Villa Borghese, Roma, Italy

Marched through Villa Borghese, a huge park in Rome, to get to the Galleria Borghese for 9am to obtain our reserved tickets for the Gallery...

Didn't want to spend too much of my time in Rome indoors, much as I love art and architecture, as long as I got to see the Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum and the Bernini sculptures at the Galleria Borghese!!!

The park is one of the most incredibly enchanting places I have ever experienced.

A few hours later, by the time Mum and me left the Galleria around 11.30am, the tranquillity and peacefulness of the park was being slowly replaced by a more populated space of families, couples, prams, roller bladers, tandem carriages, dogs, horses and life generally - leading up to noonday.

There was such a warm feeling (not just from the sun) of community and fun within that huge space - that it made me reflect deeply on my life and ponder upon the fact that there are other ways to live.

I suddenly felt really sad to be leaving this place later in the evening, as I imagined myself living in Roma and venturing to the Villa Borghese of a Saturday morning with my husband in my hand (if I had one) and my kids in tow, laughing and playing (if I had any).............................................