Day Trip(s): Ostia Antica

One of the easiest day trips from Rome is to Ostia Antica, an archeological site that was once a harbor city for ancient Rome. The city was founded by King Ancus Marcius at the end of the 7th century BC, but the oldest structures uncovered by excavations are dated to the early 4th century BC. Maybe there are older buildings yet to be excavated, or maybe they were destroyed in various conquests, or maybe the original structures were not made out of materials that could stand the test of time. Still, 4th century ruins are probably the oldest man-made things that I've ever seen, and the site is damn impressive.

Cheerfully waving from the necropolis

It's an easy 30-minute train ride from Rome to Ostia, and then about a 10-minute walk from the train station to the site. The site is huge, and we've seen only a small part of it, despite having gone twice. It is a little kid's paradise - lots of wide open space with all these stones and half-walls and little rooms that can be climbed on, and hidden in, and played in. Indigo's a happy kid, and I've often seen her get excited by something, but I have never seen her as delighted and overjoyed as she was on our first trip to the site. I had to practically peel her away from climbing on the walls in the old necropolis (shudder) in order to go see anything else in the site. She could have happily played there for hours. Hours.

"Another rock!"

Indigo loved walking on the cobblestone street that winds through the center of the site. She painstakingly stepped from one to the next, over and over (which is why we never got very far in). We were literally surrounded by thousands, maybe even millions of stones on the ground or all around us in the ruins, and at one point, after another painstaking step, she stopped, looked at her next step, and exclaimed, "Another rock!"

Her favorite part of the site though (that we saw), were the little warehouses and shops near the Baths of Neptune. There were several little rooms that she could go in to and explore. She was beside herself - clearly this was the coolest place she'd ever seen. We had to peel her away from there, too - I had to use every distraction and bribe I could think of to get her to come away so that we could go see some other things.

Towards the warehouses

Hanging out in an ancient warehouse

I think food and milk was the bribe that ultimately worked - she had worked up an appetite from climbing around on top of 4th century BC ruins (crazy, right!?) We ended up having a picnic on a sun-warmed rock just outside the theater, and then we climbed around on rocks some more.

"Me? Up to something?"

We returned to the site when Josh's parents were in town. Indigo was less interested in climbing this time, and more interested in jumping in muddy puddles, but at least it meant that we got a little farther into the site, and saw a few new things. Raye and Candace were especially interested in seeing the theater, which was amazing.

A view of the theater from the top of the seating area

 The theater was acoustically perfect; Ray could speak in a normal tone of voice (he's in the red hat) from the ground, and Candace and I could hear him perfectly from all the way up in the back. Indigo, meanwhile, led her daddy on a merry chase back and forth through a tunnel, and managed to impress some Italians with her pronunciation of Italian words (that's my girl!)

So yes - if you are coming to Rome, definitely go for a day trip to Ostia Antica. It's really awe-some, and it's lovely, and so good to get out of the city for a bit. Here are a few more of my favorite photos from our trips:

The main road through the site

The perfect picnic spot

Even in January, it's lovely and green

Near the Baths of Neptune and the shopping district

Tunnel into the theater

Theater dramatic masks

"Ciao!"

A Week of Celebrations

As most of you know, Indigo's birthday is right between Christmas and New Years, so we pretty much spend a solid week celebrating, opening presents, eating special and delicious food, staying up late, and being merry. It's lovely, and it's...a lot. I think we've just finally begun to get back into the swing of our usual (Roman) routine, now that the excitement's died down a bit.

We had a fantastic visit with Josh's parents, who were able to spend the holidays with us here in Rome. Besides enjoying their good company, it was gratifying to watch them get to reconnect with Indigo. They hadn't seen her since last Spring, and she's changed so much since then. I think she probably astonished them. Kids - they're magical, you know?

We had a few little adventures and day trips (I'll write a post dedicated entirely to Ostia Antica later), but spent most of our time a bit closer to home, in order to show Raye and Candace the nearby areas.

This was not Raye and Candace's first trip to Rome, so they had already seen many of the major sites around the city. They had not gotten to see much of Trastevere, though, so we spent a lot of time exploring down there, since it's just down the hill from us, and is so fun to sight-see. Walks through town started Indigo's newest addiction to "pizza yanca" (pizza bianca), which is essentially pizza bread with olive oil and sometimes salt drizzled on top. She'd often devour the snacks I'd brought for her on our walks, and we'd have to buy a little something more for her, to avoid a meltdown. So now pizza bianca is a new favorite.

Christmas was so fun. While I always enjoy Christmas, it's so much more fun when you can share in a little kid's excitement. It's just so magical; we decorate a tree with toys, put up twinkling lights, eat special food, and then suddenly some old guy brings toys to the house! Amazing, right?

Indigo was a little overwhelmed, and it took a couple days to finish opening all of her presents (which is fine, except her birthday's on the 28th, and we had to start all over again). The biggest hit was definitely the play tent we got her, in the shape of a castle. She loves that thing - and now goes in every day to read books in there. Lovely.

 As I said, we took a day trip to Ostia Antica. We also went to Frascati, a small town famous for a number of villas, for its white wine, and also for its porchetta (roasted pork). The town was ok - pretty enough but since we didn't go to any of the villas, not that noteworthy - but the porchetta was amazing. It may be on my top 5 list of the best foods I've ever had. It's at least on the top 10 list. If you're in Italy, and decide you want to try it yourself, follow the instructions on this blog.

After we ate, Indigo used the leftover bread to feed the pigeons. That's Raye in the red hat and Josh sitting on the bench behind her. Doesn't she look incredibly tall in these pictures?!

And then, of course - Indigo's birthday. Who can believe she's two years old?! I can't. We had a small party with just the family and one friend - one of her teachers from school. We're going to do a bigger, many-kid party with some other birthday boys and girls in about a week.

And finally, New Years. Some people at the Academy organized gatherings throughout the week for the various holidays. We went to them all, enjoying having the chance to chat with other people in the community. After taking Indigo home to go to bed around 8, I was able to return to the party an hour later. I hadn't expected to stay that long, but it's been awhile since I've stayed up late, especially for New Years, so I thought, why not?

The party was up on the 4th floor balcony of the Academy building. There's a telescope up there, and I was able to use it to look at the moon - amazing. I don't think I've ever really looked through a telescope before. I could see craters and everything. It was incredible.

Midnight approached, and people began setting off fireworks. I think that the city launches some of its own, at the Piazza del Popolo and at the Colosseum, but fireworks are legal here, and so everyone - and I mean everyone - began shooting off their own. There's no good way to describe it, and no picture I took could possibly catch the spectacle we saw over the city. Fireworks bloomed in the sky at hundreds upon hundreds of places, all around the city. For a solid hour. Everywhere we looked (and we could see a great deal of the city from the top of our hill) we saw little starbursts exploding. It sounded, and smelled, like a warzone. It was crazy, and disorganized, and over-the-top. It was so Italian. I've never seen anything like it, and probably never will again.

 Happy New Year!