Return to Rome

This is from a while ago - I wrote the post but never published it. So here it is, a few months behind.

It was the week before spring break. Literally. I was desparate to go somewhere on vacation. Mikael was entertaining a staycation. I wasn't doing that. After having made and discarded numerous vacation plans (Jordan, then Sri Lanka, then India (Goa), and finally Dubai) I felt exhausted. Unmotivated. So when Mikael called and said 'I have had a moment of clarity... let's go to Rome', it just seemed the right thing to do. Especially since now we had a plan.
Going with my alliteration theme here Rome had everything one could want on a vacation- friends, food and flora ( necessity when trying to escape the desert). Plus my sister was going to a last minute conference in Naples and would make a side trip to Rome and my cousin and my aunt for coming to Rome for Easter- what else could one ask for? It was a great vacation. We ate and ate and ate and ate. And we walked and walked and walked and walked. Almost balanced out all the eating. We saw family, good friends, all our old co-workers... Miki and Lili had a great time- the daily cornetti (like croissant), all the playgrounds and the gelato probably had a lot to do with that. The kids loved all the over the top Easter candy and decorations in the cafes and little shops ( HUGE Easter eggs-- 4 of which I successfully transported back to Doha- I think Miki would have disowned me if any of them were cracked, melted or in any way less than perfect) . And of course all the attention they got.
We found out that what was our fairly shabby 'living in Rome' Italian has now turned into impressive 'tourist' Italian. Either of these is still way better than our almost nonexistent Arabic ( sigh...).
At any rate, we came back and felt ready to appreciate all the comforts of Doha- no icy cold marble floors in unheated apartments, a pool a 2 minute walk away, no getting squished on public transport (although you can get squished by a big truck - don't know which one is worse), and most of all just the return to what we now call 'home'.