Rome (Day 5)

Monday was the first sunny day and we wanted to take full advantage of the dry weather and spend the day at Palatine Hill and the Forum.  On the way we stopped at church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin to see the Bocca della Verita or mouth of truth.  The legend says if a liar puts their hand in the open mouth it will be bitten off.  We had seen it in Roman Holiday the night before and wanted to try it ourselves.

Luke was nervous to put his hand in by himself.

Circus Maximus
An ancient Roman chariot racing stadium.

A Roman aqueduct.

First we went to the Palatine Hill which was a residential and civic center in ancient Rome.

A great view of the Colosseum.

The Roman Forum was originally a marketplace.  It later evolved into the religious and political center of Rome.

Luke took a spill on the cobblestones and
 broke his coccyx.  Not really, but he
 did eat it pretty hard.

There were lots of orange and lemon trees.

When I saw my face in the above picture it reminded me of how often I felt impatient with the kids on our travels.  I can imagine I just said one of the following:  "stop fighting; give me the camera; I have no idea where the nearest bathroom is; we don't have any more snacks; I only brought one pair of gloves for you if you lost them you're out of luck; we just ate; the water bottle is empty and I don't know where we can refill it; etc., etc.,"

But now as I'm sitting at my kitchen counter typing this I wish I would have been better at letting all that go and enjoying the moment in Paris and the moment in Cassis and the moment in Rome.  After being home for only a week it is hard not to feel like we never left.  Sometimes I have to convince myself that it wasn't all a dream.

We arranged to meet a couple of our students who were also traveling in Rome.  See, I knew we'd see them again soon.