Kazbegi Redux

After exactly one year we revisited Kazbegi, this time with friends and children.
Following a dark evening arrival, we awoke to bright blue skies and a thick fog hovering in the valley.

We again stayed at the Rooms Hotel, which I maintain to be the most fully realized architectural and design vision I've experienced in Georgia. It's a pure delight. The building was formerly a Soviet hotel, abandoned and stripped down to its skeleton to be later reborn as the Rooms. 

The walls are adorned with vintage posters of Soviet-era travel and propaganda, a stylish nod to the past. Here the girls impress us with their burgeoning proficiency in the Georgian alphabet.

Upon arrival we were greeted with a delightful surprise: we were "Guests of the Day" (surely a first for our rowdy bunch) and therefore entitled to an even nicer room at an extra nice low price. 

Breakfast was, as usual, exquisite. 

An artful array of color, flavor, and variety,

showcasing the local specialties.

We finished every drop. And lingered. It helped that the breakfast buffet stays open till noon (for once the Georgian penchant for sleeping in quite literally bears fruit!).

Throughout breakfast we intermittently wandered out on the veranda to take in the fresh mountain air and witness the thick low fog creep from the valley.

At first it was a slow swelling,

but as we lingered, it gained speed and was soon rushing past like a great white river,

the banks of which rose until even Mount Kazbegi dissolved from sight.

In the end we could see nothing but white in every direction.

On the drive home we were accompanied by our first snowfall of the season. 

The winding mountain passes were more treacherous, to be sure, but not without their rewards.