The ideas for travelling destinations sometimes come in odd ways. I had that idea of New Orleans first: meeting old friends, drinking all the pina coladas available on Bourbon Street's bars, visiting the city. You know, just chilling out.

I don't know for you but life doesn't always go where I want. Anyway, the trip to N.O. was not possible this time for me. Another time, girls! Only I had booked my mother to keep the children, my husband ready to let me leave home for 3 days. Most of the job was done, wasn't it? The most difficult parts, I mean. No need for me to explain the needed organisation for the family not to run out of toilet paper while you eat a gelato on Piazza Navona.

So why not use this time off before my mother or my husband will change their minds?

And then I had a flash: the year before, my friend Cathy and I had celebrated our 20 years of friendship. When I say "celebrate" it's quite a big word. We didn't do anything about it.  Not even a hot chocolate at Le Balzac.

Cathy was delighted by the idea. We only had to find the perfect place that would match the importance of the celebration: Paris? The Lubéron? Scotland? No destination really attracted us. And by a beautiful Sunday afternoon, my husband found just the perfect place: Rome.

We flew ten days after, our Roman Holiday starting with a beautiful Thursday. There's a moment I always enjoy no matter where I travel to: breathing the first puff of air the moment I either go out of the plane or the train. It's always so different from the air I breathe every day at home. There it was, a mixture of heat, salt and lemon. Just what my doctor ordered.

Marco, the B&B owner was waiting for us after the customs and we jumped into the Roman traffic right away. A nightmare. If you ever going to Rome by car, think about it twice. You may never come back alive. Sometimes Cathy and I felt like in a roller coaster: when 50 meters were without cars, Marco would accelerate and before hitting the breaks to avoid crashing into the car before him. Brave as we were, we would grip the armrests, hold to our bags and rave about each umbrella pines we would see.

After a quick change of clothes at the B&B and taking Marco's advices about the best places in town, we hit the road. Cathy and I had decided it would be a walking day. As we discovered, Rome central isn't that big. To go through it, it only takes 40 to 50 minutes by foot. So we went from north to south with turns and detours, visiting the Piazza del Popolo, churches, the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, Piazza Venezia, the Capitol, Largo Argentina, the magnificent Pantheon (whose "eye" in the roof was open, letting the rain pouring inside) and Raphael's tomb, and last - but not least- Piazza Navona, where we drank all we could under the shade.

We crashed on our (separate, this information is important you'll understand why after...) beds at 9:30 pm with hurting feet after a good supper made of fried zucchini flowers, pasta, veal and a small salad.

Something happened on the Friday morning that made my friend and I giggle for many days during - and even after our Roman trip. Let me explain why. As we were already eating breakfast, a nice woman who was also sleeping in the B&B joined us and we started to speak with Marco about the plans for the day. It was really funny to hear French, English, Italian all of them mixed with the international language that the "move your hand in the air" is.

As it turned out, the woman in question was American and looked at my friend and I sparingly, as if avoiding any eye contact with us. And I had my little idea why. The moment she asked us where Cathy and I were coming from, I made sure to include "...with my husband and children..." in my answer. I watched her reaction closely as my statement sank in. The woman nodded excessively and let out a long "Ahhhhhhh" that told me I had been right: she had thought that my friend and I were lesbians! Take it as signs of the times. No one would have thought so some years ago....The streets of Rome are still resonating with our laughter when we later talked about the woman's reaction!

The next day was dedicated to museums. Cathy wanted more than anything to visit the Palazzo Massimo Alle Therme which held an impressive collection of ancient Roman mosaics. To stand in front of two centuries' history can be quite emotional. The great care and imagination with which these mosaics were made impressed us beyond words. We also visited the statues floor, meeting with representations of Commodus and Marcus Aurelius or great Roman generals.

Then we slowly made our way up to the Villa Borghese. "Villa" is commonly used since the old times as "estate". The Villa Borghese holds one of the most beautiful and rich art collection in the world. You will come across statues of the Bernini (my favourite statues of all times being Apollon and Daphné) or Canova, paintings by Raphaëllo, Caravaggio or Le Titien. The rapture felt in the galleries is unspeakable. So much beauty in such a little space... but when you know that Scipio Borghese stole, forced to sell or even imprisoned the previous owners of these showpieces you can imagine at what cost this collection was put together... The rest of the day was spent walking to the Pincio that overlooks the Roman rooftops to the Castello Sant'Angelo (the former's papal residence) and his superb bridge protected by Bernini's angels on its side. Then we approached the huge Piazza of San Pietro. Sitting in silence on some stone stairs, we enjoyed of the last sun rays grazing above the Basilica. What a day it had been. How much joy and beauty had enlightened it...

The Saturday was dedicated to Ancient Rome. Although we didn't have much time as we would have to leave the city at 2pm, we rushed toward the Colosseum to finally discover that we were early enough to avoid the crowded queue to enter and that the entrance was free this particular day. We first visited an exhibition about Eros in the Ancient times. We discovered old potteries with quite graphic representations of men and women, various statues representing the Divinity of Love. One particularly attracted my attention: Eros was holding tenderly a woman's face before kissing her. Many centuries have passed since those ancient times but as I look back at the pictures taken that day, it seems to me this two enlacing statues are still representing the quintessential tenderness two people can share one for the other.

The visit to the Colosseum was a nice moment. Our audio-guide in hand, we wandered and stopped to hear the stories about the places that were detailed in the guide. It was so emotional to imagine the people who had gathered there to watch the games, the person or the exotic animals who had been slaughtered in the arena. This is definitely a peculiar place where you can feel the power of humankind who is able to build such a huge place for the goal of mass murder.

After some funny pictures taken with gladiators for rent, our steps naturally brought us up to the Palatine Hill where we discovered the Forum at our feet. The richness of this place is astounding. This is where Roman and even European history came from. With the time running by, we decided to take the metro to the Circo Massimo. We discovered the space that once did hold 380,000 spectators for the grand chariot races. It is still the biggest arena that the world has ever known.

The heat was becoming difficult to bear and we decided to have lunch in a small bar where we treated ourselves with home made cold tuna Paninis. The time had come, our stay was over. And as we rode in the Roman metro back to the B&B, we felt a wave of nostalgia hit us. These three days had been so full of strong and beautiful emotions it was almost painful to leave now. Speaking for myself, I can honestly say that I've felt at home like nowhere else in the world.

See Rome and die? Only if it's because of witnessing too much beauty. If not, it would definitely be a shame not to come back to the Eternal city until your legs are unable to carry you anymore. As for me, I think it would be until my heart will stop beating.