Monday, 3 October, 2022 – No news from Elias today. I think he has one more day in Florence tomorrow and then he goes to Rome until the 11th.
I was thinking today about our trip to Italy when Elias was a baby. We went in October, 2000 to Sarteano. From there we visited a couple of towns close by – Chiusi and Orvieto – and then a day in Rome. We’d gone to celebrate my father’s 60th birthday all together as a family, with baby Elias in tow.
I could not count the number of times David and I have told Elias and Annika the stories of going to Italy with him. We’ve talked what probably feels like endlessly about how fun it was to meet and talk to people because they stopped to admire our darling baby, who laughed and smiled back at them. (He was only grumpy at night, when I was trying to sleep.) He was so easy to take everywhere because even though he was on the cusp of crawling, he could not move very fast, scooching his way along the floor. He was still nursing so I could feed him at any time and he would fall asleep.
Now, I only clearly remember the parts of the trip as they involved Elias and how precious the time with him felt. I knew that as soon as he started crawling for real, I would not be able to hold him in my lap for long. All the frustrations and exhausting parts of traveling that Elias is experiencing right now, I do not really remember. I am sure we had some of those moments but they have faded in my memory, against the backdrop of this funny little person being such good company.
Here’s a map of Sarteano, where you can see Chiusi to the northeast and Orvieto to the southeast:
We wandered into a restaurant in Chiusi and ended up going more than once since we loved it so much – and it’s still there! It is called La Solita Zuppa.
Here’s a shot from the street.
My apologies for the sentimentality. 🙂