Just hanging out | Day 97 of my 2023 Journal

On the fifth day in Rome, we simply enjoyed the lovely sunshine so much that I forgot to take pictures.

In the morning, we all did our thing: The teenagers went for a walk and a croissant at the vegan, gluten-free bakery they had found, I did some morning shopping for the family, my husband did his yoga, and the youngest caught up with some sleep.

We live at Campo do Fiori, where an old Roman market takes place every day. The market used to be at Piazza Navona and has been going on for centuries, as I understand it.

Every morning they set up the market, every bit of it, and every afternoon they take it down. In the evening, the piazza is open for kids to play with the shiny blue things to shoot in the air found everywhere with enough concentration of tourists.

It is lovely to live in a place with so much going on. Even though the market is very professionalized aimed at tourists, and the nightlife at the piazza makes it a bit hard to sleep before 02 at night. Still, we have a lot of reality to see when we walk the dogs, shoot out on an errand, or just look out the window.

We walked to Isola Tiberna, where we waited in the sunshine for my sister's family. Then we did the short and beautiful walk around the island before we headed for Trastevere. A bookshop, some icecream, a piazza with drinks and drawings, a lot of street art, more walking in the sun, and to top it all up, we found a vegan restaurant to light our lives with healthy smoothies, lovely soup, and fabulous vegan, gluten-free cakes.

While the cold came creeping with the shadows, we walked back laughing, visiting another church, looking for geometry patterns, planning for desserts, and looking at shop windows.

The evening was spent on the floor and on the sofa of our Airbnb, having the food I prepped in the morning.

Just hanging out is a great luxury.

Love and light

Cecilie Conrad

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