My wife’s sister had a new baby! We were determined to make it to Italy to assess the baby and attend his baptism.
Here we pose overlooking my sister-in-law’s city of Itri, located between Rome and Naples.
Zhenya and Daddy arrived first since Mommy still needed to finish her work. Pizza made this little girl happy!
We had fun wandering the streets and snapping pictures with the street art.
A highlight was spending the day at the beach! Spiaggia di Serapo was our favorite beach.
But as you can see, there were huge crowds. Daddy found a private cove where we could relax away from the mayhem.
We were surprised that with thousands of people nearby, none of them ventured this way.
We rented an apartment on Airbnb that afforded 180-degree views of the Bay.
While Zhenya and I waited for my wife and Princeton to arrive, we took a little trip down to Syracuse, Sicily.
The clear, calm water made for great beach days. This was our favorite beach, located a block from our apartment.
The nighttime ambiance in Syracuse was amazing!
Our only daddy/daughter selfie in Sicily came out a little blurry, but it so captures the moment.
Beautiful Italian art decorates every church.
On our way back up to Itri to attend the baptism, we stopped at one more Airbnb along the way. Our host prepared awesome homemade pizza!
The next morning we toured “The Church of the Seaside Grotto“, an ancient church built inside a sea cave, and carved out of the existing rock.
We took a break to view Mount Vesuvius lurking over the Bay of Naples as we drove our rented Peugeot north towards the baptism where we would meet up with my wife and Princeton.
And here’s the proud mother herself, Irina, my wife’s older sister. Baby Micky is ready to be baptized! Grandma on the Italian side of the family looks on.
My wife’s parents were able to make it down from Ukraine to attend the baptism! The tall chap in the middle is my cousin, Andreas, born in Ukraine, now fully integrated into Italian culture.
I can’t say I was cool or comfortable during the long ceremony conducted in Italian…
Even Princeton thought it was a little long…
But the celebration afterward more than made up for a few sacred hours sweating in the Catholic church.
Italian food really does rule the world…
Fresh seafood from the Mediterranean was the main course.
My wife, Zhenya, and Princeton became fast friends with their new Italian cousin.
The remaining summer nights were spent around the table at Irina and Francesco’s country villa.
Daddy found the ruins of this ancient church while hiking in the foothills of Itri.
He brought the family back to enjoy the view and have a picnic.
I think we found our happy place!
We also visited the Vatican, Pompeii, Rome, Naples, and the Amalfi Coast during this trip. But if I posted those pictures, I might break the internet.