Glass and steel. Light and dark. I appreciate contrasts. Maybe that’s why I like this picture so well.
The place in this picture is a pedestrian walkway just off Chinatown in Washington DC. The orange pieces are 28,000 ribbons hanging down from a sort of pergola. I showed you another perspective shortly after this trip. You can see that image at this link.
I’m not sure why I have been thinking about this place lately. After all, this was a few years ago and the art pieces are certainly long gone by now.
Maybe it s because it was just such a beautiful space that practically glowed with, not just light, but a vibrant explosion of colors that’s hard to explain.
Maybe it’s because it’s just so different than where I live. For someone who happily lives in the country with trees that are bigger than our tallest buildings, there’s something almost mesmerizing about the way this building lights up against the night sky.
This is one of the reasons we travel – because the places we visit became a part of us. They become a part of our memories.
Important travel memories can come from a conversation with a local, an important artifact overhead in a museum, or the smell of fresh donuts at a local bakery. It can also be an early September breeze softly tickling 28,000 ribbons while the glow of electric light makes them seem to explode with color from within.
Don’t just go from Point A to Point B when you travel. Leave the resort. Do something outside your comfort zone. Stop to admire something unfamiliar. Make a memory.
And, on some dreary day years later, pull out the pictures and remember that near magical moment that helped to define that trip. Know that in some way, it helped to reshape a part of you too.
Travel isn’t just going places. It’s bringing those places with you wherever you go.
Very wise words indeed. Modern life has given us so many opportunities to visit places that we forget to experience them. Using electronic devices to capture our memories rather than allowing our senses to see and be part of the moment has become the norm.
It certainly has.
“Travel isn’t just going places. It’s bringing those places with you wherever you go.” Indeed. I wish I could remember all I’ve seen and done in my travels (the good stuff, anyway). Pictures do help jog the memory. But now there are too many!
Some of it starts to run together, doesn’t it?
So well written and I’m in agreement, “Travel isn’t just going places. It’s bringing those places with you wherever you go.”
Thanks so much. Life is richer because of our memories.
Beautiful capture. It’s wonderful to look back at some of our pictures and be reminded of certain memories and moments. I love the last paragraph about how traveling can stay with you wherever you are.
Thank you! Part of the reason I travel is to experience some kind of learning and change in myself. This picture takes me back to a special moment, one that I can’t return to but I can remember. That’s awfully nice too.