Famiglia Visit

My family has now come, and gone, from Rome and it was a wonderful visit!  Everyone arrived, safely and with no problems, on Saturday, November 19.  Saturday afternoon I took the bus into the city to meet them at their apartment.  Their apartment was in a perfect location, right between Piazza del Popolo and the Spanish Steps.  That is close to the major sights in Rome, and I get off the tram at Piazza del Popolo.  I was so happy to see everyone that I didn't even care that I needed to walk up about a million steps in their apartment!!  (You entered the apartment on the main floor which had nothing on it, then each floor only had one room, with the kitchen on the 4th floor!)  Saturday was a relaxing day since they had been traveling all day and night.

On Sunday I took them to Porta Portese (of course!) and even ran into Alissa there, which is unusual bc it is such a large place with many people!!  But, naturally, Alissa and I were both at the same stand looking at things. I had a major crisis at Porta Portese right before I wanted to leave.  I walked up a few stands, away from my mom (I was on a mission to find black boots!) and Michael followed me.  I was trying some boots on and went to ask Michael to hold my bags, but he had already left, so I set them on the table.  I couldn't decide on the boots, so I left the stand.  I stopped at another shoe stand and ended up having mom meet me there to look at a pair of boots.  As I left that stand with mom I had a moment of panic.. I DIDN'T HAVE MY BAG OR WATER BOTTLE!!!  I ran back, dodging all the people!!  I was so incredibly thankful when I saw the bag and water bottle at the stand! And, to make it even better I decided to get the boots from that stand (15 euro, not as good as my first pair from here, but still not bad).

We then spent the afternoon at the Colosseum and Roman Forum. We used Rick Steve's podcast as a guide, and although he's kind of corny at times it was great! I really recommend his podcasts, as long as you don't mind a few corny jokes thrown in there!

The Colosseum

Inside view of the Colosseum

In the Roman Forum

After dinner with my family on Sunday night I had to come back to my apartment bc I had school the next day.  I met up with my family each night for dinner and Tuesday night my Alissa joined us for dinner! I was very happy she was able to meet my family and spend some time with them.