Walking the streets at night ...

6/20/2010 Sunday
Ciao! (My intention to mean "Hello", but I'm not sure I've got it right).
It's now about 2 am Monday, local time in Pisa, and Josh and I weren't sleeping well, so I invited him downstairs with me to the lobby of our Hotel Bologna (like I did the night before by myself).
That night, Saturday night to Sunday morning, when I couldn't sleep I came downstairs to write, then I stepped out into what I had previously dreamed of ... walking the streets of a foreign country by myself in the middle of the night!
When I stepped outside to smell the night air and to listen to the night sounds, there was one man who looked like a local Italian, walking quietly and keeping to himself, and another man a few minutes later who looked possibly like an American or English man, walking quietly with an umbrella until he used it to test some loose stucco off the side of a building (not so quiet anymore, which caused some feelings of anxiety and fear in myself, thinking "That umbrella may be in case of rain, but it is also an assault weapon!"). I found a container of umbrellas just inside the motel door for what appeared to be us guests to use, so I borrowed one.
I left the motel last night about 3 am, walked toward the river and did a circuit, taking about an hour. It was very quiet, with occasional people walking around, and very few cars and motorcycles going by. Not interacting with the people left me to imagine what they were doing - some appeared to have been partying, like the young man who peed off the bridge into the river, some were in lively conversation, some were quiet leaving me to wonder and fill in the gaps with my imagination …
At 3 am with less stimulation of daily city sounds, and with my anxiety aroused in me by being out alone at night (with my very own assault umbrella), my senses were heightened, and I could hear echoes of the slightest sounds, and I smelled breads baking from imagined bakers. I could smell olive oils in their recipes …
The river was separated from the streets by a high (about 4 ft. tall) and thick (about 2 ft.) very old stone wall, making the river inaccessible to this pedestrian. I walked past a very old church along the river, which had amazing stone carvings. I crossed over the river by a very old, arched, stone bridge, then walked upstream about 400 yards (how many meters is that?) to another old, arched stone bridge. I walked past the city hall, which looked centuries old. I tried some alleys, looking at the local cars parked (Fiats, Citroens, Alpha Romeos, and even some Fords). An alley cat spooked me.
After returning “home” and replacing my assault umbrella in it’s place, I returned to bed and slept well.
More later about yesterday, Sunday, which was Father's Day in the U.S. (but not here in Italy) when Josh and I went to Florence, and Mary and Nate stayed in Pisa …
Todd