Branan Edgens

Lira From Heaven

In 1993 I spent a semester with a rude band of American students, criss-crossing Europe sampling medieval and Renaissance art. I knew it was a once in a lifetime opportunity so I was already feeling lucky that afternoon in late October when our tour bus deposited us in front of our hotel in the Italian ski resort town of Cortina d’ Ampezzo. The village was nestled in the folds of the foothills of the Alps, the sight of which inspired an old-style Bavarian wanderlust within five of us; Randy, Kipp, Matt, Martin, and me. We quickly found our rooms, dropped off our luggage, regrouped outside the hotel, fueled our lungs with alpine air, and headed for the proverbial hills.