Brescia

The last few days have found me in the small town of Brescia with my friend Tommaso. This town is fantastically beautiful, with cobblestone streets that wind tightly to and from the different plazas, all under the shadow of a castle that sits atop the hill overlooking the entire area. There is a monestary from the 6th Century, a vineyard at the castle that produces a very specific and unique wine due to the stones that the castle is made of decomposing and leaving nutrients in the soil that are found in no other vineyards.

I have eaten fantastic pizza here and even better meals prepared by my professional translator friend. I spent an afternoon up at the castle exploring the stone paths which overlook the entire city. I purposefully left areas unexplored so that I may go back and see them another day. I sat on a bench for an hour and let the wind blow around me, and set about the business of thinking as a verb.

On my way out of the castle grounds, I overheard a bird making a particular call. It was a simple whistle that went up in pitch right at the end. I found that I could easily imitate the call and I spent about a half an hour "talking" with this bird, who never left his perch of the iron railing that surrounds the castle, a mere two meters from me. Every day should be spent in such a lovely fashion, and for me, every day in Brescia is spent this way.