Views from the window of our plane

We arrived in Florence from Washington DC after a connection in Munich. Both flights were fairly comfortable but the flight from Washington DC to Munich seemed to take days though, in reality, it was eight hours.

Northern edge of the Austrian Alps

We’ve taken connecting flights from northern Europe to Florence before. Every time we’ve looked forward to having a view of the Alps from the plane. Most of the time, however, we’ve been disappointed. Often the Alps have been shrouded in clouds with high peaks appearing only here and there.

With this flight over the Austrian Alps we were not expecting to see much since the weather forecast had been for dreary weather in Europe in general and in Italy in particular. Soon after we took off, however, we could see snow capped mountains in the distance and the mountains were clear of clouds. Further, we were on the better side of the plane in terms of the light; we were on the left side of the plane while the sun was streaming in from the right side.

The mountains looked like frozen waves. Frozen, of course, because they were covered in snow. But frozen, too, because they were formed by the collision of the Italian peninsula with the body of Europe. The mountains are a reminder of titanic forces within the earth and their physical expression on the surface. This picture was taken from 33,000 feet! You can just begin to imagine the massiveness that is the Alps.

Urban sprawl west of Florence

We snapped photos quickly but the best photo was the first shot. As we progressed over the Alps the clouds thickened and soon the mountains below had disappeared. We were happy that we had at least one good shot to share.

The dense clouds thinned out as we approached the Florence airport and we saw, for the first time this year, the Italian countryside to the west of the city; the rolling hills, vineyards, and cypress trees of Toscana. This time we were on the wrong side of the plane to see the familiar center of the city.

After a good night’s sleep, we met old friends on Saturday. All of them were happy to see us and excited about the game this coming Monday evening between Florence and Napoli. In the twenty team Italian top soccer league, Florence is third and Naples is second. In the previous four games Naples has had two ties and two losses. In the previous four games for Florence has had two victories, one tie, and one loss. This might be a good year for Florentine campanilismo, the feeling of pride that Florentines have in their city. (For more on campanilismo, see Campanilismo | Italian Language Blog.)

On Saturday we picked up tickets to Monday’s soccer game with Naples. We’ll buy our membership card to the Uffizi museum on Tuesday when they are open. First, soccer, then art and culture. It is so easy to step back into our lives here.