Me, Michelle and Rick Steves

This is me and my friend, Michelle in Rome last March. We ditched our husband / boyfriends for 10 glorious days of my once in a lifetime dream vacation. Michelle loved it too, but she loves anything that involves flying and foreign languages for SHE is a travel whore.

We couldn't be more different from each other. She is a sometimes stay at home Mom who lives for her children. She was raised by a loving family complete with a French Canadian Mom, Claudette, who is sweet as a peach but drives Michelle crazy. I am a career girl who was smart enough to realize how selfish I am and that that particular character trait doesn't mesh well with child rearing. I hyperventilate if dirty dishes are on the counter or if my plants haven't been dead headed in my garden. My parents were both hippies who divorced when I was quite young. My mother, Reta, is always up for an adventure, considers any kind of housework to be a waste of time and is one of the most thoughtful women alive, but also drives me bonkers.

Michelle and I don't agree on everything -like the most efficient way to get from point A to point B, what constitutes a long walk, the color of my eyebrows or what color to paint walls. We do agree on a lot of things like Carrie Cahill Mulligan's hats, good food, red wine and lots of it, but we were concerned about sharing a room for 10 days. Michelle snores, I am a fitful sleeper if I sleep at all. I am an early riser, she is decidedly not. We checked in to find that they put us in a room with one double bed. As we arrived a day early we assumed that is what they had and we would be moved the following night. Not to be.

We did find that we were the perfect traveling partners. I was so exhausted from our daily 10 mile hikes that I never noticed that she snored. Nightly I would obsess over the travel guides to plan the following day's itinerary while Michelle, who is a night bather, splashed in our marble appointed bathroom ministering to her multiple blisters. In the morning I would quietly make some cappuccino for myself and continue the obsessing and memorization of the street maps. The moment she stirred I would make her a cappuccino to be served in bed. We were like an old married couple!

We agreed that no opportunity to eat gelato should be wasted. I am pretty sure this photo was taken at our favorite place in the Jewish quarter. We ate everything with abandon, but it was balanced by our daily marathon treks through the city. Artichokes! Grilled Vegetables! Wine! I even broke down and had a slice of pizza two days before we left (I am gluten intolerant) knowing I would be sick in three days because I just can't see coming to Italy and not eating pizza. It was glorious!

Michelle allowed me to go clothing shopping (not her thing) without pressuring me to get a move on- she knows how particular I can be when choosing things. I let her stay in a glass shop for over an hour chatting with the owner- I popped next door for a cappuccino rather than rush her through her fun. We agreed on the stuff we wanted to do together and were fine for the day we opted for solitary pleasures. No angst, no guilt. I can't imagine this trip being any more fun than it was.