Pic and a Word Challenge #177: Upriver

Today’s post contains a fable I wrote based on an internet gif and a compilation of river photos. The lesson is: Believe what they tell you.

Upriver

 Strange things happen upriver.
 A gnu says to his friend.
 “Do you see that tree trunk?
 It’s not that at all.  
 It’s a croc.”  

 “Yeah, yeah, for sure,”
 replies his friend.
 “It’s a trunk. For us to step on
 and cross the river.
 It’s what we do.”

 “No, no,” says the first.
 “What we do is
 we get eaten
 when we step on a croc.
 I’ve seen it done.”

 There is a short
 staring contest.
 The first gnu
 sighs a little
 and looks at the trunk,

 or is it a croc.
 It seems peaceful,
 the perfect foothold.
 He is the leader of the pack,
 he has to act.

 He steps.
 The croc,
 for that’s what it is,
 makes one swift move,
 and the gnu is no more.

 His friend blinks and stares.
 The river is calm again.
 He turns to the next gnu in line,
 motions to the trunk and says:
 “It’s a croc.”

 The next gnu,
 not having seen or heard a thing,
 stops drinking,  
 looks at the croc and says:
 “It’s a trunk.” 

---

And now I might as well take you to my rivers. No crocs or gnus available. Not all the photos below were shot upriver, sometimes I’m not even sure in which direction the river flows, but here are more or less ten rivers from Italy and Slovenia, as is my habit, with more or less two photos of each.

• 

  Let’s start in Firenze.

• 

  The famous Ponte Vecchio on the Arno river.

• 

  Over to Rome and the island on the Tiber with the maternity hospital.

• 

  The Ponte Cestio bridge leads to the island.

• 

  Similar effect in one of the oldest Slovenian towns, Škofja Loka: The Capuchin Bridge over the Selška Sora river.

• 

  The reflection caught my eye and I had to click again.

• 

  I’ve showed you river Soča (Isonzo) already some posts back. I’ve found the perfect house on it in Most na Soči.

• 

  Further upriver (actually, downstream) is Kanal na Soči and they jump into it. It’s clean enough. A rarity these days.

• 

  The Ljubljanica river almost in the centre of the capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana. This family decided this one was clean enough too. I wouldn’t be too sure.

• 

  No, it’s not a croc, it’s a CD-Head! Run!

• 

  Ljubljanica gets four photos.

• 

  Because it’s pretty. Jože Plečnik designed these arcades. Restaurant Ribca underneath.

• 

  To the south of Slovenia: Žužemberk town and its Krka river.

• 

  The view from Žužemberk Castle.

• 

  Back to Italy. I crossed a bridge by chance, looked to the right and found Etruscan metropolis Vulci by chance. Fiora river beneath.

• 

  Upstream Fiora (or is it downriver?). Bestia drank quite a bit of it and I had anxiety. It was early days in Italy. I thought everything was polluted but it’s not so bad yet.

• 

  The view from Pitigliano and I haven’t descended yet to explore. Volunteers? It’s zoomed in heavily.

• 

  Terme Saturnia and happy pest bathing.

• 

  The closest “river”. Our whole area is full of such canals and nutrias. Can you see an egret? The sea is about 1 km to the left.

• 

  To the other side. Or upriver. Or downstream.

In response to Patrick Jennings’ Pic and a Word Challenge #177: Upriver