Nothing of the city touches the earth except those long flamingo legs on which it rests.
Note
After seven days through woodland, the traveller bound for Baucis cannot see it, and has arrived. Slender stilts rise from the ground far apart from one another and vanish above the clouds: the city is up there. Its inhabitants rarely come down.
Three hypotheses, says Calvino: that they hate the earth; that they respect it so much they avoid all contact; that they love it as it was before they existed, and with spyglasses and telescopes aimed downward they never tire of examining it, leaf by leaf, stone by stone, ant by ant, contemplating with fascination their own absence.
Sink below the clouds: from there you will see only the city’s legs and its pierced shadow. Touch the clouds and they will part: every telescope will turn to look.
Quotations are brief excerpts for the purpose of commentary. The full text is available in published editions. The Cities of Ottavia, Valdrada & the soundtrack are inspired by "Monument Valley" from ustwo games.