We’re driving to the southern part of the city today for the National Museum of Automobiles (as Oly says, “fast cars!”) and for the original Eataly (famous for its part in the slow food movement).

We drive to the Museo Nazionale dell’Automobile, and we park in a public garage a few blocks away. It’s very sunny and hot, so the walk to the museum feels long. The museum itself is a large modern building. It’s cool as we step inside, but the tour begins on the top floor, which doesn’t feel air conditioned. We brought water for the kids, and I’m glad we did.

The museum is large and very nice. It goes through the history of cars, from design to tires to engines. Of course it covers race cars too. That’s Oly’s favorite part. He runs through the whole place super excited pointing out every single car, “there’s a fast car!” This museum requires time to explore all of it, but it’s very informative and interesting. Well worth the trip. 

//Grandpa note: One of the coolest museums ever.  Oly likes the red fast cars best.

Next stop: the original Eataly, only a few blocks away. It’s a large building and feels remarkably similar to the one in New York. We are super excited to eat here for lunch. Mom and Lillian insist on pizza and pasta. We get a table in the middle of everything and eat the tastiest, simplest food ever. We are all really loving Italian food, especially the kids.

//Grandpa note: Oly found the perfect place to keep his shoes while we ate.

Gelato follows dinner. The kiosk for it is next to our table, so everyone’s been eyeing which one they want before we even head over there. And dad and I get coffees from the cafe nearby. The entire space smells like the best coffee ever. It’s amazing.

//Stefan Note: Stefan orders one hot mess

We walk throughout Eataly, picking up pasta, cheese and salumi for dinner tonight. The downstairs is filled with beer and wine. It’s an incredible selection, and we are all amazed by the 2-L bottles to fill with inexpensive wine from the barrel. Genius.

//Stefan Note: Grandpa tastes all the local wine using 2L bottellas

//Grandpa note: Finally a reasonably sized bottle of wine.

We drive home and hangout for awhile. We cook a simple dinner at home and then go for a walk. It’s cooler now, and it’s nice to see the city at a different time of day. People are heading out for the evening.

After getting the kids in bed, Stefan and I intend to go on a date. We walk around, holding hands.The square near our apartment is lively with merchants selling light-up toys for kids and different entertainers. The shadow-puppet guy is very entertaining. It’s really nice to have some time just for us. But we realize that despite it being after 9, people are just sitting for dinner. Not wanting to take a dinner table for only a glass of wine, we just walk and go home. One place looks particularly happening, so we decide to have a dinner date there tomorrow night. 

//Grandpa note: When your date ends at 9:00 you might be getting old and lame.  Grandma, Grandpa, Lillian and Olaf had their own date night.  We walked around, ate dinner under an umbrella at Regina Margareta, had a bed time bath and went happily off to bed.  Our date night lasted almost as long and Mama and Papa’s “date night”.