At some point either the summer before I started Berkeley or within a few weeks of moving there, I bought a postcard of the Steps of Montmartre in Paris. (See the image that was on the postcard above.) I put it up on my wall and liked to look at it sometimes as the staircase is so pretty. At the beginning of February 2007, not long after I'd moved to Paris, I walked to them from my apt, and ended up seeing them lots more times as Montmartre is the type of place I always went if someone was visiting, etc. And they really are so lovely. Maybe it's from that postcard that my love of outdoor staircases first started, but it really grew in Berkeley, thanks to the Bancroft Steps.
I think around January of our first year at Berkeley, on a Sunday (I think) night, N. brought a bunch of us to the Bancroft Steps. It was kind of surreal (and scary) to go for the first time at night. But I made up for it by going a lot in the daytime after that. The Bancroft Steps was the name we gave to this whole network of outdoor stairs that takes you high up into the Berkeley Hills, starting up behind the stadium. There were three main sets, if I remember correctly, that I would take every time I went there. I'd start with the initial steps, then walk along a pretty residential road for a bit, and then climb up this one really tall staircase, and then walk along another pretty residential street for a bit, and then take another long and pretty (with great views of the Bay) staircase back down. I would go there alone sometimes but I loved going with other people. I brought L., E. and H. there when they visited me during first year. And I went there lots with other friends too. I always wanted to go there with B. but never did. I had the chance to suggest we go there when I was in the Bay visiting in May 2008 and saw him, but I felt like the whole going to the Bancroft Steps with him moment had passed, and so instead we went for pizza.
The Northside Berkeley Hills have multiple amazing staircases too! During June 2004 when I was living over on Northside and taking a summer class, I spent a lot of time alone because L., S. and A. were all gone from Berkeley for the summer. I used to like going for walks during the early evening on Sundays after I'd come back from studying all day at Cafe Milano. I'd bought a map of Berkeley and I would consult it first, and then head high up into the hills seeing really pretty parks, and going both up and down lovely stone staircases.
Los Angeles (I wonder if San Diego does too? or is it just a Bay and LA thing?) has wonderful outdoor stairways too. This past summer I had the privilege and luxury of going to the Santa Monica 4th St steps with S. (full disclosure: I found out about the 4th St steps because I was reading celebrity gossip online and there was something about John Mayer being spotted working out there) and a bunch of different steps in Silver Lake with my brother. S. and I did not see John Mayer, but we did see a lot of really sporty and in-shape people who seemed very intense about their stair work outs. I don't think I'd want to work out there/with those people if I lived in Santa Monica! I purposely didn't write about the staircases as a benefit to Silver Lake in my LA entry a few months back because I knew I was going to be writing this entry and I wanted to save talking about them for here! A. and L.'s new house in hilly Silver Lake is within walking distance from lots of amazing stone staircases (see picture above), similar to the Bancroft Steps. Early-ish one morning, my dad drove me over to their house (A. and L's guest room had all this furniture in it, due to their recent move, and so my parents and I stayed in a hotel) and I went on this really fun (and hard!) stair walk with A. We went for about an hour and it was a combination of walking on streets and walking up and down (some incredibly steep and some more gentle slopes) hills and stairs. It was so fun! And I was so jealous that he can do that all the time. I can't wait to visit LA again and actually stay with A. and L. and then do that walk a lot more. And I want to check out some of the outdoor staircases that are in Silver Lake on the other side of the reservoir from A. and L.'s house.
Way back in June 1998, I went to Italy for two weeks with UTS. Even though I had spent two weeks at an overnight summer camp two summers before (in July 1996 when I was 12) I was so so homesick (especially for my mom) the first few days of the trip, which we spent in Rome. I was miserable and kept trying to cheer myself up by thinking that the trip was only two weeks long and would be over before I knew it. We did lots of good sight seeing and ate lots of gelato but I still felt sad. I was silly! One of the places I most wanted to see though, and which I did, was the Spanish Steps as my mom loves them, and had recommended them. (See picture below. I love how everyone is just hanging out on them.) She also wanted me to go the poet Keats' old house which was at the bottom of the steps. The Steps were gorgeous but I feel I didn't fully appreciate them. Fortunately, things really picked up for me as soon as we left Rome and headed to Florence. I made friends with some of the other people on the trip and became much happier! However, I still feel badly that I didn't give Rome a fair chance. I really want to go back (and particularly to the Spanish Steps) sometime so that I can experience it in a non- completely homesick frame of mind.
Italy is good for outdoor steps! In July 2007, just before leaving Paris to head home to North America, I spent one week in Southern Italy with S. and C. We flew to Naples and spent a few days there, and then headed to the Amalfi coast for the rest of the trip. We spent 2 nights and one full day in the town of Amalfi. It is right on the Mediterranean and one of the prettiest towns I have ever seen! C. and S. ended up getting very drunk the first night we were there, and consequently were extremely hung over the next morning and stayed in bed for most of the day. I was happy to be on my own (it was funny, throughout our week I'd go for a walk alone or head to an internet cafe or do something and they never understood/never had the need themselves to be alone) and decided to go for a walk high up into the hills It was lovely. The sun was shining, the water was blue and sparkling, and there were a series of cool stone paths and stairways leading up the hills (see pictures below of one of the staircases, and of my view). It was a walking dream come true, and one of my most favourite walks ever.
I also love meeting people at steps. If I lived in Rome, I think I'd want to meet up with friends at the Spanish Steps all the time. We wouldn't have to hang out there the whole time, we could just meet on them and then go wherever we wanted to go. The Berkeley campus was really great for step-sitting and meeting up. I used to love (and still have great memories of) sitting on the steps of Doe Library overlooking Memorial Glade either alone or with a friend. It was so pretty, good for people watching and just a lot of fun. I also liked the steps of Wheeler Hall for sitting and/or meeting someone.
So it turns out Montreal has some outdoor staircases too. One day last November, J. invited me for lunch at his (old, he has since moved) apt (I assumed that meant he would be providing the lunch but when we got there he asked me if I'd brought my own. After I told him no, he proceeded to heat up some vegetable soup in the microwave...) which was about a 10 minute walk from the law school. On both the way there and the way back, I spotted a grand looking stone staircase at the top of one of the cross streets we passed, which immediately reminded me of the Bancroft steps. I determined to go back and see them sometime, but that sometime didn't happen until May because piles and piles of snow and a very busy second semester got in the way. I walked up them one afternoon in May and they are very nice. They connect one street to Pine Ave which is much higher up. Like I wrote above, they are stone and grand and very nice. They are also quite solitary. I was hoping for a network of steps like in Berkeley or Silver Lake but as far as I've been able to investigate they are the only ones. I told myself in September when I made a point of going for a little walk in between classes just so I could walk up them that I'd try to do that once a week. However, sadly, I haven't been back since. And soon the snow and ice are coming, and finals, and it'll probably be May before I get to climb them again. Sometimes I worry about how I never seem to do the things I want to do or say I will do in Montreal (case in point: J.'s new apt is across the street from this cafe that looks exactly like it belongs in Paris and we have been saying we'll go have a kir there since September and we haven't gone!) and I marvel at how often I made the time to go to the Bancroft Steps in Berkeley. But then I console myself with the fact that the Bancroft Steps are amazing and this one staircase near the law school is not anywhere near comparable. And then I also think that it's just really nice that staircase is there, and can remind me of Californian stairways that I love a lot.
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