Mi piace Roma

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The last time I was in Rome, my parents and I were immigrating to America.  The year was 1980 but I refuse to write how many years ago that was because that will just depress me.  So as you can imagine, not much has changed in terms of the must sees like the Vatican,

the Coliseum

and the Spanish Steps

but after so many years, even they were new to me and so, we did an insane amount of research to feel prepared.  Aside from the obvious, I found a ton of great resources both online and off that led me to some of the best experiences we had as we made our way through one of my favorite countries. 
First, I will say that the Internet is a wonderful thing from mommy blogs like Ciao Bambino, http://www.ciaobambino.com/ where I found out about Gladiator training in Rome

to YouTube's "Travel with Kids" channel where Jacob discovered the live octapus at the Venice fish market that he couldn’t wait to visit. 

It truly made the planning process a family affair and so much more fun!

Here are some of my favorite resources in case you are embarking on a Family vacation;
Viator.com...a great site where you can book everything from ground transportation to tours of the Vatican.  Their site is extremely easy to navigate and their prices are very reasonable. http://www.viator.com/

I've told many of you about Airbnb.com but let me just say just how awesome this site really is and led us to our homes away from home in both Sorrento at Villa La Terrazza...

and in Venice at Palazzetto Pisani Boutique Palace...

Rome is the only city where we stayed in a traditional hotel and the Ripa was also a great find, http://www.ripahotel.com/en/index.php.

It was super modern, in Trastevere which is where you should stay to experience La Dolce Vita as a local plus, the breakfast was delicious!

Ok, now we can begin...