Day 9… The Rain… The Forum… the Sickies

The Doctor came and gave MIL the prescriptions she needed, including something for her back.  Whoduh thunk there were doctors that still made housecalls. J  Still, she wasn’t up for touring Rome, so she and FIL remained behind and the other 10 of us decided to journey out to the Forum/Palatine Hill.  You can get one of those tickets that covers both of those and the Coloseum for 12 Euro and then 8 Euro for the kids, and it’s a 2-day pass, so that sounds grand.  A couple of trips on public transportation and you’re there.  The weather is still drizzly, but the rain has lessened considerably.  If only the wind and chill would dissipate… but we will not be deterred.

Getting the tickets at Palatine Hill (vs. the Forum OR the Colosseum) means you get to avoid all the lines, mainly b/c most people don’t know where the entrance to the Hill is.  Today is no different AND the ticket master says that all the children are free, so while we’d mentally budgeted 76 Euro for the 2-day pass, The Magic Homeschool Bus gets all the tickets for less than 25.  Best deal we’ve had so far.  WOO HOO!

 

Palatine Hill is very interesting.  Named for the Palaces of the Emporers, each of them had their own spot, their own gardens, etc.  The kids start imagining all sorts of things (balls, baths, carriages, etc). It stands just above the Circus Maximus and the Forum and while we peek over at them both we’re not ready to venture in that area yet.

 

 

As we turn a corner towards the Palatine Museum, something’s wrong in the state of Denmark.  Well, not Denmark exactly, but that look on one of the children tells me that our trip may be cut a little short.  Boo Boo (normally bubbly) is looking exceedingly sad and subdued.  He comes over to me and says, almost tearfully, “Mom, I don’t feel so good.”  Near as I can tell, he feels like he has chills, but as we’re all wishing we had a hat & mittens, it’s difficult to tell.  When Boo Boo complains of not feeling well, though… he really doesn’t feel well.

By now, everybody else has seen the Museum and since it’s nearing lunchtime, we decide to go ahead and head out, find something to eat and take stock of how we’re doing.  Paninis at a stand outside the Forum, though not ideal (we normally eschew tourist traps), will suffice.  We find a place to sit down (some alcove that appears to have had a statue removed)… but Boo Boo isn’t hungry.  He’s just freezing cold.  The Principal, after delivering everybody else’s lunch remembers a rather pricey café’ up at the top of the Metro stop from a few years ago… so he heads off.  When he comes back, he has a rather nice smelling hot chocolate in his hands that Boo Boo pronounces too hot to drink (yet), but he smuggles it under his poncho to warm his hands.  It helps… along with a  few M&M’s that I’d been given by MIL.

Between the cold, the drizzly rain, and Boo Boo’s forlorn face, we decide to go ahead and call it a day, knowing that it likely means we won’t be back to see the Forum at all (except from above and on the way out).  The other 3 adults, however, probably WOULD like to see it, but DN (at 4-1/2) is snuggled down in an oversized Rome hooded sweatshirt and is looking rather pitiful as well.  We offer to take him home to give the other 3 a chance to take some nice pictures of the Forum and make our way back to the apartment.

Boo Boo perks up a little bit, but we convince him to take a nice nap and the rest of us play cards, play Minecraft, do laundry (still haven’t figured out that dryer yet) or just hang out.