Alone on an esplanade

No one else was there. I wasn't expecting that. In the middle of the city, in the very heart of it. That this place should stand empty in the early evening seemed unlikely, as though a hoard of people were somehow in hiding, prepared to jump out at any moment and laugh merrily at their jape. I'd expected tourists, or random strangers milling around at the least. Perhaps the biting cold had driven them inside. In the end there was just me.

I admired the view for a while, strolling from one side of the esplanade to the other, the city laid out in miniture before me. I walked past statues and plaques and an incongruous ticket booth, it's scrolling electric sign still flashing prices. I stood in front of the gates and the castle loomed majestically above me. I tried to remember the last time I'd stood so close to it and failed.

I paused briefly in the glare of a spotlight and twirled around for the benefit of no-one in particular. And then even I was gone.