Rome to Paris...

29 June – Rome to Paris - We have been over here now for 3 weeks. It has gone really fast. We said goodbye to our home in Rome...

We flew from Rome (Fiumicino Airport) to Paris (Orly Airport) today. We flew with Easyjet. Flying into Paris we saw the Eiffel Tower from the plane and then again in the taxi coming in to the city to our apartment.

We are staying in a 2 level apartment on the Rue de Rivoli across the road from the Louvre and one street back from the Seine River. We went for a walk after we arrived and walked along the Seine and walked around the Louvre (art museum). It is where the Mona Lisa and other famous paintings and artworks are kept. The Louvre was massive. We will go inside in the next couple of days to see the Mona Lisa. It is cooler here in Paris. It is normally about 23 to 27 degrees most days. It was a bit cloudy when we arrived but that was a nice change after blue skies and 35 degrees every day in Italy.

We bought some food from the supermarket. That was fun. Reading the French words and hearing and trying to talk to French people was interesting after trying to talk to people in Italy. We were trying to say merci (French for thankyou) but kept saying grazzi (Italian).



Mum made yum lamb chops and veg for dinner. We are excited because we are going to do the Eiffel Tower tomorrow and probably go on another open top bus and a glass top ferry ride down the Seine. Euro Disney in a couple days time. Yeah! Dad is excited because the Tour de France starts tomorrow. Also he is doing the Triathlon de Paris next week. Mum is keen to do the Louvre (she is very excited) and she is keen to go shopping.



We saw and did some incredible things in Italy. We ate lots of different Italian things and spoke some of the language and met some of the people. We had a great time. At the airport we did an Acrostic word association poem to say what we thought of Tuscany and Italy. We’ll post it soon.



Au Revoir for today.



The Creber Girls xxxx

 

Our final day in Rome...

Rome 28 June – Hot and sunny. Another big day. We had a big brekky and off on the metro, one stop to the Colosseo. Had another look around and decided to jump on the metro again and go to Villa Borghese Park in the centre of Rome. We had to change metro lines at the Rome Termini.

We got off at Piazza Spagna and walked around the park. It is a huge park much like Centennial Park in Sydney. The Italians ride horses in here and there are some horse parade and jumping arenas. Heaps of open space, trees, statues and ponds and fountains.

We had a drink at a little café (saw a cat with no tail) and then walked to Piazza Popolo, a huge piazza with monuments and churches.

There was a stage being set up we think for an open air concert. We then caught the Metro to Octaviano and walked to Piazza St Peter (St Peters Square) and St Peters Basilica. St Peters Basilica is the biggest church in the world. It was huge. The piazza had large columns all around and there were people everywhere.

A centre balcony on the Basilica is where the Pope does his announcements from including Christmas and Easter speeches, often to hundreds of thousands of people in the Piazza. We didn't go in but Mum made us promise that when we come back with our friends when we are older, we have to go in. Mum said it is one of the most beautiful places in the world.

I don't think we have mentioned the public drinking fountains yet. All around Rome there are these fancy taps that have running water gushing out of them. The water is beautiful and cold, and just what you need for a hot day sightseeing in Rome. When we were at St Peters, there was a Chinese boy cooling off his arms in the water, we waited for him to stop and then refilled our bottle. He was so excited when he saw us and said "wow, is this drinking water?" we said yes and them watched him gulp down a bucket of it. He was so cute.








We then walked to and along the Tiber River. We walked along the path. It had lots of shady trees. The river water was a greenish colour. We took some photos of the Castle Saint Angelo. It was massive but looked a little out of place. Mum and dad said it was more like a building you would see on the English coast.

We then walked to Piazza Novona. This was a beautiful piazza with fountains, churches, a museum, markets were happening and people everywhere.

Buskers were playing music and there were lots of Africa people trying to sell sunglasses, umbrellas and other things. We had resisted until now but we bought a couple pair of sunglasses for Erin and Holly. Mum and dad bargained them down from 10 Euro to 4 Euro each. We then had yum gelato. The best yet and our last one in Italy. We went inside an amazing church and saw all the paintings and frescoes and statues.

We then walked to the Pantheon which is the best preserved Ancient Rome building. It was built BC, about 2000 years ago. It is circular and has columns at the front that were brought to Rome from Egypt. It was an incredible building. There was also a column in the square also brought from Egypt which had hieroglyphics on it.

We then walked around the streets past churches (went in some), government buildings, old ruins back to our apartment. We got back about 6.30pm and had a little rest and then went out for pizza at one of local outdoor cafes. There are heaps of pizza and café places where we are. It is a great spot, very central, plenty of eating places and a little supermarket just up the road.

We have to pack tonight as we are flying to Paris tomorrow. Sad to leave hot and sunny Rome but getting excited now about Paris and France. Arrivederci Roma! Bonjour Paris!

Love from Elodie, Holly and Erin :))

Another massive wonderful day in Rome - Elodie, Holly & Erin

27 June. Rome. Hot and sunny. We got up early and beat the queues to get into the colosseum. It was unbelievable inside.

We walked around two levels inside and looked at all the walls, stairs, statues, ruins, the maze of alleyways underground, and looked at the views outside (The Forums and Arch of Constantine). There were 4 levels to the colosseum.

We read that the Emperor and his gang used to use the lower level (podium) closest to the action, the knights and important people used the next level and the middle classes had the third level, and the lower classes used the top level.

When it was completed in 80 AD there was a 3 month festival and heaps of gladiators and about 5000 ferocious animals were killed in battles inside the colosseum for sport, watched by the 50,000 people who could fit into the 4 levels. These types of battles continued for almost 400 years. Wild animals were hunted down as entertainment. The animals and slaves and gladiators used to enter the arena from the bottom level or through trap doors in the middle.

We read that they also flooded the arena sometimes and held naval battles on the water, watched by all the spectators. The arena floor is about ¾ the size of a football field. We spent about 2 ½ hours inside. It was a great experience.

We then walked through the Imperial Forums, Roman Forum and around Palatine Hill. All with ruins of past civilisations. This is the heart of ancient Rome.

There are archaeological digs happening in some places. We read that new areas are being uncovered all the time. It was fascinating. A “forum” was an area (like a small suburb) of residences, parks, shops, political meeting places etc where communities developed and lived. Sometimes a forum would run down and they would build a new one in a different nearby area or sometimes they would expand into a new one.

The Palatine Hill area is the one of the famous Seven Hills of Rome and is one of the most ancient parts of the city. It is next to the Roman Forum and Circus Maximus is on the other side.

Mythology says that the Palatine Hill was the location of the cave where Romulus and Remus were found by the she-wolf that kept them alive. When they were older, the boys both decided to build a new city of their own on the banks of the River Tiber. They had a violent argument with each other and Romulus killed his twin brother Remus. This is how "Rome" got its name - from Romulus.

Recent excavations show that people have lived there in the Palatine since approximately 1000 BC. That’s 3000 years ago! How old is white civilisation in Australia – 224 years. The original Romans lived on the Palatine.

The Roman Forum developed later. It developed over many centuries. Julius Caesar and Augustus helped develop this area. In time though it became over-developed and over-crowded. It also started to sink in swampy unstable ground. It eventually outgrew its day to day shopping and marketplace role. It was an important political place also.

The Imperial Forum was then developed. It was constructed over a period of one and half centuries, between 46 BC and 113 AD. The forums were then the centre of the Roman Republic and of the Roman Empire which ruled the Mediteranean region in this period.

The Imperial forum/s and the Roman Forum, are located close to each other. Julius Caesar was the first to build in the Imperial Forum area. These forums were then the centres of residence, politics, religion and economy in the ancient Roman Empire. The Imperial Forum/s include the Forum of Caesar, Forum of Augustus, Temple of Peace, Forum of Nerva and the Forum of Trajan.

After walking around for a couple of hours we went back to our apartment for a rest. We plan to go back to the Forums tomorrow again for a couple of hours.

After lunch we walked to Piazza Repubblica and caught the Metro to Ottaviano, and walked to the Vatican City.

Mum and dad had booked tickets for us to go inside the Vatican Museum. The Vatican City is within these really high walls in the centre of Rome. It is its own state, separate to Italy, and the smallest state in the world.

It is owned by the Catholic Church and is run by the Pope. It is the centre of the Catholic religion in the world. Only about 800 people live in the Vatican City including the pope, the head of the Catholic religion.

Inside the Vatican museum it was incredible. Paintings, frescos (paintings on the ceiling), tapestries, sculptures, statues all by famous artists. There were displays of sarcophaguses, old artifacts, pottery, coins, jewellery and other ancient stuff. Dad and mum said that all this was priceless meaning money couldn’t buy it.

The building was incredible too. It was crowded and we moved along slowly but that gave us a chance to look at things.

We went into the Raphael room which was beautiful. There were so many wonderful things, it was really hard deciding which photos to include.

We finally walked into the Sistine Chapel and that was awesome. Michelangelo paintings all over the ceiling and some of the walls, and the rest of the walls covered by paintings by Botticelli, Roselli and other famous painters. Michelangelo’s “Last Judgement” (painted 1535-1541) which covered one whole end wall was our favourite.

Erin’s favourite was Creation of Adam in the middle of the ceiling (painted 1508-1511). The Sistine Chapel is where Cardinals from around the world meet to elect a new Pope when the old one dies.

We left at closing time and got the Metro back and had dinner. We had a big day and we were starving. But what a day it had been. We were going to watch Gladiator on the iPad but watched Parent Trap instead.

Love from Elodie, Holly and Erin.

 

P.S. Sorry this post is so long, we hope you findit as interesting as we did, we had a huge day and still could have added so much more....