Marcella's Blog

Today is James and my 8th wedding anniversary! One thing I love about us going with the flow, so to celebrate today, we cheered with coffee! (Ravello was our "anniversary trip" if you will) The whole fam at the Coliseum! This morning we got up with pastry and coffee from across the street, packed our bags, and headed out to tour the Coliseum and Roman Forum.  Luckily the Coliseum was only a 15 minute walk from our Airbnb. We had a hot hot tour, but learned from yesterday that we needed snacks, candy and Gatorade to keep the kids (and us) going! Hard to depict how Hot & humid it was 🥵 Christian enjoyed the "ancient history" After our tour ended, we got Lemon Granita's, and walked back to grab our bags, meandering through the streets. We had a leisurely lunch and then boarded the metro for the Rome Train station. We boarded our 430 train, an

Quick travel update: We have changed our departure from  Saturday July 15th to Friday July 14th due to a nationwide Italian air traffic control strike planned for Saturday. United was the one that initially put this on my radar when they reached out offering us compensation to change our flight. Summer strikes are pretty yet normal out here and it seems like this one is not going to get rescheduled. Rome trash was on strike when we were there!  As we were planning our family trip we decided that we would just do two activities - 1each morning - when we were there to get to see some of Rome, but not burn the kids out too much. It was Also 98° and humid 🥵! And use the afternoon to relax and find unplanned fun! On Monday we booked a kid friendly 830am Vatican Tour! Think engaging tour guide with kid focused stories, history, and scavenger hunts! I think all the adults were also pleased with this your option! Ha! Such a beautiful place! I think my favorite part was the hall of

My brother Nick and his family, my parents and our family planned a family adventure to Roma! We took an 11 am " bullet train" per Christian's request on Sunday. It went 175mph! It was only 70 minutes to Rome!  I appreciate the train systems here - efficient, comfortable, reliable... We did the hop on off bus on Sunday when we checked in, and checked off the Spanish steps and Trevi fountain! The kids took a bus nap 🥱 (!!) And we enjoyed gelato, and an aperitif. We walked around town to soak it in. We ended up getting take out pizza for a late dinner in the Airbnb and called it a night. At Napoli  Spanish Steps We enjoyed the free water fountains!!  Saw more police Trevi fountain  our queen 👑 The pretty Rome streets 

Saturday, we relaxed at the villa enjoying a down day, and went to dinner at a new to us restaurant in Colli Di Fontanelle  (Mezzaluna) we sat outside with a view and the kids ran around in the piazza after dinner...as we were leaving around 1030 it was just getting busy! The late evenings are cool and comfortable to be out! It's fun to enjoy how others do! Trying to think how I can keep these late night free play experiences alive!  I took the kids "solo" (with all my family) as James wasn't feeling so good from the heat of yesterday. This is a neighborhood street we walk down to the town  Playing in piazza Golfi di Napoli 

Friday the cousins, sans kids, went to Positano! It was a hot shopping day!  In the evening, we blew up some balloons and started training the kids for the circus! 

Thursday morning we went in a boat ride of the coast of Scalea and saw 4 grottos, and a beach with a bar in a Grotto! Woo!  We boarded the bus after lunch in the hotel restaurant and napped on the way home. We all walked into town (Colli di Fontanelle) and had dinner at Il Panorama.