Rome

During the kids' Christmas break we took a week and went to Italy! We left on the 1st, were on trains all day, and arrived in Rome at night.

On the 2nd, we went to the ruins of the Colosseum, Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum:

After lunch, we climbed the Spanish Steps,

threw coins in the Trevi Fountain,

and walked to the Pantheon and Piazza Navona.

That night we ate pizza from La Gallina Blanca, which was amazing!

The following day we spent the morning at the Villa Borghese, which had several places for the kids to play, which they appreciated!!

That afternoon we toured the Vatican, where the Sistine Chapel was the main thing we both wanted to see. It is truly amazing.

Then we went inside St. Peter's Basilica

 La Pietà, by Michaelangelo:

Rome at night:

We had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe.

Merry Christmas!

We have been celebrating by building a gingerbread house (and eating a lot of the decorations...)

Learning why we celebrate Christmas

Eating lots of waffles

And enjoying opening some presents.

Fröliche Weinachten!

Speyer Historiches Museum

On Sunday we took a short train ride (which Benjamin was really excited about) to Speyer, this time to visit the Historiches Museum for their special Playmobil exhibit. It was such a cool exhibit! They had huge scenes set up of Playmobil toys and vintage figures plus a play area for the kids in every room. It was genius! In one of the rooms there was an explanation/demo of how the toys are molded and everyone got a little Playmobil mouse. The kids were really excited about those.

At the entrance of the museum:

Roman soldiers

Roman play area:

I loved the dinosaurs!

This was the ceiling of one of the rooms - a bunch of little Playmobil figures!

The castle:

Fairyland - Noah likes the unicorn.

Noah's Ark - to which Noah asked "Where's me??" :)

Christmas market. Love.

Sea world. This one was huge!

Benjamin, being a Playmobil figure.