I guess we are making a statement about our resilience in 2024, by the moving-about modes we have opted for—getting to the corner farmacia or the pasticceria three blocks yonder... This time we are entirely afoot—no rented car, no Uber guy at our beck and call. It's nice being able to summon a taxi at will of course. But by and large we have ceded the private wheels (car) experience to another season of life. The alternative can be wearying, though. And at the end of the day isn't it glorious to remove shoes and socks, and know the joy of not another step of sidewalk or cobbles underfoot awaits. Not, at least, until next morning.
This image shows Michele standing before the crenellations at Castello di San Giorgio, perched some hundreds of feet above La Spezia's trendy shopping streets... resolutely we trudged up ascending sidewalks, climbed endless stairs (many with merciful handrails to cling to when legs begin to cook). Gasp.
It was worth it, though, looking down across the harbor and mentally challenging invaders from yonder Celebrity Constellation to meet us in combat. Ha!
[A humbling or even mortifying postscript: looking around from yonder medieval museum in the sky, whose heights we had toiled to attain, we espied a new stainless funicular. Right over there. That we could ride on for free, descending to the welcoming flatlands below—and the promise of a pretty good dinner in the ship's San Marco dining room.]
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