Tag: Vatican

Grandma’s Last Weekend – St. Peter’s Basilica & Limoncella

After almost seven weeks with us, it was finally time to say goodbye to my mom. She had arrived just before Omicron started to take over the world and stayed over the holidays.

It was a real joy and blessing to have her here for our first Christmas in Rome. She dazzled us with a full Polish Christmas Eve spread and spent lots of quality time with Aleksander.

My mom is quite religious and visited many Churches during her stay, unfortunately, every time we passed by St. Peter’s, the line seemed too long. We decided to finally take the time to wait and, of course, weren’t disappointed.

Aleksander may never have enjoyed an open space this much in his life! All pews and chairs were removed and he gleefully roamed and snag his way around the beautiful floors. It also made it easy for our group to reconnect – follow the baby sounds!

Of course it’s not easy to say goodbye to close family after time well spent, especially as the grandparent and grandchild bond is so special and with all the travel uncertainty covid brings. That being said, we’re super thankful for the holiday time together and look forward to the next opportunity, wherever it may be.

Roman Christmas Evening Stroll

After a fantastic Christmas Eve dinner, with grandma at the kitchen’s helm, we spent most of Christmas Day recovering and taking it easy. By the late afternoon, we were ready to stretch our legs and got out for our family’s first (to this point) evening walk around the downtown sites of Rome, starting at the Vatican.

After a rainy day, the evening pavement glistened and reflected all the lights of the city, making for a truly magical experience.

It really was a pinch-me type evening, in the sense of being so incredible but also quite typical as far as our usual path for walks around our adopted hometown. It felt so fulfilling to be able to share such an experience with my mom and brother and I’m sure it won’t be something that any of us soon forget.