The bittersweet part is knowing you were there before the transformation. You experienced its authenticity without the performance it now has to stage for visitors. That is a rare memory because as you said not many traveled that way in those years. In a sense you carry a version of that place that no longer exists outside your recollection.
It’s the way of beautiful places. First they belong to themselves, then they belong to those who stumble upon them, and eventually they belong to everyone. The gain is comfort and access, the loss is the quiet magic that needed no stage. You were there in the chapter before the spotlight, and that’s a rare thing to carry.
The bittersweet part is knowing you were there before the transformation. You experienced its authenticity without the performance it now has to stage for visitors. That is a rare memory because as you said not many traveled that way in those years. In a sense you carry a version of that place that no longer exists outside your recollection.
It’s the way of beautiful places. First they belong to themselves, then they belong to those who stumble upon them, and eventually they belong to everyone. The gain is comfort and access, the loss is the quiet magic that needed no stage. You were there in the chapter before the spotlight, and that’s a rare thing to carry.