Parco dei mostri (Monster Park) of Bomarzo and Rome

I was trying to figure out what to do for our three day weekend, the second one in a row.  I was thinking of a day trip to Monster Park.  As I was doing research, Janelle emailed that they were thinking of going to the park, staying in Rome, and then going to the Castel St. Angleo before coming home on Saturday.  So another Hatteroth/Brenner adventure was planned.  We drove up and met them at the park on Friday morning.  We got so lucky, for early February, the weather was beautiful.  The kids were excited to see each other and had fun playing on the little playground at the front gate.  We probably could have stayed there all day, the kids were quite content.  We let them get some energy out and then we started walking through the park.  This man made the park to deal with his grief after the death of his wife in 1552.  It is amazing the statues are still standing today.  We had such fun roaming around the park.  It was the perfect day to be outside enjoy ourselves.  

This is the most famous monster.  My mom had a poster of this monster in the hallway of our house for years.  It was really funny to bring my children here all these years later.  The kids got a kick out of screaming like the statue!  It was nice to be doing something outside where they could be as loud and crazy as they wanted to be!

This is the slanted house.  It was built this way on purpose.  It is really weird being on the inside of it.  It kind of made my stomach turn walking around it in!


We spent two hours exploring the statues and enjoying a picnic outside!!

Slow turtle

  

Eating lunch on these rocks!

     After the park, we hopped back in the car and headed to Viterbo.  We heard it was a cute little town.  We didn't find much in the town, but it was really funny watching James drive his big car through the little Italian streets.  That was certainly worth the detour through the town!


We were staying in the EUR section of Rome.  This was the communist section of the city in the 1970s.  All the building were very uniform and there was a man made river through the center of the area.  It sort of felt like walking through Boston along the Charles.  I found it very nice and comforting however you did not feel like you were in Rome.  We walked to the metro and ended up going to dinner near the forum.  We stopped at one place and sat town to eat.  The prices were really high and they didn't have a lot of pasta dishes to offer.  We felt bad but we got up and kept looking.  Having five kids with us, we were not sure this was a good idea since they were settled and hungry but we really didn't want to be ripped off at dinner.  We realized we made the right decision when we found the next restaurant.  It was Italy's version of a Hard Rock cafe.  They had statues of American singers on the walls and all sorts of hand painted pictures and fake memorabilia.  They had TVs on the wall showcasing magicians so the kids were really happy.  The price was right and the food selection was amazing!!  Although you might not know it since Janelle, Delaney, Allison, and I all got the same tortellini and both Blythe and Xander got hamburgers.   James got curry chicken and Howard got a meat plate.  It was set up like an American meal all on one plate!  You see here in Italy, everything is served separate.  Vegetables, meat, and pasta would all be on a different plate.  This meal was American, all in one!

This was so yummy!

We took the metro home, satisfied we had a great day!  From the metro, we had about a 30 minute walk back to our hotel.  As we got out of the metro, we were chatting and walking.  Janelle happened to notice a car and said ,"Look at that!"  It looked like the car was covered in snow.  Then we heard the birds!  We told the kids to run!!  We giggled and laughed as we quickly ran to the end of the block and crossed the street.  Xander yells, "Run for the bridge, there are no tree there!"  It was just so comical!!  The birds were home for the night and the car and sidewalk was covered in bird poop!  I got hit in the head, James had it on his back.  It was all over Jacob's stroller.  We were laughing so hard it was hard to clean up!  We tried wiping our shoes in the grass as we walked.  The kids kept talking about how funny it was.  We then heard birds again and we were happy to realize they were on the other side of the road.  I was joking we should all put our hats on or hoods up!  No sooner had I said that than we had made it across the bridge to another set of trees, this group on our side of the road.  Everyone pulled up their hoods and ran!  It was so funny to see this group of eight people sprinting down the side walk!!  It made our walk home one we will not soon forget!  We kept telling the kids that it was funny (they were very grossed out and getting mad) and that they will be telling this story forever!!

When we got back to the hotel, we are all a bit wired.  The bird experience had gotten everyone a bit nutty.  So we were loud walking into the hotel.  Two people at the front desk turned and stared as we walked in.  People usually stare when they hear English but the way they looked at us, I figured they spoke English.  Then I realized the man looked familiar.  I realized it was Evan Lysacek!  I kept asking everyone if they thought so and no one was sure.  He kept looking at us so I finally said ," Are you Evan?"  I was right!  He came over and chatted like it was no big deal.  He told us there was a big ice skating event Saturday night.  He wished he had tickets to give us.  He was really nice!  We chatted for a bit and then went up to bed.  As we were telling the girls that he was an Olympic gold medalist and on Dancing with the Stars, I realized we should have asked for a picture.  We ran back downstairs to get one but he was gone!

Breakfast was included at our hotel.  It was an amazing buffet breakfast with everything you could ask for.  There were lots of Italians in track suits, we figured they had to be ice skaters performing tonight!!  It felt neat to be surrounded by so much talent!  We had to check out before we went into the city to explore the Castle.  As I was waiting to check out, I noticed the woman in front of me.  She was speaking English.  I asked her if she was the French ice skater who did back flips, I was right again!!  Then Sasha Cohen walked by us.  I felt weird asking for a photo.  So we just stared impolitely and smiled!!

We hopped on the metro to go check out the castle.  We stopped at the pyramid metro stop to see the pyramid.  We didn't tell the kids why we got off.  They all said ,"Why is there a pyramid here, we are not in Egypt?"  I was impressed they all knew where most pyramids are located.  The Romans were fascinated by the Egyptians and you can find pyramid symbols all over the city.  I think we all thought it would be more impressive but at least we can say we saw the pyramid in Rome!

This bridge was in Eat Love Pray

The 4 Musketeers

We made our way to the Castel St. Angelo.  It is a really neat castle.  It is just down from St. Peter's Basilica.  We had a great time exploring.  At the top, we had great views of the city!  The kids were great.  They named themselves the "4 musketeers"  as they sang their way around the castle.  Exploring is always much for fun when you have friends!!!

This is the Castle from Angles and Demons

After the Castle we stopped for lunch and then road the metro                        back to the hotel.   

We packed up and headed home. 

 Another great outing with the Hatteroth's!

I can't wait to find out what we will be up to next!