Places...

There are those places I have been, that I have traveled to that have resonated so deeply with me that I have taken a mental picture to dust off and pull out in a future time.  One is seeing the Swiss Alps first thing in the morning.  I and my good friend, Laura, backed packed in Europe before entering college.  We saw many places and had many memorable experiences at that young age. We traveled I a fervor; the way that 18-year old’s do.  We took an overnight train from Austria to Switzerland.  I awoke suddenly in the early morning as the sun was just rising. Our train was slowing down a bit as we climbed up the Swiss Alps. I glanced out our window and saw the sun rising over the mountains.  The sky was a light blue and pink and reflected off the mountains.  There were chalets below this horizon. They seemed to stand as sentries to this postcard picture.

Another picture I have in my travels is of Banff, Canada. I witnessed the beauty of Lake Louise against the backdrop of the Canadian Rockies.  The water was such a bright blue that it didn’t seem real.  I was told that the clearness of the water was due to the glaciers melting the water which poured into Lake Louise.  When I touched the water, it was ice cold despite it being August. I thought once again that this place will be imprinted on my mind forever. I felt light and free; the way that seeing such places feels.

There have been many places I’ve visited since then. I can vividly picture the rain forests of Costa Rica and the Guanacaste coast. The wooden shack on the beach which served pizza al fresco. Enormous lizards scurried in front of our table, chasing the prey they wanted desperately to catch. I heard and saw waves  so enormous that the most experienced surfer would experience trepidation before entering these waters.

Most recently I traveled in Europe for 2 months with my son.  There were numerous places I saw and experienced. That one place that took my breath away was in the town of Vernazza. I had seen photographs of this magical place but despite this was not prepared for the exquisite beauty where the colorful hillside houses met the sea.  Years before I had ever experienced Vernazza I told myself I wanted to see the sunrise and the sunset in this pocket of southern Italy.  I did both by climbing down a steep incline to the edge of the Ligurian Sea. I witnessed the sun setting and the sun rising while setting on a rocky embankment.  The sun was so full of blues, pinks and purples against the water with the Isle of Capri in the distance.  In the harbor there were fishing boats which were silhouetted against the sky and the sea. I began to realize that these rocks on which I sat, the ocean and the sky were here much before I was born. They will exist long after I die.  This beauty is one to be captured in more than a photo.

There was Arles, France.  I decided to change my plans and go to Arles on the spur of moment which was quite unlike my nature. I discovered that this was the town in which Vincent Van Gogh painted prolifically: the yellow house, cafe Van Gogh, Starry Night. The hundreds of year old shutters were a bit askew and the streets were difficult to manage cobblestones. In a word, these things which are the essence of Arles make it achingly beautiful.

There are places I have traveled which have changed me.  Their sights and sounds, their unwavering beauty which I shall never forget. The pictures in my mind of these places I’ve traveled have become a part of me. 

I will soon be traveling to Portugal and southern Spain with a side trip to  Morocco. I know I will again experience these moments that take my breath away. The sights and sounds which will forever be imprinted on my mind. They will continue to change me in that way that  exquisite beauty at a certain time, in a certain place can afford.