Welcome home to Rome!

So there are a few things of which we are absolutely (and in some cases regrettably) aware:
1. The title of this post is upsetting to some (don't worry mom, we will move back to California eventually)
2. To others the title is thrilling and possible jealousy-inducing (to which the only cure is to visit us... oh darn! Hehe!)
3. It has been entirely tooooo long since we've updated this blog (but now we have internet in the apartment, so hopefully that will be fixed)
4. We miss you all so much already that it actually hurts at times (to resolve this please see the cure noted in point #2)

So to say "Ciao from Rome!" while simultaneously letting you know how much we miss ya'll at home:
Welcome to our mumbo-jumbo post!!
A little bit of Rome, a little bit of home, a whole lotta love any way you look at it!


To catch you up on this month so far, here's what's happened/happening: (sorry, I'm apparently very into lists at the moment)

1. We've moved into our same apartment and are as cozy as ever.

2. Our first weekend here the dishwasher flooded the entire apartment which completely negated the aforementioned cozy factor. But everything is dry and happy again now. I felt a huge sense of pride emptying and drying the entire apt in under 3 hours!! Thank god for tiny European apts!

3. We FINALLY got the little jump drive internet stick, so we have internet access at home. True to everything in Rome, it's a little confusing though: we only have internet after 5pm and before 9am and on weekends... think of it as a weekend and nighttime cell phone plan. Coincidentally those times fit the span when most of you are awake (yay Skype!)

4. We are fully back to work (sort of). I'm back to tutoring my one little girl (no the princess has not returned my phone calls yet, but I still have hope!) For now I'm super content with Elisa, one kid is enough. Plus her mom is adorable and completely reminds me of my sister, so I feel like I have family here. She treats me like family too! We are back to doing tours with Dark Rome! Yay, oh how we missed it! I have my basilica pass back so that keeps me busy in St. Peters and in the churches. Graham is still getting into the swing of things. But we are both keeping busy training for new tours. Now when you come visit we can also take you on an Angels and Demons or Crypts and Catacombs tour too!!!

5. Life has settled back to exactly how we left it. Most of our friends are still here. Some are still on their way back. We still enjoy strolling the cobblestoned alleyways at sunset and eating gelato even when its freezing cold (which it currently is). The past few weeks the weather has been wonderful! Sunny. Warm. Clear. Just perfect. The last few days some crazy icy wind has blown in and we feel like our fingers may fall off from frostbite as soon as we step outside. But its still Roma. And we are still as in love with her as we always have been. Maybe even moreso. What is it that they say? Absence makes the heart grow fonder....

6. We have been utter slackers when it comes to photographing our transition back to Roman life (it wasn't much of a transition, more like a comfy sigh as if we returned home from an extended holiday (sorry again mom!)). But nevertheless, here are the few memories we have captured:


A beautiful sunset behind one of my favorite places in Rome: Saint Peters!!!

I went to a Papal Audience to hear the Pope speak! Ok, so I was training for a tour... otherwise I wouldn't have gotten up that early :)

The massive amount of people present at the Audience (it was the only one in the month of March)

And then came St. Paddy's day!! (BTW, we stole that cup, hehe)

The kind Irish folk at the Irish pub we visited gave us some festive tattoos to celebrate the spirit.

One of the aforementioned kind Irish folk who was also kind enough to buy us 3 pints, and then leave his behind without touching it (Graham had that one as well). Yes we got wasted. Yes there was some drunken slipping involved. And yes I now have a giant black bruise on my knee as a souvenir of the evening. (And yes, looking at this photo still makes me feel a bit queasy). It's all part of the memory-making process, right?


Taken today on a relaxed stroll through the cobblestone alleys as the sun was going down behind us :)





And now, without further ado.... a fabulous montage of the fabulous times we had in our fabulous tome spent in fabulous California. We love you and we miss you!!




























We love you and we know you love us to when we see your comments... so leave a comment or we will think that you have forgotten us and don't care about us anymore (half-jewish and living in the center of Catholicism: I'm good at the guilt ;) )