ROME, ITALY // JULY 2023
- TRAVEL DIARY -
We wandered to Rome by planner’s happenstance. A good price on a flight back to NYC meant we would spend the last few days of our trip there.
As much as I was familiar with Rome, I was unfamiliar. It was a destination largely off the top of our list of places we’d been dreaming of visiting. And, I don’t know why. When a friend of ours had previously been there, I had made a mental note of how special it seemed. Yet, I was never overcome with eagerness to visit. Maybe I had thought it was too touristy… it is quite the destination for many.
I have fate (and the above mentioned friend) to thank for taking my hand and leading us to this ancient place. And, what more can I do but kiss the hand of fate in a show of gratitude, in return. Bless this life. I loved Rome. No, I adored Rome. I was romanticized by Rome. I can’t wait to return. And in the meantime, I will savor my longing.
It was the enchantment of pacing the aged and polished labyrinth streets. The way my neck craned up and down as we absorbed architectural detail beside tall and sturdy, great-grandfatherly trees.
There was a magic to stumbling suddenly and unassumingly into Navona Square with it’s three fountains. How special to have not researched much before our arrival and to instead have had the opportunity to discover much along the way as we explored. We came upon the Parthenon and the Trevi Fountain while walking to dinner… coins and wishes there, leaving a splash. What history, what future.
I couldn’t help but look upon Rome like I would have the marble sculptures at the Borghese had it been open when we stopped by, with demand that there be marvel from each and every direction. Only, Rome is not inanimate, it is a shapely and historic thing with a vibrating, resonant soul.
I left for home feeling like a school girl— Giddy, effervescent, ready to grow older. Perfect travel souvenirs, especially when you are traveling on your birthday/re-birthday. Old as it is, Rome springs youthful with it’s fountains— I am ever thirsty for flow.
