Ascending, Descending

Keeping with the theme of the prior post, we have been pursuing Ups and Downs these last few days, literally.

There's always the routine of getting to or from our apartment, during which we'll discover new pathways, alleys and stairways that connect us to other parts of our neighborhood and the nearby Old City of Genoa:

A visit to a potential language school also started with an elevator ride straight out of Willy Wonka:

One afternoon we took a funicular (really more of a "diagonal train") up into the hills above Genoa, hiking along a trail lined with wildflowers and enjoying amazing views:

And we ended one evening with a ride up the historic art nouveau elevator to Castelletto and the piazza near our apartment, to find a moonlit view down into the harbor. In the elevator lobby there is a quote from an Italian poet: "...when I decide to go there, to heaven / I’ll go there taking the Castelletto elevator."  We can see why!