not a twitcher

In the first novel that I read on this trip, Rare Birds by Edward Riche (thanks to Steph and Mike for this recommendation), "twitchers" are set apart from regular bird watchers.  From my VERY limited understanding of bird-watching, a twitcher's goal is very specifically to see as many species of birds as possible. They will travel far distances in order to catch a glimpse of the rarest of species; once found, the bird gets checked off of a list, and the twitcher moves onto the next species. 

Now, I am sure that many twitcher/bird-watcher hybrids exist, individuals who love to check new species off of their lists in addition to gazing at their favourite birds for hours on end, though they have already been sighted many times. However, I was thinking about the purist twitcher, and it seemed a good analogy for a spirit that I do NOT want to cultivate in my travels. With the notion of "living in Europe for 3 months", rather than being on vacation, I want to get to truly get to know know the places and people where I am staying, and get to know myself in the process.  This trip is not about checking off countries, cities, museums, or even gorgeous coastlines off on a list. I remind myself of this on the days where I feel some kind of pressure to "see everything", to move on from one place quickly so that I can get to the next city, the next gallery, the next monument.  Just like the bird watcher content to watch her favourite species soar again and again, this is how I wish to travel.

In the spirit of "living in Europe", I bought sushi yesterday for dinner (one does not need to eat only pizza and gelato while in Italy), after going to see the Accademia Gallery.  Now, eating sushi in Florence is not terribly touristy of me, but the Accademia Gallery just might be the most touristy thing to do in the city, as this is where Michelangelo's David is to be found.  Touristy or not, what a glorious sight this was, in a room built specifically for this statue, standing 3m high (I didn't realize that the statue was so large). I reserved a ticket in advance for this, so as to not stand in the 2 1/2 hour line.  I also laughed to myself at the fact that the gallery really cleared out after David, as many people go just to see this one statue. I enjoyed walking around the second floor as well, mostly 13th century sacred art, suddenly very quiet and peaceful...

...(I think the twitchers had left)...

After climbing to the top of the Campanile (a mere 414 steps) for an incredible view over the city and surrounding Tuscan countryside, I watched a beautiful sunset over the city, from Piazza di Michelangelo, and enjoyed a quiet evening at the hostel.

I am off to see more art.

With love
xo