Church towers and Mountains

Some people climb mountains. That's not for me. Look at Messner: he lost six toes and a younger brother. I prefer church towers -- the man-made, conquering the human assembly, ascending the historical. You can take lovely pictures up there: cityscapes, mountains fringed on the horizon like a pie crust; it's not a battle between man and nature (or man and beast on a mountain, or man and beast poo on some other mountains).

The church I grew up attending only had a ground floor, a small steeple, and no bells. The steeple was a concession to someone's idea of what a Midwest Protestant church should look like. Once there was a fire but it was in a small storage closet and was put out before it could reach up to Heaven like (some of) our eyes and prayers or the smoke from the candles at the altar.

This may have frustrated me. In any case, perhaps I took unconscious revenge by fainting at the altar during my first communion and smashing my head on the floor before being gathered up by the ushers and carried out. I was told my head made a resounding boom whose echo filled the hall. Perhaps that knocked the demon out because I made it through the second service that morning without collapsing.

Ancestors on my father's side were coal miners, daily descending in cages to hack out Appalachian rock. They weren't religious folk, nor am I now. When I got my first communion wafer the Pastor asked that God keep me inquisitive. I have been kept inquisitive. I have climbed Stephansdom in Vienna, St. Stephen’s in Budapest, and St. Paul’s in London. I climbed a minaret in Eger that was so narrow and had stairs trampled to such dangerous smoothness that coming back down required a harrowing restraint that caused my legs to shake for hours afterwards. I climbed a synagogue in Gyor but it had a regular staircase and only 3 floors. I took the elevator up the Eiffel Tower and the CN Tower. I'm sitting in a chair now with my feet up. I digress.

I live in Innsbruck now, nestled in a broad green gap between mountains. Q: How long can I continue to not climb mountains? A: As long as there are cable cars, church towers, trains, and as long as my wife doesn't demand edelweiss.