Last Monday we came back from a short visit in Rome, Italy. We had a lovely 5 days where we celebrated 80 with my mother in law. It’s Friday morning when I write this blog post and I’m still in recovery mode. Trying to keep balance between getting back to the routine while not letting the vacation energy leave so fast, if that makes sense. The pictures above show the top picks from this short getaway. The coffee before boarding on the left and our morning coffee in Piazza Barberini on the right.

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We spent a lovely time in a lounge area at the airport where we could sit quietly before we had to go to the boarding gate. As much as it might sounds strange, this was one of the most enjoyable moments for me. This quiet little hour I spent knitting and reading with a good coffee in my cup. An utterly ‘feel good’ moment, where I found myself appreciating and enjoying. This is all I need and for me this is an equivalent time to meditation.

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I cast on a new pair of socks to take with me on our Rome trip, the night before the flight. I got this beautiful La Bien Aimee, hand dyed sock wool, from Sigal, one of my sweet Knit night girls. She was kind enough to bring it for me when she visited Paris a few weeks ago. My original plan was to knit a plain basic pair of socks but eventually, I decided to turn it into a new sock pattern from CrochetObjet to join to my Cosy Weekend socks pattern.

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As E and myself skip breakfast for a good few years now, we have not taken the breakfast deal at the hotel. So while his mom, brother and sister in law had a lovely breakfast at the hotel’s rooftop, we had a cup of coffee (or two) on Piazza Barberini. Right next door to our hotel. Almost every morning, at the same place, on the same chair, two cups of good Italian coffee to start up our days. Can’t tell you enough how I enjoyed and appreciated these little simple moments.

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I felt so SO lucky sitting in front of Fontana del Tritone by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, sipping our morning coffee. And luckily this morning separation didn’t do any harm to our lovely time together with the family. We had plenty of meals and snacks together. I did quite well with my clean eating, a lot more than I could hope that I would.  I also enjoyed Pizza, Pasta and ice cream, but all in all I well kept my low carb eating. Believe it or not, it wasn’t that hard and the Italian food is delicious.

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So, as you can imagine, there were a few more special and existing moments in our visit to Rome. After all, this city carries so many layers of history and some of THE most beautiful Renaissance, Baroque sculptures, frescos, paintings, spectacular churches and fountains. One of the most exciting moments for me was when I captured the restoration artists recreating a new layer of fresco on the Vatican museum walls. They used such delicate brushes. Gently and with great dedication add a fine coat of paint with each brush stroke. I wanted to stay to help them and was so delighted they let me take photos and videos.

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The historical visits were breathtaking and absolutely marvelous. The city however, was packed with tourists and it was SO crowded everywhere that it was a bit too much for me. I just read that there are more tourists in Rome now than what used to be before Corona times. The above photo was taken on the Pantheon.

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I can now tell, after my 3rd visit to Rome that it’s not in my favorite cities list. Sorry if I hurt someone’s feelings here. This is a personal preference. I felt like the city is built for tourists and you can hardly find an authentic place to sit in. All the people you meet are tourists minded and it is all over the place. For example, one of my favorite things to do while traveling is to explore a local supermarket. I’m getting very excited about special local grocery products. We both love to bring good local cheese and local goodies back home. But unfortunately, we just couldn’t find a local supermarket where REAL Italian people, that live in Rome, gets their groceries. The supermarkets were all packed with tourists and stuff for tourists. So, you get the idea.

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We did find a little local food shop, in the Trastevere area, where we purchased some delicious goat cheese and more goodies. The shop owner was an old man who you could tell from first, managed the shop all his life. It was a very small and hidden shop which we found on our first day while strolling the small streets. We did come for the second visit the day before we left just because we felt it’s one of the very few real local places we visited.

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All in all we had a lovely time together in Rome. All 5 of us were very happy to spend time together and to celebrate 80 with my mother in law. She enjoyed it a lot and really wanted to travel together after the long Corona restrictions. I am happy we did it. E’s brothers celebrated his 60 birthday a few days before we traveled and it was a special celebration trip for all.

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Originally my plan was to write a little ‘5 days in Rome’ blog post, to share all the special places we visited. With some marvellous frescos, sculptures, outstanding paintings, textiles and spectacular churches. But as I went through the pictures I realized it might take ages to put together so I decided to abandon this idea for now. I will though share some more pictures and videos on my IG and FB stories, this weekend. The above photos were taken in villa Borghese.

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We came back from Rome on Monday morning and luckily I had two weekly groups on the following day which helped me get my head out of the laundry piles that were waiting for me. I hosted a small group of ladies on Tuesday morning and a lovely knit night on that evening. Both were so much fun and as always provided the joy that only knitting in a group can do. The Nina bag pattern is still a rock star here at our weeklies.

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This weekend we are hosting a good friend from Holland. She came to visit Israel and will stay with us for the entire weekend. We plan to enjoy the simple things together, because they are just the best (sourdough included). xxMo

PS

Here’s a free video tutorial for this little kitchen helper.