Just A Walk

Just walk, see, sit down if you like. And be. Just be, whatever you are with whatever you have, and realise that that is enough to be happy. There’s a whole world out there, right outside your window. You’d be a fool to miss it.
~ Charlotte Eriksson

All of this crap with my health this year—while not major—took a toll on my stamina and energy level, and I was a bit worried about what the long flight would do to me. The flight, as I mentioned yesterday, was relatively easy but long, and except for being really tired, I was fine. So fine that I actually slept between 10-12 hours last night which, if you know me, is darn good.

 

I didn’t want to overdo it this weekend, so once I pulled myself out of bed and got ready yesterday and today, I had my cappuccino (Grazie, Cesare!) and decided to take a walk and just observe. It always amazes me that, as much time as I have spent here, I always find something that I haven’t seen before in places that I walk constantly.

Today’s photo essay, therefore, are a few of the things I noticed as I walked around Saturday and Sunday.

I first noticed this street mural last fall when I was walking through one of the side streets near my apartment. It is a wonderful representation of the towers and churches of the historic center. Because it is so perfect, I knew it wasn’t a tag, but I wondered who did it and how he/she was so perfect in the art.

I found out yesterday.

I ducked down Via Coltelli and saw a woman tracing an enlargement of a photo she had made San Luca, a church in the hills near the historic center. One nice thing about this mural is that it’s going to cover the graffiti on the little utility door.

While she worked, her little pug guarded her and the door….literally and figuratively.

A little farther down the street, I found this more-colorful tagging which other taggers tagged and tore.

This morning, I happened upon a mercatino (small market) around the corner from the apartment.

The market is there every Sunday morning, and the emphasis is on natural, biological foods.  Many of the booths had chestnuts which, if you weren’t aware, are a popular Italian snack in fall and winter.

And, of course, there were dogs. I was happy to see Fox and Gianluca, friends from my first stay in Bologna in 2014. Ever the terrier, Fox refused to cooperate when I wanted to take his photo.

I’ll end with another shot of the two towers, the symbol of Bologna. I am always taking photos of them at different angles. I took the one at the top of this page from about 15 feet to my left from where I took this photo. In the photo at the top, you can really see the difference in height of the two. Asinelli, the tower on the left, stands at 97.3 meters (319 feet), where Garisenda is 47 meters (154 feet) tall. By the way, the Leaning Tower of Pisa is only 55 meters (183 feet) high.