Rome

It’s taken me forever to get around to regaling you with tales of my two week trip to Rome! The fact is, this was a very painful trip for me in a lot of ways. It was something that Rachael and I had been planning to do together for years, something we were both so excited about. We both have such a love of ancient history, of art, of architecture; it was going to be a really special trip for us. We had it planned for 2020, and we all remember how that year turned out. So we rescheduled for November of 2021, once her cancer was in remission. But then she broke her hip in October and we had to reschedule for 2022.

During her treatment in 2022 it was a light at the end of the tunnel for her, and she was determined to make it happen no matter what. Even when the cancer came back with a vengeance she harbored hopes of making the trip in between chemotherapy sessions. But by late October it was clear we would have to postpone yet again, and hope for the best in 2023.

It breaks my heart to remember all of this. One of the last things she was able to communicate to me was a hope that I would still visit Rome, and that I would take her with me. So you can see how my eventual visit in October of 2023 was less a fun vacation and in some ways more a dutiful act of remembrance. She had compiled a lengthy list of places and sights she wanted to see–museums, parks, churches, curiosities–so I had an easy time planning the trip. I knew it wouldn’t be the same, that it would be very painful, but I also knew I couldn’t feel complete until I went.

It really was an incredible trip, and full of moments of beauty and wonder and delight. You will see pictures of it all below. The food was indeed delicious and plentiful, the architecture stunning, the artwork beautiful. I rented a bike and rode the old Appian Way out of town and up to a lakeside village. I took a train out to Ostia Antica to wander the massive ruin complex. I probably walked over 10 miles a day, and ate a sumptuous feast every night. Everything I enjoyed, I did as though she were there with me enjoying it too. We had lots of conversations and shared many special moments. But man, was it ever lonely. I wouldn’t change anything though. It was important for me to do, and I felt things that were important for me to feel.

I hope you enjoy the pictures below. Of course they don’t do real justice to anything, but they give you a sense of what I was up to. I know she would have loved every minute of it.