I love ruins. All abandoned spaces, actually. I am seduced by their mystery, their beauty. For me, they are a portal for time travel. There, I feel connected to people who once lived, loved, walked, created… They are places of inspiration.

So it’s understandable that I hardly waited for my son to be old enough to take him on a trip to Rome. And it finally happened – a few weeks ago.

We visited together with his friend and his family. I immediately realized the sightseeing experience has changed a lot since I visited Rome for the first time. On the site of Circus Maximus, where today there is almost nothing left to see, we went for the augmented and virtual reality experience. We loved the computer-generated reincarnation of the circus, especially the kids. I guess they felt as if they were in a computer game.

When on the Roman forum, we first went on a scavenger hunt through the ruins (thanks to our Mission Rome guide – a parents’ savior). It was fun to run from one corner to another and discover the beauty of storytelling stones.

Then the dad of my son’s friend downloaded an app with 3D illustrations of what the forum once looked like and showed them to everybody.

Once again, he and the kids were thrilled to experience the site through technology, but being there and staring at the phone suddenly started to bother me. Although I thought the app was indisputably helpful for learning about ancient roman civilization, the artist in me rebelled.

I felt as if technology was trying to rob me of the atmosphere of the place, the precious layer that time brought to the site. And that was the layer I was interested in.

So I respected my feelings. I left the group and continued wandering (on my own) for a while, taking in the intertwined layers of time and space.

I was happy (and the rest of our group was, too).

Inspiration is something fragile, fastly disappearing, and rare.

This is why you should remember to protect it whenever it appears.

Your inner artist will thank you.