Samantha Sokol, who is an Abbey Road Writing Ambassador, was inspired to write the following piece after our group's visit to Arles. The author is on the far left in the above photograph.
Do you ever have those speechless moments? You're with your friends, walking side by side blocking sidewalk traffic, and it's not like there's nothing to talk about, we were all just walking together in silence. The city of Arles was just so magnificent we didn't know how to respond to it in words. "Chaque bâtiment" (every building) has its own color scheme, with matching shutters and doors. The buildings are also quite old; some have restless ivy, and others have wrinkles - wrinkles of experience in the siding. The streets were so small that the petite european cars struggled to make their way through. We proceeded to walk through these streets with our thoughts silently in tandem. We all marveled at the sheer beauty of this place.
Another facet of Arles which was "totalement" fascinating was its history. My friends and I found ourselves in another speechless moment as we walked through the "amphitheater". The 120 arches of this amphitheater date back to the first century, BC. Just think about this situation. Shoes. The shoes I wore to Arles were bought in a mall. Nordstrom, to be precise. They were made somewhere far away, and shipped to the very store from which I bought them. And now, look at me now, these shoes are walking on the same turf where thousands of others shoes have walked. Shoes that were bought at a boutique. Shoes made by an artisan. Shoes made by a mother. Bare feet - because shoes weren't invented yet. Eyes. My eyes. My eyes look upon a fantastic building depicted above. So many different eyes have glazed upon that building. Eyes that haven't seen an ipod. Eyes that haven't seen a car. Eyes that havn't seen electricity. All of these eyes, minds, and shoes are so different. They know different things, they speak different languages, they have different personalities. But also, they are all the same. How? How can so many different people from so many different backgrounds and time periods all share one thought? They share the thought of being completely speechless.
Speechless at the sight of something incredible.
