�������t¶��

Lake Luzerne, in upstate New York, is a small mountain town of weathered clapboard houses, with a spired church on Main Street and a public library that offered internet access, a food pantry and twice-weekly story hours for children.

Francis celebrated a large, open-air Mass against the backdrop of the spired Parliament building on the banks of the Danube River.

In his low smoky baritone, Yakov would regale me with descriptions of the River Spree at sunset, spangled with purple and gold; or overgrown ruins along the Mediterranean, fragrant with the scent of honeysuckle and dappled in indigo shadows; Paris in midwinter, a white city spired with icicles and sparkling hoarfrost.

One side is bordered by spired red sandstone peaks and juniper trees, and there’s a cluster of family homes on the other side.

Spired pine trees line the park’s gravel roads, which have names like Ambush Bend and Pony Express, and off in the distance you can see the snow-capped Humphreys Peak.