It is with a touch of sadness that I write out this last day from our summer vacation. I will post a recap entry next, but this post documents the last full day we spent in Europe on this vacation so it holds a special place in my heart.
We started off the day quite organized with a nice breakfast in our Rome hotel, and afterwards we stashed our bags with the hotel concierge. We planned on spending the bulk of the day - through mid-afternoon at least - enjoying Rome before heading out to the airport for our early evening flight back to London. I had booked skip-the-line tickets for the Colosseum for one entry ticket per person, so after breakfast we headed off on foot for the several miles walk towards the Colosseum.
The kids loved having their photo taken, as usual!
Did you know...the colosseum is an oval amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy. Built of concrete and sand, it is the largest amphitheatre ever built. Construction of the Colosseum was completed in AD 80 and at its peak could hold, it is estimated, between 50,000 and 80,000 spectators.
After spending a few (HOT!) hours touring the colosseum we started the long walk back to our hotel. We decided to have one last lovely Italian lunch near our hotel before retrieving our luggage and heading out to the airport for our flight back to the U.K.
And what a lovely lunch this was! Scott and I shared this delicious tomato-prosciutto-mozzarella-lettuce salad, accompanied with the pizza shown below. Paired with a couple of Peroni beers, this lunchtime meal was perfection. After lunch we all enjoyed one last Italian gelato treat at a local stand next door to the trattoria.
The plane ride back to London was smooth, only complicated by an hour delay on the runway coming out of Rome. Once back on London it took some time to travel on the shuttle bus from Heathrow to the Marriott airport hotel, and then once we arrived at the hotel and checked in to our room it was after 10:00pm London time. All I cared about was grabbing a strong beer from the hotel bar. But clearly we all needed food - the kids in particular - and a quick glance at the room service menu informed Scott and I that this was not a kids friendly menu.
So while I grabbed beers from the bar and then promptly ordered Indian curry from room service (which was actually quite good, by the way), Scott and the kids took the brave trek about 1/4mile down the side road to McDonalds to pick up dinner for Amelia and John. Mind you, Amelia and John haven't consumed food from McDonalds in probably over 5 years while we have been going about our normal lives in the U.S., but being in the U.K with limited options on a random late night forced them to go this route to satisfy their hunger. They both cringed a little but agreed that the food was decent in the end.
French fries for the win!
Sad to say good bye to Europe - we'll be back soon!
