Rome with Children: Day 3 – Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Colosseum

On our third day, which was a Saturday, we finally spotted a Ferrari. There were so many Smart Cars and other mini cars in this town. One of the games that kept us entertained during our walks was, learning and guessing European car brands and models.
We took metro to Pantheon.
Pantheon was very impressive, of course, with all the details about its history, architecture and the signature of the craftsman behind the door etc. The hole in the ceiling and drain on the floor were quite interesting to kids.
Later, we walked over to Piazza Navona. We spent a lot of time here, mingled with the rest of the tourist crowd.
There was an Arts & Artisans market going on. there were a lot of street performers as well.
The sculptures in the pool and scattered around the square were more than enough for us to look at and appreciate.
Bernini’s Four Rivers Foundatin (Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi)
As we moved on to the market at Campo de Fiori, we passed by this exhibit of the Inventions of Leonardo da Vinci, called Mostra di Leonardo. It was so late in the day and we wanted to make it to the Colosseum, we didn’t enter the exhibit.
There were few items that were set outside. It was a great exhibit for children, better than many other museums in Rome. I wish we knew it and included it in out plans.
The palace where the exhibition is taking place, Palazzo della Cancelleria, has a spacious courtyard, which is perfect for shedding any excess energy buildup.
This is the poster of all the mock-ups of the inventions displayed in the exhibition.
Towards 4 pm, we made it to the Colosseum.  The wait in the line was about 15 minutes. Colosseum closes as sunset.  So we had enough time to visit the remains of the Colosseum as well as the exhibits that are inside the Colosseum. I highly recommend you to defer your visit to Colosseum towards afternoon.
We got the audio guide for us and the children.
I guess you could walk around without the audio guide but the history and details really help you go back in time and visualize the people in there, which is something that I love.  Imagine the people living there thousands of years ago.
Sunset was reflecting beautifully on the Colosseum as we left. We had lots of photos taken, since the crowd was gone.  We had dinner at a restaurant on Via Cavour and Via dei Fori Imperiali and of course had our daily dose of gelato.

For all of our photos from Rome trip visit my Flickr Album Rome, Italy.