(ASH students pictured here: Essie, trumpet; Vincent, trombone; Frank, trombone; Jonathan, trumpet; and Daniel, bass.)Our first trip was in October to see Jonathan perform at the Association for Music in International Schools’ Honor Jazz Band. He and 4 of his band mates from the American School of The Hague performed at the Marymount International School of Rome along with 26 other musicians from international schools around the world.
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Matt and I had a mini-vacation without the kids, since Ian stayed home and Jonathan was staying with a host family. While Jonathan spent his 3 days in Rome practicing for the big concert on Saturday night, Matt and I walked the streets and scouted out the sites for our next trip to Rome in November. The weather was gorgeous, but the city was unbearably crowded with tourists.
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Our second trip over the 4 day Thanksgiving holiday included the entire family. The weather was once again beautiful, but this time the crowds stayed home. We had a fantastic time visiting the Colosseum, the Vatican Museums, and St. Peter's Basilica without the hordes of tourists.
On our first day out, Matt stayed behind for conference calls (he can never be completely on vacation) while the kids and I toured the city by foot. He had already seen these outdoors sites when we visited in October. We took the Metro to the Spanish Steps and began our walking tour from there.
Next stop along our route was the Trevi Fountain.
We meandered a little further on to the Pantheon
and just around the corner from it was the Piazza Navona with its famous Bernini fountain in its center.
We visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Vitorio Emanuele II monument, then headed down via dei Fori Imperiali to the Colosseum.
Matt met us for lunch, then we hooked up with a guided tour outside of the Colosseum.
We began our second day with a guided tour of the Vatican Museums, which was very interesting and informative.
After 3 hours in the museums admiring statues, tapestries, paintings, the Raphael rooms and the Sistine Chapel,we wandered around St. Peter's Basilica before climbing the 500+ steps to the top of the dome for some spectacular views of Rome.
Our next stop was the Castel Sant'Angelo, originally built as a mausoleum for the Roman Emperor Hadrian and his family, but later used as a fortress and castle.
view of Castel from Sant'Angelo BridgeOur final day was spent touring Ostia Antica, the old port town of Rome.
Located at the mouth of the Tiber, Ostia was founded around 620 B.C. With the fall of Rome, the port was abandoned and over time the harbor silted up and the Tiber shifted course. The town was eventually covered in mud, too, which protected it from the ravages of time.
A fun Roman holiday was had by all.
