For those of you who wonder about the title of this entry, the reference comes from J. R. R. Tolkien but also accurately describes the adventure I had this afternoon.
Following the end of my classes today, (2:45 p.m.) I traveled into the centro or downtown area of Florence to pick up the rest of my textbooks. At first I turned to head home and rest a bit before dinner, but looking at the early hour and knowing I would be loafing about until dinner (8:30p.m.) I decided instead to take some advice I'd received and simply "get lost" in the city.
One of my professors had recommended several sites across the Arno river and so I traveled from the Duomo to Ponte Vecchio in order to cross to the other side. Having not traveled so far across the river before, I didn't recognize any of my surroundings and simply decided to travel in the direction that looked most interesting. After walking for about five minutes I came upon a staircase that looked like it led to a hill and several private villas. (See first picture)
After ascending the stairwell I came upon a series of very narrow streets reminiscent of the pictures seen in guidebooks. These streets wound around and as I traveled upwards I caught a very brief glimpse of the city across the river. I then decided to continue upward in order to find an excellent view of the city.
After almost an hour of walking around these narrow streets and passing by an old fort, (Fort Belvedere), I saw a balcony in the distance where I could just make out people standing and gazing on the city below them. I resolved to make it to this balcony and continued to follow the street signs and curving streets until I reached another staircase (see picture two) leading up to a church as well as the balcony I had seen from afar.
This balcony turned out to be part of the famed Piazzale Michelangiolo and as I walked to the edge of the balcony a breathtaking and majestic view of the city greeted me just before the sun began to set. (See pictures three and four) I was instantly overcome by the beauty and splendor of the city that lay before me as it had for hundreds of years before my own country had even existed. At one point during my reflection on the balcony I was actually holding back tears, but I will continue to deny any such allegations when I return home...
During those moments spent on the hill, I contemplated the nature of humanity and our ever present mortality. I believe that God created us as mortal beings in order to increase the wonder and splendor of spending eternity in Heaven, but during those minutes I thought to myself that if one could spend eternity searching for beauty such as the city before me, a person could truly find a paradise here on earth. Perhaps this will be my version of heaven... If it is so I will consider myself more blessed than I already am.
The walk back to my apartment was blighted by the fact that my camera died seconds after I took some pictures of the city below Piazza Michelangelo. Fortunately, for both me and you this means that I'll have to make another trip to the piazza and take lots more pictures... woe is me.
As I am visiting Bologna this weekend with several friends, I won't be able to post again for a couple of days. However, when I return, I'm sure I'll have lots more stories to share with you.
Buona notte dall'Italia (Good Night from Italy)
John
No comments:
Post a Comment