Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Today was a pretty uneventful day in Rome, Italy. Aden woke up around 7:30am, and said he had a stomach ache. He’s been complaining about being nauseous off and on since last Friday so Andi and I didn’t think much of it. One minute his stomach hurts, but the next minute he’s wrestling around with Tory so he’s hard to tell if he’s really sick or not.

Today was different though. Aden threw up within 30 minutes of being awake, and he looked really pale. I volunteered to stay at the airbnb with Aden today if Andi wanted to take Tory to do something together. Aden clearly didn’t feel well, and needed to rest.

Before Andi and Tory left the apartment, Tory and I did some school work together. Then, Andi and Tory left around 1:00pm to have lunch at a food hall called Eataly. I remember Andi’s sister talking about this food market with Italian foods, restaurants, and cooking classes, and there happened to be one a few miles away from our airbnb.

Andi said traffic was terrible getting to the restaurant. They took a taxi vs. the subway and it took over 20 minutes to drive six miles.

Unfortunately, Andi and Tory were both disappointed in their dining experience. Andi said it was more of a food market than a food hall, and had more Italian products and groceries for sale than actual prepared food. Andi said it reminded him of an Italian Hy-Vee grocery store. Since they were there, Andi and Tory ordered food at one of the restaurants. Tory said her cheeseburger was “gross” and they didn’t even have real Coca-Cola.

Back at the airbnb, Aden fell asleep shortly after Andi and Tory left for the afternoon and slept for over three hours. When he woke up around 4:00pm, he looked like he was feeling a lot better. Nonetheless, I had him lay down in bed the rest of the evening. Andi had work calls from 5:00pm - 10:00pm, so I made hamburger meat and salad for Tory and I’s dinner. We spent the rest of the evening hanging out in the apartment.

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Thursday was our last day in Rome. Andi and I were hoping Aden felt better this morning so we could visit Vatican City & St. Peter’s Square. Unfortunately, Aden woke up feeling under the weather again. Honestly, Andi and I couldn’t tell if Aden was really sick or not. Yesterday, he had thrown up a couple times in the morning but he was back to his usual bubbly self by the evening. He even ate some dinner. This morning, Aden said his stomach hurt again and he refused to eat any breakfast. Was he really sick though? Or, was he trying to bail on a day of sightseeing?

I really hesitated leaving Aden alone at our airbnb apartment, even though it was a locked and secured building. But, selfishly, I really wanted to visit Vatican City, and didn’t want to miss out on our last day in Rome. Aden said he wouldn’t even be able to sightsee for a couple of hours; he still felt that sick. Eventually, Andi and I agreed to let him stay home alone if he promised not to open the door for anyone and to stay out of the kitchen. Aden agreed he would.

So, Andi, Tory, and I set out around 10:00am to visit Vatican City. St. Peter’s Square was quite a distance away from our apartment, so Andi and I agreed taking the subway would probably be faster and less expensive than going by taxi. The three of us walked to the subway station about a block from our apartment, and bought tickets for the train. It turned out that the 3-pack of tickets Andi purchased had be used by the same person. Unfortunately, we didn’t realize that until after Tory had gone through the entrance turn style. She was trapped on the other side of the gate by herself — in Rome’s underground subway system! Andi ran back to the ticket machine to buy the correct subway passes for he and I while I waited as close to Tory as I could be. A nice woman working the subway gate offered to watch Tory until we got the tickets we needed to enter. I thought that was nice of the woman to offer.

The subway was packed, as expected, but it was fairly simple to navigate. We rode from the San Giovanni station to Ottaviano-S. Pietro, and exited the subway tunnel there.

The entire area around Vatican City was very touristy. Several vendors lined each street corner selling tickets or guided tours to see St. Peter’s Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, and the Vatican Museum. We didn’t plan on buying tickets to any of those sites today. I’d read separate tickets are required for each site, and the lines are quite long. I can only imagine that three days before Easter would be even busier.

Andi kept in close contact with Aden back at the airbnb, and he was doing alright on his own. He hadn’t thrown up this morning, and was laying in bed watching a show on his phone.

Andi, Tory, and I walked a few blocks to the entrance of St. Peter’s Square. It’s hard to imagine that in three days this entire square will be packed with people for the Pope’s Easter Mass. This morning, it was fairly quiet actually — the calm before the storm.

The energy inside St. Peter’s Square was incredible. The Pope’s Holy Thursday service was being broadcast on the big screen in the piazza for visitors to hear. That morning, tours of the basilica were closed because of the church service, but the lines for the Sistine Chapel stretched all through the square.

Andi, Tory, and I spent about 30 minutes walking around the piazza, taking it all in. It was pretty cool to be standing in the very spot that St. Peter the Apostle was buried and so much history had taken place.

It may have been neat to see Michelangelo’s painted ceiling or the inside of the basilica, but I didn’t regret skipping those sites today. It was just as enjoyable to walk around Vatican City with Andi and Tory and take in the exterior of those buildings. The three of us walked for a couple of blocks around the area, and then hopped into the subway to take the train back to Aden. Fortunately, the train wasn’t nearly as busy as it had been going to Vatican City earlier in the morning.

Taking the subway proved to be faster and cheaper than getting around by taxi. Andi and I kicked ourselves for not taking this mode of transportation sooner, but also — it’s so darn gross! Too many people, and too many smells, in very close quarters.

Back in the neighborhood of our airbnb, the three of us grabbed lunch at a pizza chain called Alice’s. In Rome, there are several pizzerias that sell pizza by the slice. You tell the employee what size pizza you’d like, and they’ll cut that amount for you which allows you to try lots of different flavors. Today, Tory picked margherita, I picked a vegetable slice with olives, and Andi picked mushroom and zucchini with a yogurt sauce. We also got a slice of the dessert pizza to share.

Not only were the slices of pizza delicious, but they were also cheap! This is the way to do lunch in Rome.

After we ate lunch, Andi popped into Burger King next door to bring Aden home some chicken fries for lunch. We also stopped into the grocery store to buy something for dinner, and pickup a few bottles of wine to bring on the cruise tomorrow.

Our final night in Rome was a quiet one. I spent some time packing our bags and finishing up laundry. We cooked chicken and pasta for dinner in our airbnb. Andi had a couple work calls this evening and the kids and I talked to my mom & nieces on FaceTime.

Tomorrow morning, we check out of our airbnb and head to the cruise port in Rome Civitavecchia. The day we’ve been waiting for is almost here!