PISA, Italy — It was late in the evening as we walked across the River Arno. The sun was beginning to set, and the evening sky was filled with all sorts of colors — yellows and reds and everything in between.
The evening commuter train from Florence dumped us off maybe a mile from the leaning tower, and with map in hand, we immediately set out on foot for the leaning tower. It was just down the street, really — just a turn here and a turn there and we’d be there. We knew we had to double time it to the tower as the daylight was fading fast, and since we had aspirations of taking all sorts of pictures of the famous tower — including those hokey ones where we pretended like we were holding the tower up — we needed some semblance of daylight.
But as we crossed the river, I knew I had to stop for a moment. It was the most beautiful scene, almost surreal. The mountains rising in the background and la spina reflecting in the river. I knew it was a stunning vista when the shutter snapped, but it wasn’t until I saw the photograph later that I realized just how stunning.
Considering the time of day, and the fact that we had somewhere to be, there really wasn’t time to bask in the moment’s glory.