vanity is a cute trait for a baby....

I always wonder...does she know that the girl on the other side is her?

Or is she just vain? I'm gonna try to remember to ask her when she grows up. Jag undrar om hon vet att den lilla tjej är henne, eller om hon är bara egenkär. Jag ska försök att fråga henne när hon blir större.

when in rome...

Despite the shortness of our trip to Rome (2 day stopover), our eyes feasted on some really cool stuff....

....including the Pope!

He has some pretty cool guards too. Lydia wasn't so excited by all the fine art and architecture...
all she really wanted to do was play with the pigeons...the museums were pretty impressive too...
I am trying to figure out if the city we live in is on this ancient map
(yes, all the places I have lived were marked on there!)
And of course, we can't get away from finding some Arabs wherever we go... Well, that's enough talk about Rome.
There is a lot of ground to cover in this blog and I am way behind!

tips and highlights from our time there:
1. If you have a baby, use them and your stroller to skip the lines in the museums and sights!
2. If you stay at a private bed and breakfast, don't let them cheat you by moving you to another hotel because they are "full." By complaining a bit, you can get an upgrade instead of a downgrade. (hence our apartment with a/c, private kitchen and bath and HUGE room).
3. June is HOT there, take advantage of the free water fountains everywhere, they taste great.
4. The catacombs are well worth seeing, and it is refreshing to get out of town a bit too.
5. The Roma Pass is a bit of a 50/50...most of the stuff offered at discount is little italian museums that are hardly worth seeing if you're tight on time.
6. Keep remembering as you walk along and see the beautiful buildings, how much of it was built from indulgences....(st. peters dome, for example). Beautiful, but that money that was given did not save someone's uncle or grandpa by the gift.
7. Don't worry to see everything, your eyes will be tired after a day of seeing ancient stuff around every corner anyway.
8. Watch out, you never know when the pope might show up!
9. The coliseum is cool, but the one in our country is about the same size and much more open to roam around in and check out!

Och nu på svenska...vi hade två dagar i Rom, och fick kolla på mycket grejer...även på påven! Han har roliga väkter, men Lydia uppskatade inte de har stora byggnader och museet...hon vill heller kolla på duvarna. Jag själv vill helst kolla på en gammal karta och ser alla platser jag har bött i. Som vanligt, vi hittade araber att bli kompisar med, typiskt! Då har jag lite tips om vad man ska tänka på om man vill åka ditt....och det var Rom! Nu ska jag skriva om allt annat som har hänt i sommar!

a loooong break

This summer was just too busy and full of fabulous photos...it felt overwhelming to pluck just one photo out of the bunch and blog about it. But, it is refreshing for me to blog, and hopefully enjoyable for you to read, so now we are back on track... First of all we had a stopover in Rome, then carried on our way to Sweden, had two sisters in law get married, and celebrated with everyone who was glad to see little Lydia again. Let's start with one of those little joys that I had this summer. Plucking (and eating) wild blueberries! Now we are back in the boiling weather of North Africa where people don't really know what blueberries are....it was good to enjoy them for a while! Nu har jag haft en jätte lång pause...det var nästan för mycket med fina bilder, mycket att göra med två svärsyskon som giftade sig, och massa folk som vill leka med Lydia! i alla fall jag ska börja med en av de liten nöjelse från tiden i Sverige...blåbär! Folket har i Nord Afrika vet inte ens vad blåbär är för nånting, så det var trevligt att äta sig mät av de när vi var i Sverige.