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Italy

October 1st-14th, 2019

By Heather Horgen

But first, ireland

Whaaat?

It's true, all of my stories start with "we found a great deal on airfare..." And this story starts with a cheap flight to Dublin, and from Dublin you can get cheap fares to Italy.* So here we are. We stayed one night on either end of our trip.

Gillian slept most of the way on the plane, and there was no wait for passport control when we arrived. All in all, it was pretty smooth.

In Dublin I hardly took any photos. We napped and ate lunch, but we did make it to a pub!

We didn't have much time in Dublin, but the Guinness was good.

*Here's a tip: don't do that with a baby! Gillian was a great traveler, but airports are tough.

Roma

We arrived at Rome Fiumicino airport late the next evening. We were able to bypass the 100+ people in customs (thanks baby!), and met our driver to take us to the hotel. I prearranged all of our transportation so we could have a car seat, but when we got into the van there wasn't one. I asked the driver and he just shook his head, like, why do you need one? So I held Gillian for the half-hour drive. Italians drive fast. But safe! But still scary.

We got to the hotel around 10pm. We were hungry. Gillian needed to go to sleep. Van and my parents went out to dinner and then brought me back some takeout pizza. First lesson in traveling with baby - eating in a dark hotel room while the baby sleeps. (It was delicious).

Waking up in italy

The good thing about having an infant and never really sleeping meant that I didn't feel jet lag. I requested cribs at our hotels, but we didn't feel safe (soft fluffy mattresses) so she slept in bed with us which I think she liked. She adjusted to the time difference right away and slept pretty well. There were a few nights of not sleeping, but we had those nights at home too.

Our hotel included breakfast (I have grown to love hotel breakfast.) We had cappuccino, pastries, cheese, eggs and fresh fruit. The pastries may be what I miss most about Italy. I was able to exclusively breastfeed Gillian (we brought formula just in case), but that also meant I was ravenous all the time. Italy is a great place to be hungry, and I savored all the carbs!

Roaming in Rome

After breakfast, we would get ready for the day and then Gillian would have her first nap. At this age, she had two naps a day and she wouldn't sleep out and about, so we had to be at the hotel. We only had about 2 hours in the afternoon and in the evening to be out between naps/bedtime.

We saw the Pantheon and Piazza Navona. Palazzo della Cancelleria was next to our hotel, and was a nice quiet courtyard, away from the loud and busy streets.

My parents were able to explore and had a great time seeing things like the Colosseum and the Vatican (including the pope!).

We tried to buy baby food, but this was a big cultural difference for us - we found mostly meats like rabbit and prosciutto, and the fruits and vegetables were mixed with various ingredients. We stuck to the oatmeal we brought from home.

Roman pizza: sliced for you and sold by weight, slightly thick but crispy crust. Alice Pizza was around the corner from our hotel and we went there a few times. They have a variety of pizza and we tried a lot. My favorite was the prosciutto, the mushroom and cheese, and the caprese style. Our hotel had a nice rooftop patio (that was never busy!) where we ate our pizza.

Our second afternoon in Rome, Van, Gillian and I went out for a little walk around Campo di Fiori and had lunch at Verso Sera, just off the main market square. The staff brought out an extra table for us so we could have a nice spot with the baby. Gillian was so calm and liked observing everything.

My parents watched Gillian so we could go out for a little bit, and we found some less busy streets. And gelato! And I got to thinking, what is Rome? When I think about Paris, Tokyo, New York, I have a quintessential picture of what that city is. When I think about Rome, I don't know. I felt like Rome didn't have that "oh yes, that's Rome." It felt chaotic. And busy and noisy. But maybe that is Rome.

family style

At Elle Effe for dinner one evening, we shared antipasti, cacio e pepe, bolognese and gnocchi. The food and the wine was really fantastic. The prosciutto/salami in Italy was so good, better than anything I've had at home. The staff was so friendly and nice. But it was really fantastic to be able to spend this time together as a family and for Gillian to get to know her grandparents better.

Florence

I debated and second-guessed getting a driver to take us from Rome to Florence vs. taking the train, but it was the right choice. With a baby, it was so nice to have that convenience and not deal with navigating the train station and getting to/from the hotels.

When we got to Florence we fell in love with our hotel. It had personality; there was art everywhere (that you could buy), and the staff were so friendly and helpful. It was very comfortable. One afternoon, the hotel staff didn't get our room cleaned while we were out, so they called my parents' room to ask if we wanted cleaning - they didn't want to call and bother us in case the baby was sleeping. I appreciated that so much.

When we got to Florence we were hungry (like always!) and had an amazing lunch at La Bussola, around the corner from our hotel. We shared pastas, pizza, wine and prosciutto wrapped melon.

I continue to be impressed that no one bats an eye at us bringing a baby out to eat.

I felt like we could walk around Florence more easily, traffic wasn't as aggressive.

siena

From Florence, we took a day trip to Siena, which is supposed to be a picturesque small Tuscan town. I don't mind going to popular tourist sites, but it's a different experience when it feels like nothing exists beyond tourism; it felt like Disneyland. Gillian was also really fussy and tired that day, and we decided to call our driver to come back to get us early and bring us to lunch.

bella

I want to write love letters to the restaurant Foresteria Villa Cerna. It was beautiful. It was perfect.

The food - little fried anchovies, a cheese plate with honey and fresh fruit, steak with truffles, a delicate pasta and fresh bread. And of course wine. Clean air, pure sunshine.

Again, we felt completely welcome, and this was a pretty high-end restaurant. There was a group of crazy rich asians doing a wine tasting, a party of real desperate housewives (thought we were about to meet Vicki Gunvalson) and a table of Italian businessmen who I'm sure were wearing the most expensive suits I've ever seen and ordered the hugest steak I have ever seen.

I started to realize that most of the restaurant staff on our trip were men - and they were so welcoming towards the baby. At home, I've experienced other women in public being supportive and understanding of me as a mother. I didn't think a man would ever have that understanding, but it seemed normal for families to be out, and to be sensitive to the needs of a baby. In fact, so many people loved Gillian.

Here at Foresteria Villa Cerna, the maitre d' noticed I was looking for a spot to sit with Gillian, and he said "let me show you a quiet place you can feed your baby." He let me sit on a comfy couch out of the way, and kicked out another employee who was taking a break there.

Later, I found another quiet spot to feed Gillian (and she finally fell asleep after being up 2 hours longer than usual!) I'm not surprised Gillian fell asleep here.

epic travel day

After Florence, my parents left to go back to the US and we headed to Milan. We decided to take the train in the name of efficiency. The train station was not only crowded, but people smoking everywhere - which bothers me, but especially bothers me with Gillian. The signage wasn't that great, and the platform wasn't announced until about 10 minutes before departure, but we found our train. We had a salottino, which was 4 seats in a private compartment. The train was nice enough, but I guess we are spoiled by the trains in Japan, because comparatively, it was a less smooth ride and I started to feel a little motion sick.

I thought Gillian would nap on the train. But I guess it was just too exciting because she stayed (happily!) awake for 6 hours. Her normal awake time was about 2 hours. We were prepared for a meltdown. But she was fine!

milan

We arrived in Milan and walked across the street to our hotel. We knew Gillian was going to fall asleep right away, so we ordered room service and settled in. After a long day on the move we were hungry. We both got the burger, and it was SO GOOD. We ate in the dark (again) while Gillian slept.

More delicious pastries for breakfast (the photo below was just a first helping). Our first day in Milan we went shopping and got the only things we bought in Italy - books and toys for Gillian.

A lot of people say to skip Milan and that there's nothing to see or do. I thought Milan was really beautiful and had a cool vibe. If we didn't have a baby with us I think we would have really enjoyed the restaurants and seeing more of the city.

I had heard six months was a good time to travel - they can't walk, no major emotional meltdowns. But the tradeoff is napping every 2 hours, diapers and holding an 18 pound human all day long. I'm glad we went - it gave me more confidence in being flexible with Gillian and confidence in her experiencing new situations. I was worried about her nursing in public (usually she gets too distracted), but she did. I was worried that the time change would affect my supply, but I was able to feed her as much as she wanted. I was worried about her getting sick (measles!) but even after chewing on the dirty rented car seat straps that stained her clothes, she didn't even get a cold. I was worried that she would be overwhelmed with the noises and sights of new places, but she was fine.

The hardest part was her napping every few hours, and we didn't want to stay out too close to bedtime so she could wind down and not be over-tired. We spent a lot of time in the hotel.

Hello again, alex

We were those people on the plane. From Milan to Dublin, we had an empty middle seat between us (thank our lucky stars), and shortly after takeoff we had to change Gillian and just did it quick in our seats. Then over the intercom we hear "Please remain in your seats while the seatbelt sign is on. There are 2 bathrooms in the front and rear of the aircraft, all with baby-changing facilities." Not sorry.

We stayed at the Alex Hotel in Dublin again, and I really liked it. It was really comfortable but also very stylish and modern. We had a nice meal and then relaxed in our room, watching the Vikings game and reading books. They also had the biggest beds I've ever seen and we slept really well that night (as well as you can with a baby in bed!)

grazie Mille

Would we do it again? I would do it again if we 1) had a direct flight to Italy, and 2) stayed in smaller, slower-paced countryside towns where we could just enjoy our company, the weather and the food.