Stairs

Looking down 7 flights of stairs in the stairwell of our apartment building.

There are 114 stairs between the ground floor and our 7th floor apartment. The first time I climbed them (with luggage in hand) I had to stop several times to catch my ragged breath. And try climbing them after walking around the city for hours in 33 C weather! Whew! What a workout! And now that I've sprained my bum knee....it takes me FOREVER to limp up or down them.

The biggest lesson we've learned from these stairs is to make sure you have everything you need before you go out. Yesterday afternoon we learned that very important lesson. We were going to take the metro to do a little clothes shopping and to see some famous architecture. Before we left the apartment we asked each other all the necessary questions.

"Do we have water?" "Yes."

"Who has the cameras?" "I do."

"How about the maps?" "Yup."

We tromped down the 114 stairs.

The metro station isn't very far from our building. Maybe a 5 minute walk. Once we got to the station, Joe looked in his wallet for our metro passes. They weren't there. "They're in the dish on the hallway table!" he groaned. Back he went to climb those 114 stairs. And back down.

When Joe returned to us at the metro station (all sweaty and hot) he said, "As soon as I grabbed the tickets, I quickly left the apartment to run down the stairs. When the door locked behind me, I realized I had left the keys inside!"

We are going to be much more careful and thorough the next time we leave the apartment.

*Thankfully, Arturo lives across the hall and let Joe back in the apartment to retrieve the keys.