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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| Breakfast was, as usual, exquisite. |
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| An artful array of color, flavor, and variety, |
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| showcasing the local specialties. |
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| 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!). |
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| 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. |
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| At first it was a slow swelling, |
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| but as we lingered, it gained speed and was soon rushing past like a great white river, |
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| the banks of which rose until even Mount Kazbegi dissolved from sight. |
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| In the end we could see nothing but white in every direction. |
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| On the drive home we were accompanied by our first snowfall of the season. |
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| The winding mountain passes were more treacherous, to be sure, but not without their rewards. |
