Rome, Italy (Festival of the Italian Republic)

Today our "plan" was to hit the Colosseum then roam Palatine Hill and check out the Roman Forum. However, we failed to consider that today was Festa della Repubblica Italiana, Republic Day in Italy (kinda like our July 4th).  Most of the sites were closed until mid-afternoon, the streets were closed for parades, security was beefed up everywhere, and things were just utter chaos!

It was really cool to see how they celebrate their holiday though (even if it meant we ended up walking SEVEN MILES with two hot, cranky, small children all day).  And, it actually worked out great because we got to cram a lot more into our trip than we intended to and it made our next day even easier!


Here are some snapshots of our morning and parts of the parade route:

Victor Emmanuel Monument

Once we finally got out of the parade route (it was taking too long to start the actual festivities and we needed to keep moving) we grabbed some more gelato and headed to the Trevi Fountains until the Colosseum opened...