranced sleep.

I suddenly woke up with a startle. The train was screeching to a slower pace going off from Crewe and arriving in Cardiff. It was after midnight as finally the train stopped at a halt. We tumbled out of the train and grabbed a taxi. Finally after a 10 minute taxi drive we arrived. We hauled our bags in and went straight to bed without a peep.

Me and Jess with our magnificent gelato!

Me in the bicycle like car. 

Day 18/dieci otto

The day unfolded. Dad had to do marking so Mum was hanging out with us. Girls day! we had a scrumptious breakfast and lunch with an outing to buy some games in between. The afternoon was planned to go to a cd store and arrive at Jessie's soccer in time but, the day worked out differently. We decided not to go to the cd store and skip Jessie's soccer because she badly hurt her leg. So the rest of the day we went to Villa Borghese gardens. The tram stop we got off at was not the right one so we had to walk a bit but we didn't mind. As we walked through the gates we saw a sign with something that looked like and was described like was a car sort of thing. It had four wheels and had a steering wheel and brake. It had threes seats and we used pedals to move the car like a bicycle. We immediately hired one and set off for an hour round the Villa Borghese gardens.

After a good hour of fun we pedaled back to the hire place. We had a good walk down to Piazza del Popolo and zoomed straight into the gelato shop. Mine was delicious! Cookies and cream and Nougat with cream on top. [from Mum - I had the best gelato ever... marscapone and caramelised fig, wow!!] Magnificent! we all walked back home in an exhausted heat, had dinner and went straight to bed.

day 16 / seidici

The day did not have much excitement but the afternoon I was looking foward to. The morning left and the afternoon came. After chillaxing for hours, we went on a hike to a restaurant called Gusto with some friends of Mum's from work. I ordered a Margherita pizza - delicious!! One of the other things that I thought was awesome was that I had a bet with Jess that I could eat the whole pizza, and of course I won! Two Euros for me!! The evening went on as a delightful experience. And sadly we had to go home. We thought about the lovely evening in our dreams.

Day 15 / quindici

We were all ready and packed, we jumped into the car. Off we go! Back to Rome! We drove along a different side of the road (Mum was still getting used to it), we jumped out of the car to stretch and have a snack, but soon enough we were on the road again. After a good one hour and a half's drive, with two toilet breaks we were happy to see a sign that said 'Roma'. As we had just come out of a 10 kilometre tunnel, we were still adjusting to the light. Finally we were back in Rome and Rome's traffic. After returning the car we caught a taxi and came home. The rest of the day we rested and for me it felt like moments when I fell asleep.

Day 14 / quattordici

The day was mostly restful. All we really wanted to do was go to see a soccer match. So we drove down to the pitch but to our disappointment the pitch was empty. Did we get the wrong day or time? Eventually, after traipsing around the town trying to figure out what happened, we realised that we had looked at a poster and the internet with two different days. After our disappointment died down we decided to have a quick snack and sit down. Another disappointment, there was no milk chocolate at the cafe to use for a hot chocolate, so I had to make do with chocolate and orange. Not my favourite, but drinkable! After our snack filled us up we had a poke around the town and did a few errands. We came home and had a leisurely afternoon and watched a family movie to end the day. We all fell into bed and drifted off.

My family, my mum's friends from work and I at dinner at Gusto

Day 13/tredici

We woke up to a fresh start to the morning and rested.

View of my bedroom

By the time we had fully woken up it was already lunchtime. We sat out in the garden with the morning breeze and the sunshine. We could see the mountains and the hills. It was blissful.

view from the villa at Montottone

Beautiful house (and it makes a great soccer pitch too)

After lunch we had a browse in town with a milk chocolate hot chocolate and a croissant to keep us going.

Eating lunch in the sunshine

One of the piazzas in Montottone

A cute kitty sitting outside Bar Rosita

We bought some groceries and came back to the house. The rest of the afternoon we chillaxed and watched movies. Plus we played a family game of soccer with olive trees as the goal posts (Jess and Mum won by one point!) because Dad was being a very bad goalie! When it was dinner we went out to a pizzeria. My pizza was delicious. It had mozzarella, prosciutto, tomatoes and mushrooms. It was divine. We also had for dessert another pizza with cream custard, fruit and stuffed in the crust was nutella. It was beyond divine. We all came home and payed Pictionary and soon after went to bed.

Day 12/dodici

The day started off with a bit of commotion. It was very commotional because we were packing to go to a place 3 hours drive from Rome called Montottone. We drove through misty mountains.

 A hilltop village as we drove past

We also went through a 10 kilometre tunnel. By the time we got to Montottone it was dark and quite late so we were all tired. We had a quick pasta for dinner and went straight to bed.

Day 11/undici

Another relaxing day unveiled! The day was calm. In the morning was a bit of reading and watching T.V. The day unfolded and the art gallery MAXXI had a free section to look at so there was our chance. Out the front there was a HUGE golden lotus flower. It was filled with air and came down when the air came out and expanded when the air arose again. It was so pretty!

Fie, Tom and I went inside to explore. We saw some AMAZING sculptures, stop motion animation films and paintings.

After we explored all the site came outside to let Tom have a run around so he could snooze afterwards. After we all got a bit tired and restless we came back home and the rest of the day we relaxed at home and eventually we all went to bed. 

Day 10/dieci

We packed our bags and set off. We had planned to catch the tram to Piazza del Popolo but, the trams aren't working for all of November. Waiting for a long while to wait for the tram a nice man told us (in Italian) that they weren't working so we walked.

Before long we arrived at the train station. It wasn't that busy and some nice people helped us carry the buggy. The train ride wasn't long as it was only a few stops so we were there in a matter of minutes. The buggy wasn't too hard to get on so we all fitted perfectly. We hopped off the train at Barberini station and climbed the stairs leading near to Fontana di Trevi (Fountain of Trevi). We stopped for a drink and snack. We met up with the rest of the family and started to walk down to Fontana di Trevi.

It wasn't a long walk. We had a few minutes to walk and we arrived. The fountain was beautiful! The water glistened in the sunlight that made it looked lovely. After a while of gazing and taking some photos, we all set of to the Pantheon.

The Pantheon was great to but not as beautiful as Fontana di Trevi (in my point of view). We went out for a delicious meal. I had Fetticine and meat. It was delicious! Then we set off to a church my Dad really wanted to go to and we enjoyed that looking at Michelangelo's sculpture we all went home and had leisurely lunch!

This is me slurping my divine spaghetti bolognese.

 Tom and Fie near the Pantheon.

 The Pantheon.

 Michelangelo's sculpture.

 Photos of church.

Tom fast asleep! CUTE!!!!!

Day 9/nove

The day started off with relaxation and a bit of tiredness. We started to get ready to go to the art gallery which had some exhibitions but they were at different times of the week. But there was some amazing sculptures there like about a shape made out of shoes. The only thing was that there wasn't that many things to look at and the main thing we wanted to do was the exhibition. Instead of going home straight away we had a picnic with the family. We had some crusty bread, some yummy cheese, some magnificent avocado and some delicious tomatoes. It was delicious served with some apple and banana afterwards. After our food went down and we had saw some helicopters that my cousin Tom would point out and scream at we had a runaround with Tom. The obstacle he loved most of all was the stairs. My aunt Fie and I would climb up the stairs and pick up Tom and bounce down the stairs in a laughing heap. It was a lot of fun! But the fun wasn't over yet because just around the corner was an open gelato shop that selled delicious ice-creams. The flavours I got were strawberry, chocolate and lemon (Fragola, Cioccolato and Limone) They were delicious! The day was nearly over but, instead of going straight back to bed we had movie night with chips, we watched Back to the Future. It rocked! Then we went straight to bed at 11:00!

Day 8/otto

On Saturday, the first thing that happened in the day was figuring out a schedule. As the day had woken us up fully we were stuffing our bags full with cameras, phones , maps and so much more to get ready to leave to Piazza del Popolo. Nothing ever changes about the feeling of being in the Piazza del Polpolo square. By the time we had left the square it was past lunchtime and were heading towards the street called Via del Corso that led eventually to Piazza Navona and the Pantheon.

We walked down the street for a good fifteen minutes and turned of into a small side street where Piazza Navona started to come into view. By the time that we could see the square all you could see were buildings and street stalls. The commotion was all wound up into one Piazza. After taking a few photos and looking at different street stalls we moved on to the next activity. The Pantheon.

The Pantheon was vast. There was huge brick walls holding up for around 2000 years now. In history it is known that the Pantheon was the biggest dome to be held by itself in the world. Which is AMAZING! The next thing that happened was that we were going to be late. My dad and I were going to collect some family members from the airport that we hadn't seen since last Christmas. The leanardo express (the train that went straight to the airport) left in a matter of seconds and by the time we had a rest we arrived at the airport. After a good wait we saw my aunt, cousin and gran come to of the doors. After big hugs we all came home and went to the warmest place all day. My bed.

Day 7/sette

The morning was quiet and the afternoon came quickly. As the afternoon arrived, me and my sister got ready and went to the shops with Mum in the city. We went on the metro to the stop San Giovanni and we went to a shop called Coin and I got the most amazing fur coat. We went to some other shops to get tracksuits leggings and an over dress. The day had been great but hectic. We met up with Dad and went out for dinner and I had the best pizza. The pizza I had was a margherita, my favourite. It had a crunchy base and the cheese tasted delicious. We also had for starters a 'suppli' which is a rice ball with mozzarella and tomato, and bruschetta. Delicious! Unfortunately at this point I came down with conjunctivitis and had to go to the pharmacy for medicine. Mum had to use her phone to translate conjunctivitis and 'sore throat' into Italian. As soon as I was up to date with medicine I snuggled into bed and fell fast asleep.

Pictures of the Colosseum.

Day 6/sei

Yesterday we went to the place I have been begging to go to ever since we arrived. The Colosseum. As we arrived at the outside of the Colosseum my eyes got fixated on the strong, beautiful stone walls , as was everyone standing around me their thoughts the same of mine. We had a nice view from where we were standing. It was fabulous! we started walking up the long flights of stairs that led to vaults, underground tunnels and the arena. the experience of being there astounded me and I learnt a lot of information about the gladiator games, such as what happened. Someone who did something against the law or something bad they would get sent to the arena. The vaults and undergroumd tunnel were for the animals. The animals would pop out of trap doors suddenly and would be likely to kill the person, but very rarely the person would kill the animal and be allowed to stay alive so long as he didn't break the law ever again. Back then it was a vicious time. After a while of trooping round the Colosseum we were starving and tired the experience had been great and we had taken some great photos so the day came to a close and we all went home to our comfy beds and soon later fell asleep.  

Just to let you know I'm skipping day 4/ quattro!!!!!!

Day 5/cinque

A few days ago my sister, my dad and I went in the afternoon to the most amazing church. Before we went inside (we had to wait for a while to let it open) we had a look around the tourist attractions near to the church. Seeing that people were lining up to go in we started coming back past the gelato shop and were supposed to stop for a small gelato but ended up with a massive blob on a stick which was only one scoop and we took a while to finish the vanilla substance melting in our mouths. The thing we knew was that we were full and the gates were opening.

A great leap into the San Pietro in Vincoli church and everything behind me faded. It was beautiful. The church was filled with something called frescoes which are paintings of different matters on the ceilings. There were paintings of the pope. In a glass cage there was something called Peter's chains. They were the chains that someone called Peter a disciple wore in prison. He was put in prison because he was Christian. The most popular thing in the church was of course Michelangelo's sculpture of Moses made out of marble. The sculpture took 3 years in total to make. The sculpture has been made with the finest detail using only a hammer and chisel to carve the marble (which is a very strong type of material). Everyone took photos of pictures of the sculpture, Peter's chains and the pope paintings. The church doors faded behind us as we walked back towards the train station on the old streets of Rome!

This is Michelangelo's sculpture. 

These are Peter's chains. 

Photos

                               This is us at the gardens opposite Piazza del Popolo.

                                     This is a photo of the gardens that are opposite the Piazza del            
                                              Popolo.

                         These are some photos of Piazza del Popolo.

                       These are some photos of the colosseum at night.