Back

Steepest decent | Day 94 of my 2023 Journal

Cecilie Conrad·Apr 4, 2023· 2 minutes

We are in Rome over Easter to spend time with my sister's family. It is a perfect way to maintain strong family bonds. My sister very often allocates her vacations to spend with us, so we accumulate a lot of wonderful adventures together and get to see each other relatively frequently in the context of the nomad lifestyle of my core family.

Easter in Rome is not optimal for peace and quiet. We knew this, and it is okay. We spend a lot of time with people who are on vacation. This means more restaurants, landmarks, ice cream, and mass tourism than we would have chosen on our own. It is all okay. The priority is always to thrive, and to do so; we need our family relations and our friendships to blossom. We cherish friends and family coming and meeting us, and spending their valuable vacations with our family.

On our second day in Rome, firstly we walked to the Spanish Stairs. We took the photos, walked to the top, read the Wiki page, and visited the church.

On the way, we enjoyed a talented violinist in the street and a sculpture that was hard to understand but on our Rome list.

Then we walked to the Trevi Fountain, only to enjoy the concentration of tourists increasing. The fountain is beautiful. Worth it. But it felt crazy.

At this point, my brother-in-law inserted the concept of steepest descent, as we decided to walk the steepest descent of tourist concentration.

Lovely pause at an almost empty piazza did some parkour, and talked in the sun. Next up is gelato, the Colosseum, and Forum Romano.

Epic Rome in all of its former glory, shining through what is still standing.

Walking, talking, listening to street music, taking pictures, and playing games.

Then the rain came, we had coffee and got wet walking back.

Sometimes I feel like a sheep when in big crowds of tourists. Yet at the same time, I am happy for all the other people who get to visit epic places and enjoy the cultural history or the wonders of nature as long as I can find the steepest decent fast when I need it.

steepest-decen3

Love and light

Cecilie-Underskrift-300x133

Cecilie Conrad

# 94 of my 2023 writing challenge - Read them all here

Every day, there is yoga on, discussions and panels, workshops of all sorts, sports and crafts, and dance, and you name it. Evenings of music, live b…Read more
Fairford is a small town in Gloucestershire in the Southwest of England. A pretty and neat little place I would have never visited if it was not beca…Read more
“There is no way I am leaving England without seeing Stonehenge first,” my youngest child said when we did our planning day in Forest of Bowland a we…Read more
This is the key to football as a religion. The loneliness. Or, more precisely: The human craving for belonging. There has been so much lost in modern…Read more
William Turner is epic. And the exhibition was special. I think we spend two or maybe 3 hours staring at how he describes the ocean, the clouds, the …Read more
We walked the streets, passed the club where the Beatles took their first steps into fame, the whole rock and roll area with live music (of varying q…Read more
Here begins a little bite of the road trip, just the five of us - as planned on our pausing day in Forest of Bowland. Liverpool was on the way to Sto…Read more
We met Annas' family at the castle in Normandie in the spring, and we all got along very well. And it was a pleasure to visit them in Kendal, even th…Read more
We stopped at the most magical and beautiful place to have lunch in the grass by the river under the trees. Literally magical. We crossed the river t…Read more