We usually don't notice stairs very much... 
Unless they are difficult to climb while carrying bags of groceries, or they have snow on them, and then we only notice them in a "I must be careful" sort of way.
How many times have I run down these very steps to catch a train that had just pulled into the station? Thousands of times. I ran up and down these steps almost daily when I worked on one of the top floors of a nearby skyscraper. ~The old W.T. Grant Building, now known as One Astor Plaza. More than 50 stories tall... one day, there was a power failure in the building and of course the elevators didn't work, so we had to walk down the stairs. As we were walking down, the Big Lunkhead Bossman complained that it was so very tiring and asked those of us who were forced to walk with him,
"Is it easier to walk down or up a flight of stairs?"
Someone answered that down was easier, while the rest of us pretended we didn't know. But the boss wasn't sure... he mumbled something about something he'd learned in physics class. I remembered thinking it would be lots easier to shove him down the stairs than up, anyway.
I like stairs, and I like ladders, but I didn't have a good photo of a ladder to post. This was the best I could do, re: Ladders.
“That's my Stepladder, my real ladder left when I was seven”
~ Noel Coward
