6. The Fall
- writedanielwatson
- Jul 6
- 4 min read
Day 14.Tuesday 6/4/26
Ouch. Travel Day
I fell down the stairs.
Like a lot of Europe is old. Old buildings and streets with old stairs and walkways. They are often uneven steps, uneven surfaces, rising/falling landscapes, etc. We have been very thoughtful of this and careful when we walk — literally announcing “careful on the stairs” like every time.
I fell down the stairs. While walking down from our apartment, my back spasmed (continued issues from December car crash) and I fell down the stairs and landed very sideways on my foot. Limited graphic details. When I “landed,” my ankle made the sound of gripping a package-worth of raw spaghetti and snapping it in half.
To speed up this story with the days that follow so I don’t have to mention it anymore (hopefully), my foot and ankle swelled to that of bigfoot’s ugly uncle and turned more vibrant purple than your favorite sunse. I would upload pictures, but you got to pay for those (http://feet4u/dannystoes582475922852820). I limped very badly for days. Saw a physician. Got some help. I’m figuring it out. I now walk like Igor from “Young Frankenstein”. (“What hump?) It hurts, is awkward, and is limiting. I’m figuring it out.
Enough about my feet (see separate blog tab). We miraculously got on our ferry. Bethany threw me as far as she could from the port, and I landed on the boat (good ankle). She was kind and got me ice (in Europe!) several times throught the day. (Europeans famously often don’t serve any ice (or laughably small amounts of ice) in drinks.) I didn’t hear her requests staff fetching ice, but I’m sure when she said: “My American husband was walking…” and they knew what happened. Also, if you clicked on that link above, that’s hilarious. I have a lot of questions about that decision.
We returned to Florence for an overnight.
A picture of my foot.
Look at this watercolor steak on the wall.
Bethany foraged for lunch while I limped across Italy. She was kind. Bread, cherries, and fancy chocolate.
Day 15.Wednesday 6/5/26
Recovery Day in Florence & Composer Meet Up
Bethany departed in the morning. Florence to Munich to Washington D.C. to Indianapolis to BED. She’s a terrific traveler. I miss her every day. I wanted her to stay longer, but she said she had to — what was the word she used? Oh, yeah: “work”. Booooo. We had a blast together. She is my favorite travel buddy. I’m not tearing up writing this. Happy 9th Wedding Anniversary, dear! <3
All my super awesome exciting Florence plans had to be canceled for the day, ya know, since I couldn’t walk.
I was supposed to hike the 400+ steps of the Duomo. You know, that duomo.
I was also supposed to meet a man named David. I heard he’s very tall, white, and is somewhat of an exhibitionist.
Tragic. Disappointing. Can’t change that. Moving on.
I managed to hobble down the steps (barely -- no elevator) for a terrific lunch across the street. Roasted chickpeas and very lightly fried fish with a spicy red sauce on top. It was incredible.
Much of Central Europe (not all!) is very bread, meat, gravy, potatoes in many meals. Like, constantly. You have to be pretty intentional in what you order to get a broad nutritional diet.
This is proof that I consumed a vegetable. Roasted, covered in olive oil, and served with a heaping mound of burrata, like all salads should.
Meeting with Edoardo, Composer/Director. I one-footed my way downstairs and across the street to meet Edoardo for coffee in the morning. He is a composer and director in Florence. He reached out to him because he is heavily involved in the Florence community, directing community choirs, arranging traditional Tuscan and Italian folk tunes, coordinating international choir festivals, and conducting all over the world. I am so grateful we got to collaborate, and I’m grateful for him changing locations to meet me before his evening performance of Beethoven 9.
Of course, he said his English “wasn’t very good”, yet he spoke so clearly and quickly the whole time. This seems normal European when they say “my English isn’t good”. They mean “my English isn’t perfect”. (Although sometimes they mean it isn’t good.) I won’t go into detail here, but we talked about:
Composition approaches/philosophy
Philosophy of the 5 senses. “Perfect Pitch” (sense of sound) is the only thing called “perfect”
Sexuality of language (Italian/Spanish vs French/German)
Rehearsal/Directing philosophy/approach
Comparing/Contrasting Italian/American approaches
Value of conversation and listening
He kindly brought me a book of his Tuscan Folk songs and signed it “to Maestro Daniel”. So sweet! I look forward to coordinating with him in the future and performing his music. He was a gem of a human. Anyone he works with is blessed to do so.
Here's the interior of the cafe we sat at. Looks huge, but it had like 6 tables inside and about 60 people. It was the place to be!
Day 16.Thursday 6/6/26
Travel Day 3 trains, 1 Tram, 1 Functional Foot. Traveled Florence --> Milan —> Some other city —> Nice, France! (Nice!)
Arrived in Nice (pronounced like "niece and nephew") [the "and nephew" is silent] and met my mom and dad who flew in that morning, and we enjoyed an evening together overlooking the Mediterranean seaside view from our 5th level apartment [pinky out].
