Since Jarrod left us, we have had to “adult” more without him here to organise us and get us to transport/activities/find somewhere for a meal etc. We have really felt his absence! And have had to take turns stepping up.

Today it was my turn to take everyone to see some of the Rome attractions. For our first stop, I got everyone on a bus to Vatican City. We had to go the main train station to buy a 24-hour pass which allowed free transport for that time period once it was activated.

Our first hiccup of the day was that none of us could work out how to activate the card, and the machine swallowed Ross’ card. So he travelled around with the payment receipt and a photo of the ticket machine and bus in case inspectors joined us, rather than pay another 7.50 euro to replace a card he hadn’t even had a chance to use.

Once at Vatican City, we immediately lined up for St Peter’s Basilica, which is always free to enter. The Pope is in residence and seeing crowds tomorrow, so there were not too many people there today and the line was very short.

It is the largest church in the world and very impressive. When we left there we decided not to line up for the Sistine Chapel as we have done that before, and are trying to manage the experience for all and balance the museums and churches with other attractions, and food (for the boys)!

We walked through Vatican City (which is the smallest country in the world, with a 2024 population of 517 people), and back to Italy across the bridge over the Tiber River. We then caught a bus up to the Trevi Fountain. While the others lined up to walk down to the water’s edge, Ross and I walked up the street to find the apartment we stayed in last time we were here. We also went in search of the coffee shop we frequented twice a day, but it has been replaced by a gelato shop!

From there the kids were keen on getting McDonalds down the alleyway. Ross couldn’t stand that idea, so he walked ahead to the Pantheon and found a delicious panini while he waited for us to meet him. After visiting the Pantheon, we then made our way to Piazza Navona, which was a lot emptier than I remember, of shops and people.

Ross took over as tour guide and took us to a couple of churches, including the Basilica of Santa Maria, which had MANY steps to climb but resulted in of course an impressive church, but also views out over the Roman Forum and Colosseum which we will be exploring tomorrow.

We then caught a bus back to our apartment, via a gelato shop for Abi, Sam, Belle and I. We had missed out on gelato after lunch when everyone else had it, because we were in the ridiculously long queue for the one toilet at McDonalds (single-handedly my worst experience of the whole trip….).

We enjoyed our dinner so much at the local restaurant last night that we returned there for dinner tonight – our last dinner all together on tour! 😢 An early night was then recommended, because tomorrow is our last day and a very big day with an early start.