[The following is a designated ‘John-only‘ to-do]

High atop a misty mountain peak in the Northern reaches of Italy, a monastery (Sacra di San Michelesits) sits quiet and stolid overlooking the peaks and valleys of the foothills of the alps.

This monastery was built in layers of history. The first walls were erected in the late 1100’s and over the next 800 years additional layers of rock and mortar were fused together to craete a haphazard wonder-filled labyrinth.

A place of rest and safe haven, legends have been built here, battles have been fought, songs of victory and sorrow have rung through these halls, carried along on dim candlelight.

And so, for a few euros and a small paper ticket we walk these same halls. If you listen just the right way you can hear those same voices singing those same songs of great deeds off in the distance on the looping CD that now plays in the nave throughout the day.