Where to go in Rome...



Where do you begin when you visit Rome? One of the European cities with the richest histories and home to so many places to visit, I found it challenging to decide where to begin. Hence, a bit overwhelmed, was perhaps the best way to describe my feeling as I started to do the research and planning for our 3.5 day stop here. The funny thing is despite Rome being such an important city I never put it on the top of my must visit list and maybe it was for that very reason of feeling overwhelmed when I thought of it! I also remembered enough about the city from my history classes to maybe be a bit less intrigued by it than many other European cities that remained and/or continue to remain a bit more unknown to me. Yet at the same time I knew I would regret it if we didn't visit it and so we tagged it on as the second of our three city November vacation.



Spanish Steps... almost always busy

After an uneventful flight from Athens late on Monday afternoon, it seemed to take forever to get to our hotel as we had to take a 45 minute train from the airport to the city center and from there hop on a subway line to get to our hotel, which was located just a short walk from the Spanish Steps. We quickly learned that the Rome subway system is not at all stroller friendly as we broke numerous rules that said no stroller here nor there, but nearing the end of the day with several pieces of luggage and a tired child we just wanted to find the quickest way we could to get to the hotel. And although we had suspected prior to visiting that such an old city would not be stroller friendly, we quickly confirmed that in addition to the subway being difficult we found ourselves on cobblestone after cobblestone street with small sidewalks and hence even more unfriendly. Yet lucky for Emma, she definitely likes the carrier more than the stroller. And lucky for us we were hoping to work on strengthening our back muscles during our trip so it was a win win for everyone!




Amazing to finally see the Coliseum in person

Our first full day in Rome was dedicated to hitting as many of the large, must-do sites as possible and with an early start, strategic planning, gorgeous weather and a happy baby we were able to do just that. We started with perhaps the place that comes to the forefront of most people's mind when they think of Rome: the Coliseum. There was a good reason it is so famous, it is absolutely incredible. From there we meandered through the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill before needing to find a lunch break. We decided to make a focused effort on finding a good spot for lunch everyday as dinners seemed to be turning into takeaway food in an effort to be back at the hotel and keeping Emma's bedtime routine as consistent as possible. As a result we utilized one of our favorite tour guides, Rick Steve, whom we often refer to for trip recommendations. And our lunch on both our first and second days were great as a result. Day one was a small wine bar with great daily lunch offerings and day two was what else but a family run Italian restaurant with delicious and very reasonable homemade pastas.





Stunning



Family photo outside the Coliseum



Family photo inside the Coliseum



Such an impressive structure, here's a look inside...



I loved these trees that were all over the city!



The Roman Forum

Il Vittoriano - very impressive monument at one of the busiest
intersections in the city

After getting refueled we strolled along one of the major thoroughfares in Rome, by what seemed liked historical building after historical building. Between the size and age of these buildings I was reminded again of just how important this city was to shaping life not only throughout many other parts of Europe but around the world. We eventually found our way to the Pantheon and onto Trevi Fountain with a very important stop for ice cream along the way. Needless to say by that time we were pretty well exhausted and feeling content to call it a day.



Panthenon



Trevi Fountain was touristy as I expected but still quite beautiful



Photo in front of the fountain

Did you have any idea of the size of what you were ordering?



Goofing around after a day of sight seeing...
do you see any resemblance between Steve in the previous photo and Emma here?

Day two we shifted gears and left "Rome" altogether as we headed to Vatican City, which is still technically inside the city of Rome, but it is actually the smallest independent state in the world with a population of about 800 people and size of 110 acres. It was Wednesday, which is the Pope's one day a week dedicated to making a public appearance in St. Peter's Square. We considered trying to go and see him but based on hearing that you may/may not have an opportunity to see the Pope very close up, that it is often difficult to hear his message, and knowing that Emma may not be excited about standing/sitting in a large crowd for an extended period of time we decided to pass and instead take advantage of one of the least busiest times of the week (because all the crowds are waiting to see the Pope) to visit the Vatican Museum. The museum was filled with much more history and artifacts than I had anticipated, but it was obvious that for us as it is many other people that the crown jewel was seeing the Sistine Chapel and simply spending time in awe of the amazing work done by Michelangelo (unfortunately no photos were allowed inside the Chapel). After spending the morning in the museum we made our way over to St. Peter's Basilica in the afternoon. It quickly became clear that only a few other churches we have seen in Europe come close to rivaling St. Peter's Basilica in size and splendor. To top off our day we walked the 300+ stairs to the top of the dome (yes I got to carry Emma) as well to take in the views over Vatican City and much of the city of Rome. And of course our day was completed by plenty of good Italian eating... pasta for lunch, gelato for an afternoon snack, and pizza for dinner!



Ceiling inside part of the Vatican Museum



Front of St. Peter's Basilica

Inside St. Peter's Basilica. Photos don't do justice to its size.

Altar inside the Basilica

St. Peter's Dome



View over St. Peter's Square from the top of the dome of the Basilica




St. Peter's Square



Dad's travel buddy for the afternoon

Feeling that we had seen the headline sites on our first two days by the time we made it to our third day we had to decide where to head on our large list of more "minor" sites. For the morning we decided to visit the church of San Giovanni which we had read some considered to rival St. Peter's. I'm not sure it could compete in size (while still being much larger than most any church in the U.S.), but the details in the decor were absolutely beautiful. From there we made our way to the outskirts of the city and visited the Catacombs of San Sebastiano. It was an interesting comparison to what we had seen in Vienna a month earlier. These specific catacombs in Rome were thought to be the original burial place of Peter and Paul. But similar to many of the other catacombs throughout Rome it is thought that most people buried there were done so as a result of overcrowding and lack of burial space throughout the city, and perhaps for persecuted Christians to bury their dead in secrecy. In Vienna, one of the main reasons for the catacombs was the Black Plague where there simply was not time to provide a proper burial for all the dead and so they were quickly piled into the catacombs.



Impressive ceiling in San Giovanni



Outside the Church of San Sebastiano with Catacombs below

Although there was still so much more to see the next morning meant we were headed out on the train to Venice. We felt we got a good sampling of the city and who knows perhaps we will be back one day to see more of it. Well actually, while I can't speak for myself, I guess Steve and Emma will be back because they did throw a coin over their shoulders into Trevi Fountain, which is supposed to mean you will come back again someday to visit. I guess only time will tell if it's true!



Reading bedtime stories all over Europe, this one in Rome...



...eating them too :)

Maybe they'll be back one day!

The ORIGINAL Marathon

I did it. It wasn't my first marathon, nor hopefully my last, nor my fastest nor my slowest. However, it may be the most memorable marathon and the one I am most proud of for many years to come. I can't lie that I'm also pretty proud of qualifying and finishing the Boston Marathon. Yet I think it was this, my 11th marathon on November 11, the original marathon from Marathon to Athens, Greece that I put at the top of my list. I ran 42 km almost exactly 4 months and 2 weeks after giving birth and finished in 4 hours and 3 minutes (I don't know how I figured out all of these funny coincidences with numbers other than I had a lot of time to think during those 42 km). I had always thought it would be pretty cool to run the original course, but I had never really thought it would become a reality. Now I can say I did it.

When I signed up for the race way back last spring I had no idea how training would go and if I would even be in good enough shape to run the entire race. As I mentioned in another blog it was not easy between finding the time with Emma, getting the energy while taking care of a young baby, and finding the time with Steve's busy travel schedule. Yet, considering the scaled back training program I had I was feeling pretty good come mid-October about the shape my body was in. However from mid-October until race day those energy levels sharply declined mostly due to Emma's decline of sleeping well at night. And it seemed as I approached November 11 that my runs were getting more difficult instead of easier. So by the time race weekend came around I put all previous time goals aside and truly told myself it was just about finishing. I also wanted to be sure we were able to enjoy Athens, which meant a full day of siteseeing and walking probably 4 or 5 miles the day before the race, which I would never normally do.

The morning of the race was an early one. Although it did not start until 9 am, I was up before 5 am. To my surprise Emma must have known it was a big day and only woke up once that night, but I woke up many more times wondering why she wasn't awake!  My wake-up call was extra early because I had to make sure Emma was fed and bottles ready for the 7 or 8 hours I wouldn't see her (the longest time I have been apart from her to date!). From there it was out our hotel by 6 am so I could make the walk to the shuttle bus location that would take us the 26.2 miles to the start line. Lucky for me I met several nice Americans that were also running and one in particular that I stayed together with from the time we left the hotel until the start of the race, looking out for each other to make sure we got on the bus and to the start line.

Like most other races I have run that involve a shuttle bus to get to the start line it was a mess. There were people pushing, worried whether or not they would get on what seemed like a very limited number of buses. Lucky for me and my new friend we made it on and settled in for the almost one hour ride to the town of Marathon. It was a pretty relaxed ride except for the pigeon our bus hit on the way there (I was sitting in the front row), luckily that was the only excitement. By the time we got to Marathon we still had 1.5 hours to wait in the 50 degree weather for the start of the race. There's nothing like having plenty of time to sit and ponder your crazy decision to run 42 km. Yet it went surprisingly fast, especially by the time I got done waiting in line to use a port-a-potty! There was also a crazy announcer and loud music to keep us entertained, especially as he kept reminding us that if we did not drop off our clothing bags by 8:30 am that we would be stuck with it and have to run to the finish line with it. I am not sure how anyone missed those announcements that seemed to be made every five minutes, but low and behold I did see someone running with their bag!

By the time the race was about to start I was happy just to be in the starting corral after all the effort involved that morning. I wasn't sure if I still had enough energy left, but at least I knew I wasn't losing any more energy like the Greek lady waiting in the same corral as me who was dancing and singing loudly by herself like nothing I had ever seen at a start line before. I wasn't sure she knew how far she was about to run, but I did see her again at the finish line so I guess her strategy worked!

I couldn't wait to see this face when the
hills were getting tough!

Finally, there was a little festive Greek music to get us pumped up in the moments preceding the gun shot, and then we were off! While waiting for the start of the race had been cold the sun quickly heated up the course and most of the race it was in the mid-60's, a little warm for my liking but pretty nice with only a little wind. The first 7 or 8 miles started off pretty easily and was relatively flat, but I was quickly finding out that this course was really going to be much less scenic than I anticipated and without crowd support. Although the fans picked up they were very intermittent to start and they were not the stereotypical loud Greeks, but instead many people simply stood on the side of the street and just stared without saying a word - I had never experienced anything like it! And on top of that, it smelled! I still have yet to figure it out, we were in the countryside but I saw very few animals, just barren land as we passed through small towns, and it still really smelled for no apparent reason! Luckily as the miles passed I either stopped noticing it or it got better. And the fans got better, it started to be a lot of fun as we passed through the small towns to the shouts of "bravo bravo" and loud music and dancing. I even heard Yanni Live at the Acropolis being played! Just like many other races children lined the streets to give high fives to runners, and many also were handing out olive branches as we ran by! And the further along I got the more I noticed that people (especially women) were cheering specifically for me. I started to realize just how few women there were running the race and I later confirmed that when I saw it was about 80% male finishers. It was fun to realize how excited they were for me, a κυρία (lady) running the race as I came to find out later that running and exercising in Greece is still not looked that fondly upon for women as they are supposed to be having babies and taking care of their family (once again just like My Big Fat Greek Wedding).

Looking better than I felt here at mile 16!

As I started to hit miles 8 and 9 the hills started picking up. Although there was no heartbreak hill on this course it was basically one slow continuous uphill until mile 20. Despite having done one of my better jobs at starting conservatively it didn't help as the hills took their toll on me. By the time I got to mile 16 or 17 and saw my cheer squad (Steve & Emma) I thought I was done for. Yet, to my surprise and for the first time in my marathon running I turned a corner for the better at mile 20 (instead of hitting the dreaded wall). Once I hit some downhill and flat areas I actually started increasing my pace and held it. Maybe it was my conservative start pace, maybe it was the fact that I stayed better hydrated than I ever had before because the entire race they gave out full bottles of water instead of cups and I was actually able to drink more than spill more at ever water stop (yet there was a fine balance of not drinking too much), maybe it was that banana I decided to take and eat at mile 19, or maybe it was the random Greek man who started running with me and telling me there were no more uphills that did it but I had the best last six miles I think I have ever had. I got nervous that I wouldn't be able to hold my pace when I was at mile 23 but somehow I did and it sure is fun to keep passing more and more people as you're on the home stretch. There was nothing better than being able to run as hard as I could to finish the last 200 meters inside the first modern day Olympic stadium. I had done it - against some people's advice that it wasn't smart to try to do so much after having a baby. I listened to my body and confidently feel that I didn't push it past what was right for it to do now, but instead it showed me just how amazing your body can be when you do your best to take care of it.

What a cool finish line! The first modern day Olympic stadium - look how long & narrow that track is!

After the high of finishing (there's no better feeling, if you haven't experienced it I highly recommend it) and doing everything I could to soak in the feeling and the atmosphere of being in that Olympic stadium I headed off to find my support crew. On my way out I found my friend from the start of the race and found out he had done much better than expected as well. That's one of my favorite parts about running. Not only doing well yourself, but being able to enjoy that success and hard work with people you hardly know but are supportive and encouraging and who just want to see each other do the best they can.

I finished!

Unfortunately the finish line set-up was a bit like the line-up for the shuttle buses, a mess. As a result Steve and I had a very difficult time finding one another, but once again with the help of complete strangers who let me use their cell phone I was able to track him down (I was glad to be able to repay the favor when we happened to be on the same flight as them the next day and helped them find their missing stroller!).

My wonderful cheerleaders!

I was happy to hear that Emma had a good day as well since it had been one of my biggest worries of the day. I shouldn't have even been worried though as I knew Steve would do amazing with her as he always does. I simply could not have done it and trained for the race without him. Every other race I have felt that it has pretty much been up to me my level of success, but this one was different as I heavily relied on his help with Emma for every training run (although lucky for him usually Emma was asleep while I ran!). If I haven't already said it - THANK YOU!

Celebrating with a Greek beer and wearing what? A Rosemount cross country shirt of course!

Finally, one last thought. Several people have asked me now that I have run marathons and had a baby which is more difficult and if you're wondering I am still undecided. They are so completely different. I will say though that this marathon was probably the most difficult of all my marathons. Even though it was not my fastest it was definitely one of the biggest mental challenges I have experienced to keep myself running the whole way. I will also say that both are amazing experiences and a powerful testament to the incredible body God has blessed me with - I can't wait to see what else He has in store for it!

What a great day!

The Acropolis, Ancient Agora, Athens... Amazing!

Towards the beginning of November we were lucky enough to take off on yet another week long vacation, and although I cannot speak for Steve I think this may have been my favorite European trip thus far. This time it started with my idea to run the Athens marathon and we decided after that to tag on a visit to each Rome and Venice. Some day we hope to go back to the Greek Isles as well as November was well after the end of tourist season and stopped us from visiting this go around. But that aside, let me start by recapping our weekend spent in Athens...

We headed out on late Friday afternoon for what we were sure would be an interesting, potentially difficult night of flying. To start with it was Emma's first flight. Second, there were virtually no direct flights from Zurich to Athens, which meant we were stuck flying through Paris (yes for those of you familiar with your European geography, Paris is in no way in the direction of Athens from Zurich). Third, we would by flying during Emma's bedtime and arriving in Athens very late. Lucky for us the first and third points of worry should not have been a worry at all - Emma was amazing! Many people commented on how good she did and we were also impressed. The second point though, flying through Paris was much more of a hassle. There was a reason I had read an article a few months ago about the ten worst airports in the world to connect through and Paris was one of the top few cities. We had less than an hour to connect and to our surprise despite flying the same airline the entire way (Air France) we had to completely change terminals, which meant going outside of security and trying to figure out a shuttle bus to take. Not to mention they would not let us bring the stroller through security and do a planeside check as they had for the first flight so then we had to run through the check-in area trying to find out where the oversize luggage drop-off was at. To say it was a pain might be a slight understatement. Especially with a four month old that is tired and you know has a dirty diaper! Luckily we made our connection with just minutes to spare. At least Air France made up a few points by serving us an unexpected "free" dinner on the flight.

I love flying!

Our first full day in Athens was about preparing for the marathon on Sunday, but it was also about seeing as many sites as we could. We knew that the marathon would eat up the majority of our Sunday and we only had Monday morning before we were scheduled to fly out. So it was important to see as much as possible on Saturday. This would not be my normal attitude the day before a marathon, but obviously this one was a little different. My hopes were only to finish with no knowledge of really how good of shape my body was in, and with a lack of sleep in weeks preceeding it was more important to me that we also get to enjoy and site see in Athens. Looking back on the weekend, I am so glad we made the most of it as tourists!

Hadrian's Arch

Temple of Zeus

Looking down on the Temple of Zeus from the Acropolis

To start off Saturday we took care of business and headed over to the marathon expo, but from there it was off to see Hadrian's Arch, the Temple of Zeus, the Acropolis, and Ancient Agora. It was a full day of walking and some hiking as the Acropolis sits at the top of a large hill. Hadrian's Arch and the remains of the Temple of Zeus were impressive, but the Acropolis was beyond amazing! I don't know what I had really expected leading up to it, maybe it was my lack of research, but I was blown away. The enormous size of these structures, the fact that they were constructed over 2000 years ago, and the way that they are set on top of a large hill simply blew my mind. I was in awe of not only these massive and ancient temples but also of the one of a kind views of all of Athens that I was able to enjoy from there. Finally, to wrap up the day we wandered through the neighborhood of Agora, which was most likely the original center to this ancient city.

Here is a look around the Acropolis, there were simply too many amazing photos to choose from!

The Odeon of Herodes Atticus theater near the base of the Acropolis

Amazing views from the Acropolis over Athens and other ancient remains

The Parthenon, one of several temples at the Acropolis



Parthenon



Views of the Parthenon from the back

Another temple at the Acropolis, Erechtheion

Beautitful carvings into these temples

A view from the Acropolis onto another one of these "hills" throughout Athens

A view out to the sea from the Acropolis

Stunning views of the Acropolis from the Agora

Just enjoying our perfect day in Athens 

As I mentioned earlier Sunday was marathon day, there will be a separate post dedicated to this, so stay tuned. Although most of the day was devoted to this (marathons after all do take a little while), we did get to end the day wandering and enjoying the Plaka and Monastiraki neighborhoods which are filled with fun and unique restaurants, cafes, markets & shops. Post-marathon dinner was also a fun meal filled with relatively authentic Greek cuisine including grilled Octopus and a special lamb dish. Unfortunately, Monday was also a short day as we had to head to the airport around midday. We did manage to sneak in a quick hike on a hill nearby the Acropolis with some more views, but it could not rival being at the Acropolis.

More views of the Acropolis from other parts of the city...

Our weekend in Athens kicked off the start to one of our best trips yet for several reasons. First, the city was much more than what we anticipated. I think our expectations had been pretty low going into the trip here as we had heard so many wonderful things about the Greek Isles and some people even say to entirely skip the visit to Athens. I can most definitely say I am glad we did not skip spending a few days in this city as the history that is there can only be rivaled by a few other cities in the world. Second, the Greek people are one of the most welcoming and fun cultures we have visited yet. Although the country is struggling right now, there are still many people that are extremely proud of their country and history. They seemed happy to act as tour guides and tell us as much as they could about what we were seeing (especially taxi drivers!).

And perhaps what was best was that the Greeks absolutely loved Emma! It was difficult for me not to keep replaying scenes of My Big Fat Greek Wedding while we were there because it just seemed to stereotype the culture so accurately! Although it did get old at times, it was hard for us to go anywhere without people wanting to fuss over our daughter. We had several people ask to take her photo, want to hold her, or simply walk up and stare at her. Even young school girls got excited when they saw her. It quickly became obvious that family and children are an extremely important and integral part of this society. I can't wait to go back again (hopefully sooner rather than later) and enjoy more of this great culture and people!

Family photo at the Acropolis in front of the Parthenon