Ensō: The Journey Home
I awoke with the knowledge that today would not be spent on the trail, and my time here tucked away amongst the trees in the mountain ranges was soon coming to a close. I had just completed a journey filled with rich experiences and moments that will live on in my memory for all of my life.
I awoke with the knowledge that today would not be spent on the trail, and my time here tucked away amongst the trees in the mountain ranges was soon coming to a close. I had just completed a journey filled with rich experiences and moments that will live on in my memory for all of my life.
My car-share was to pick me up in a few hours the nearby town of Chamonix. It turns out that Chase and Natsuki were also headed out of town, and instead of walking there we shared the morning train together for the short trip to Chamonix. We said our goodbyes, and began to look forward to staying in touch every once in a while.
Chamonix was a bustling town, tourism filled the streets and I could see in the distance chairlifts taking eager spectators up into the mountains. I found myself a grocery store and began to stock up; my eyes unable to control their wandering from all the things offered to me at once. I packed my basket full of fruits, meats, cheeses, and chocolates, as well as some more chocolates, sausages, and a bottle of wine (recommended by a local) which I would bring as gifts for my parents whom I would see in two days time. How crazy is that? Here I was in a grocery store in the shadow of Mont Blanc, that same day I would be back in Tübingen, the next I would be in Milan, and then on to California… seemingly a world away from the wine aisle.
In any case, I found myself a nice spot on a bench and began to watch the people go to and fro while enjoying stuffing myself with fruit and bread and cheese and chocolate. I had quite some time there, soaking in the sun, reading a bit, writing a bit, and in the midst of all of this I once again looked up, surprised to hear my name. A few of the Aussies were walking by! Are you kidding me? I’ve seen them now 3 times. What a crazy world; what a beautiful world.
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After some time it was time to go get my ride share to Geneva. She was a quick talking, high energy person who was engaging the whole car ride. She even told me about this International Exhibition that happened to be in Milan this year, Expo 2015. I thought since I had half a day in Milan, I would check this out. I suppose the only catch was that she actually couldn’t take me to Geneva, but only to a city about 40 minutes away. Bummer, I thought. Yet, time was on my side, my train back to Tübingen wouldn’t be until much later, and I easily found my way to Geneva by a public bus for under 5 euros.
Geneva was truly a city. Something which I was far removed from at this time. I decided to simply weave my way into the train station, make my place on a bench and read and eat for the few hours until my train arrived. The ride back consisted of more of the same, and soon enough, I was back in Tübingen.
Tony had asked if I wanted to meet up, knowing that I had to go to the airport around noon the next day I initially hesitated as I still had to unpack and then repack for my 2 week trip home to California, but I decided to go over in any case. Naturally, he asked about the trip, and being as the only ears I have told about it so far were the pages in my journals, I began to unfurl a J.R.R Tolkien re-enactment of my every movement. Hours later, in the early morning, I finished the recap, which consisted of one day of full details and then eight days of outlines with highlights for the sake of time. It was truly amazing how well I could remember everything. There must be something about motion and memory, I could recall my day through time so easily by tracing my movements from when I woke to when I slept. My entire trip went on in this fashion, like a thread, lacing around the mountains and through the trees, creating a tapestry that I will forever cherish.
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I decided to simply crash on Tony’s couch that night, and took an early bus back to my place in the morning. I quickly repacked my bag with what I needed, as well as an additional bag of things I no longer needed and wanted to leave at home. Then I was off to the airport and to Milan.
I arrived mid-day, and would be spending the night in Milan before taking my flight home. Sometimes this was the price to pay when getting your flights for the minimum amount of airline miles and a few dollars. If you know how to do it right, it turns into quite the layover. First things first, I got myself an amazing gelato from one of the reputable places in the city, lines out the door also helped confirm what the locals were saying.
Then I was off to the Piazza del Duomo, of which I heard about in an Advanced Neuropsychology course during the topic of Spatial Neglect. This was so cool to see in person after visualizing the study 6 years ago. Spatial Neglect is a very interesting phenomena, someone who has it would be essentially ‘blind’ to say, the left half of the world. There are different types, some people would be blind to the left side of say every object, whereas others would be blind to the left side of a central reference point. Now, when I say they are blind, they aren’t really blind… in fact, their visual systems are perfectly intact and functioning. The idea is that some relay which assigns importance and attention to the things in the visual field is broken in some way. Meaning, that if you took a man who had eaten only the right half of his plate of food and pointed out to him that there was food still on the left side of the plate, he very well might give you a surprised “well I’ll be darned!” and go on to eat it. It truly is a weird thing. Anyway, the study in 1978 by Bisiach & Luzzatti in the Piazza went like this: they had two subjects whom they asked to imagine and report the features they saw when they were standing on the steps of the cathedral that is at one end of the Piazza, nearly all of the features mentioned were ones that would have been to their right from that viewpoint, and very few things on the left were recalled. When asked to imagine standing at the opposite end of the square, facing the cathedral, most of the features they mentioned were ones on the other, previously neglected side, which was now to their right. Presumably, the patients were forming a mental image of the Piazza, as viewed from the specified location, and attempting to read off the features around it from their imagery. Clearly knowledge of features on both sides was in their memory (formed before the neglect-causing-event occurred) but they were unable to access all of it normally from their imagery. And here I was! Gazing out from those very steps. Pretty cool.
Then I was off to the Piazza del Duomo, of which I heard about in an Advanced Neuropsychology course during the topic of Spatial Neglect. This was so cool to see in person after visualizing the study 6 years ago. Spatial Neglect is a very interesting phenomena, someone who has it would be essentially ‘blind’ to say, the left half of the world. There are different types, some people would be blind to the left side of say every object, whereas others would be blind to the left side of a central reference point. Now, when I say they are blind, they aren’t really blind… in fact, their visual systems are perfectly intact and functioning. The idea is that some relay which assigns importance and attention to the things in the visual field is broken in some way. Meaning, that if you took a man who had eaten only the right half of his plate of food and pointed out to him that there was food still on the left side of the plate, he very well might give you a surprised “well I’ll be darned!” and go on to eat it. It truly is a weird thing. Anyway, the study in 1978 by Bisiach & Luzzatti in the Piazza went like this: they had two subjects whom they asked to imagine and report the features they saw when they were standing on the steps of the cathedral that is at one end of the Piazza, nearly all of the features mentioned were ones that would have been to their right from that viewpoint, and very few things on the left were recalled. When asked to imagine standing at the opposite end of the square, facing the cathedral, most of the features they mentioned were ones on the other, previously neglected side, which was now to their right. Presumably, the patients were forming a mental image of the Piazza, as viewed from the specified location, and attempting to read off the features around it from their imagery. Clearly knowledge of features on both sides was in their memory (formed before the neglect-causing-event occurred) but they were unable to access all of it normally from their imagery. And here I was! Gazing out from those very steps. Pretty cool.
Next on my things to do was to go check out this international exhibition, “Expo 2015”; the theme was “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life”. Each year a different country from the 170 participating countries hosts the Expo with a different theme, the last one in Milan took place in 1906. In any case, I made my way there through a series of metro stops, luggage in tow. This latter comment proved to throw me a curveball. It turns out that the Expo does not have a baggage hold, and there were no hotels or businesses or anywhere that I might leave my luggage, trust me, I tried. Now, I wouldn’t mind taking my luggage with me throughout the Expo, it wasn’t much… yet, they minded. It turns out that the bottle of wine and food I purchased for gifts were no-go's. They wouldn’t let me in, and after asking the ticket people for a third time if I could leave these things with them, I left the Expo grounds. Alas, this gave me a bit more time to wander around the city, which is never a bad thing. After a while, I made my way back to the airport, where I would be receiving my 5-star sleeping accommodation. I found a nice spot on an upper floor reserved for offices and away from the hustle and bustle of the airport, blew up my sleeping mattress, and drifted off to sleep until my morning flight, dreaming of sweet California sunshine…
My flight was passed through a series of naps, punctuated by beautiful sights out the window. One of which, I like to believe, was of the alps that I had just walked along. There they were, in all of their splendor, waving to me from above the clouds.
Soon, I landed in Miami. I had 4 hours until my final flight back to California. I suppose I was still energized from my walk, as I ran out of the airport in search of the metro. I flew along the metal rails into the heart of Miami, and began to explore.
My first adventure was found in that of an empanada hand made by the friendliest Venezuelan lady in Miami. And oh my was it a delicious adventure. I think I had 3.
Filled with energy, I continued walking along the streets, taking in the sights until a sign claiming they had the world's best pie beckoned me in. The shop was run by a local firefighter who in his spare time loved to bake pies. He was in fact in the shop at the time, and I spoke to him a bit about how he got started and which was his favorite. He told me that key lime was his first pie he ever made, and there was a piece of it sitting right there in front of me, well it was in front of me, and then I ate it. A nice dessert. I figured that the pies would last the plane ride home, and also picked up pieces for my parents.
With a full belly, I had to make my way back to the airport, sliding in just in time for my flight. I settled into my window seat, watched the sunset, and closed both my eyes and this chapter. When I woke up, I was home.
My flight was passed through a series of naps, punctuated by beautiful sights out the window. One of which, I like to believe, was of the alps that I had just walked along. There they were, in all of their splendor, waving to me from above the clouds.
Soon, I landed in Miami. I had 4 hours until my final flight back to California. I suppose I was still energized from my walk, as I ran out of the airport in search of the metro. I flew along the metal rails into the heart of Miami, and began to explore.
My first adventure was found in that of an empanada hand made by the friendliest Venezuelan lady in Miami. And oh my was it a delicious adventure. I think I had 3.
Filled with energy, I continued walking along the streets, taking in the sights until a sign claiming they had the world's best pie beckoned me in. The shop was run by a local firefighter who in his spare time loved to bake pies. He was in fact in the shop at the time, and I spoke to him a bit about how he got started and which was his favorite. He told me that key lime was his first pie he ever made, and there was a piece of it sitting right there in front of me, well it was in front of me, and then I ate it. A nice dessert. I figured that the pies would last the plane ride home, and also picked up pieces for my parents.
With a full belly, I had to make my way back to the airport, sliding in just in time for my flight. I settled into my window seat, watched the sunset, and closed both my eyes and this chapter. When I woke up, I was home.
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This is the tenth post of a series of 10 from the Tour du Mont Blanc trek I did in August 2015.
Thanks for following along!
For more adventures, writing, photographs, and even video go to my website: www.InTentsAdventure.wix.com/Explore
Thanks for following along!
For more adventures, writing, photographs, and even video go to my website: www.InTentsAdventure.wix.com/Explore
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to reach out to me!
Also, if you are interested in using one of my photographs, please reach out to me!
Thanks for reading,
Eric
Thanks for reading,
Eric
