Our first few weeks “living anywhere”
We’re a little over halfway through our first “Live Anywhere” stint and what a totally surreal whirlwind it’s been. Pete, Hays, and I landed in Rome on September 1 and had exactly 2.5 days before our first visitors (Geoffrey and Ludo) arrived.
Because we’ve had back-to-back visitors, sometimes it feels like we’re also on a short trip. On the one hand, we’ve walked several streets dozens of times already, and on the other, we’re still discovering places (today we noticed the third toy store within a block of us) on the piazza we’re calling home
Rome is exactly what we were looking for in a first destination-- it’s big, a bit chaotic, and totally incredible. Every corner you turn hides some incredible feat of architecture that I should be reading more about. We joined a walking tour recently that barely scratched the surface and instead illuminated just how much we don’t know.
And the food. Oh, the food. It’s also living up to the expectations we had for this month. Well, other than breakfast. Italians don’t really do breakfast (I’m not going to count the mediocre cornettos you’ll find all over), so instead I’ve taken to ordering pizze e mortazza, essentially a mortadella sandwich, at a bakery that’s open early. I wonder how ridiculous I look walking down the street eating it before noon...perhaps like a foreign tourist in the States eating a hot dog at 9am? I pay under 5 EUR for a bottle of Prosecco at our grocery (or 8 EUR for a litre at our favorite restaurant so far!) and I’m too embarrassed to admit how many scoops of gelato I’ve consumed since arriving. Long story short (click here for the short story long) we’re eating and drinking well.
Our piazza (“our piazza” -- what a wild thing to type) has been perfect. From our bedroom window, you can look left and see the daily market in the mornings, kids playing soccer in the evenings, and best of all-- the fantastic playground at the center of it all. Every day after Hays’s nap and before dinner, we take him to the playground which is enclosed, shaded, and filled with toys, play houses, and tricycles (a little worse for wear, but Hays hasn’t noticed.) The entire perimeter of the playground has benches for mom and dad to lounge and people-watch, so of course, I make up stories about the various parents, based on superficial clues like their preferred stroller, brand of shoes, or group of friends.
As far as how Hays is doing, we’re undeniably biased, but totally impressed with how adaptable he’s been. He’s content to gaze out of his stroller while we average 5+ miles of walking a day and has grown accustomed to quick evening showers instead of leisurely baths. His transportation vocabulary has increased exponentially; he’s particularly fond of Italian ambulances (“am-bance! Am-bance!” and police cars (“peas car! peas car!”) And of course, he can spot a gelato sign (though he still refers to it as ice cream) from a mile away and if you so much as utter the thought of pizza for a meal, chants “piz-ZA! piz-ZA!” until you deliver on your promise. Restaurants don’t open until 7:30pm here, half an hour after his Chattanooga bedtime, but he’s adjusted easily to dining out late. A particularly fond memory will be showing up to a reservation at a local osteria where they had set the table with him-- a full toddler meal set laid out on a white table cloth. In fact, there’s been at least one baby/child at almost every bar and restaurant we’ve visited, no matter the time. We’ve found Rome to be incredibly child-friendly...so much so that we’ve realized we haven’t done more *for* Hays specifically because he’s been so welcome in all of our normal activities. Feeling some mom guilt, I just booked tickets to the children’s museum and we have plans to take him to the zoo.
Staying somewhere more than a few days but less than a couple of years is a new experience for us. We’re both getting to know the city-- repeating restaurants, developing favorite routes --.but we’re also totally clueless. And to be honest, it’s hard for me to not always be one-step-ahead, planning the next segment of our journey. Sometimes I forget to give thought to what we’ll do tomorrow, or next week. But that’s the best part! Anticipation is the happiest part of the travel journey (there’s data for this!), and travel planning has *always* been my absolute favorite activity. This program is a dream come true in that regard. We’ve been away for a little over two weeks and I’ve booked ten Airbnb listings so far (we’re planning several short trips from our month-long homebases.) The trips tab of my Airbnb profile has quickly shifted from cabins in Tennessee and Georgia to apartments in five countries on three continents. We feel so lucky.