Roma, day 2

OK, so after we all slept until noon, we chilled out for a while until Sarah got back from work (brave soul!!) and decided to head to the other side of the river to the Pantheon. Traveling with the boys in Rome is a bit of thing. They approach walking in an extremely non-linear fashion, which is not ideal for crowded streets. Traffic is also its own thing here so we've got to keep a tight eye on them. But we all got on a bus without much incident and walked the rest of the way. They liked the Pantheon well enough but it is extremely hot at the moment (il grande caldo africano!!) so were pretty tired out quickly. We soon managed an ice cream for everyone, which always and set out for the Trevi fountain. They both threw coins in, so will return to Rome. Then a walk up to the Spanish steps. There is a fountain here where you can get really good drinking water. This Jamie found very novel and he proclaimed it was his favorite thing of the day.

Things did begin to break down, inevitably at this point so we headed back to the apartment. The challenge here was taking the Metro ride, which involved an escalator. Jamie still has a mortal dread of a moving staircase so he cling, very tightly to my neck as we went down. Worse yet, when we got out of the Metro, we happened upon a barber shop and had their hair cut. Jamie handled the indignity stoically. He was not overly pleased (he likes it long), but moved on quickly. Connor was not very stoic and became more and more demonstrative in his protests as the cut went on. Now an Italian barber is not inclined to cut corners, as it were. Eventually, we had to say "basta!!" but he was still looking at the back of Connor's head ruefully and gesticulating, clearly feeling there was more to be done. Connor was not so quick to get over it. He kept crying most of the walk home, saying he looked terrible. He did get a passing "poverino" as we went.

After that it was home for a simple, and I must say delicious meal, of pasta with olive oil and parmesan cheese. Jamie and I went down to the courtyard to have a quick catch after dinner and then Sarah read them books.

Getting them to bed, predictably, has been a bit of an adventure, but they seem to be settling down as of this dispatch.