Preparations

On Easter Day, right after church, we are hopping in the car and setting out on an epic journey... from the North East of England all the way to Rome! With three children in tow!

Call me crazy, but I am really looking forward to it.

I have been downloading all sorts of podcasts, and borrowing CDs from the library and making copies to entertain us in the car on the way down. All sorts of things from Winnie the Pooh to Horrible Histories, from Lake Wobegon Days to Famous Five, from silly Michael Rosen poetry to 'A History of the World in 100 Objects'.

It's going to take us 4 days to get there, so we need to take lots to listen to!

We are stopping for one night in Assisi on the way down, which will be lovely, and then we are staying for a week in a house we found (via the internet) in a town called Velletri, south of Rome. With donkeys in the garden!!!!! How cool is that?!

We are planning trips to Pompeii, the Vatican, perhaps Ostia Antica, probably the Via Appia Antica, as well as all the must-sees in Rome itself, like the Coloseum, Forum, San Clemente, Spanish Steps, Campo dei Fiori, Trevi Fountain etc etc etc. No doubt there will be lots of ice-cream and pizza involved.

Pip's birthday will be while we are out there, on the Sunday, and I hope to get some lamb from a local butcher and roast/barbecue it. Yum. We'll see how that goes!

On the way back we are making a stop at Taize... we went years ago, pre-kids, and it will be nice to drop in, even for a few hours.

So anyway, that's what we're going to be up to for the next few weeks.

I hope you all have a joyful and peaceful Easter.