Sorry for the lack of updates, it´s been exhausting hiking! Here is up to Day 32 (Sunday) and I´ll return soon for Days 33 and 34!!
Day 30
My first stop on Friday was to the Pamphilj museum. It´s actually a palace of residence, they are descendants of Pope Innocent X. During his reign, him and his family collected over 400 works of art and decreed that none of them could ever leave the collection. Now the descendants in charge are a brother and sister team who are half Irish, half Italian which is super cool. The audio tour came with the exhibit which is cool because I haven´t wanted to pay although it would have supplemented a lot of art. Regardless, the half irish brother side actually narrates the audio tour which is fun. It´s amazing to think people still live in palaces! He would talk about roller skating through the main ballroom his grandmother had her debutante ball in.
I also went to a two small churches featuring more of Caravaggio´s paintings in frescoe form. I love how you can just skip on over to the church for free just to check out the artwork. Lovely. Beautiful, awesome paintings at that.
On my way home, of course I had to get some more gelato. Instead of gelato though, I decided to try their mousse. I ended getting a chocolate mousse and coconut one with chocolate chunks. I am such a sucker for mousse and WOW! That´s all I can say!!
My feet were killing me but I had to stop by the Capitoline Museums which are on this HUGE hill but you get this awesome view of the ancient side of Rome with the Coloseum and the Roman Forum in the background. More marble statues, more works of art, more ancient ruins, more paintings¨! More Caravaggio of course. Why don´t we have this kind of stuff in the States??
Day 31
On Saturday, I walked back over to the Vatican, which is about an 1 1/2 hour walk but it´s across Rome, so I cannot complain! I went back because I wanted to visit St. Peter´s Basilica which is THE Catholic Church. I wasn´t really sure what to expect, I didn´t hear much detail about it. When you first walk in though, there are two lines. You can either go into the line to see the Popes´ tombs but it´s labeled as Pope John Paull II´s tomb. The other line was to go up to the dome and cupola. I figured, well, I´m not Catholic, it´s probably more important for these people to see him than me. So, I decided to head up to the cupola because my friend had told me the view over the Vatican is amazing. What he didn´t tell me was how claustrophobic the climb is! It´s over 300 steps to get to the top on these tiny little stairs in these tiny little passageways. And when you do get up there, it´s packed!! Totally insane. The view is absolutely gorgeous though and hopefully I will have pictures soon to show you!
On the way down, it leads you directly into the church. IT IS MASSIVE. Everything is in marble and a bazillion meters tall. The first two things that go through your mind are: Wow, the church has a lot of money and no wonder people believe in this stuff. I think I took almost a whole roll of pictures. The statues are amaying, full of detail. They even have some popes´ bodies in the church itself. People were even taking pictures! Now that´s taking it a little too far for me! Afterward, I could´ve waited in line to see the popes´ vault but I was tired, hot and hungry so I figured I´d throw it on the itinerary for next time around.
I didn´t really eat that much that morning so of course I went for the next best thing to food: gelato! I went to this apparently famous place that was featured in a bunch of books which you wouldn´t be able to guess from how quiet it seems compared to the big places. But can I tell you how amazing th gelato was?? Seriously, incredibly fresh and full of flavor. I had cinnamon ginger and honey which were infuriatingly the same color and I couldn´t properly proportion which one to eat :)
After that, I went over to the Pantheon and took some interior shots because it´s one of my favorite sites in Rome. It avoided neglect like other ancient sites because it was consecrated as a church in the 600s. Nutty, eh?
On my way home, I happened upon one of the National Museums with three more of Caravaggio´s works. Of course I had to stop even though the museum is undergoing remodeling and many of the rooms were closed. Hey, it was still worth it to see one of Caravaggios most famous; Judith and the head of St. John.
Had a quiet night as I had to be up early to catch my train to Interlaken!! I ended up talking to one of my roommates who is from Portland just discussing Europe in general as he and his gf are in the middle of a 8 week trip. I love connecting with other travelers on that level, it´s always so much fun.
Day 32
Almost missed my train connection as the trains going into Milan are always late!! Seriously, I walked off the train, checked the boards to see where my train was (platform 3) and it was blinking meaning that it was going to leave soon!! I was pretty much running with my huge pack on and stopped at platform 6 because it said Zurich and I thought maybe that was me. The train was totally leaving and some girl burst out crying. At least she was with her boyfriend and he started shouting at the train. It was kinda sad... anyway then I was praying that the second train was mine... and luckily it was!! I jumped on the nearest train and walked to my coach that way and as I was the train started moving. Phew!
The ride was beyond words, the most beautiful train ride I have taken through Europe. Through mountains, waterfalls, rushing streams. And I thought, "Wow, I am going to love Switzerland."
Stopped to change trains in Spiez which was my first taste of Switzerland. I walked out, crossed the street and had this amazing view of mountains and a beautiful, blue lake. It wasn´t necessarily clear but just the bluest blue and greenest greens. Jumped on the train to Interlaken after that and the train ride only ended up being like 10 minutes long! I got a bit lost and confused getting to my hostel but all was good and I saw Julie sitting in the reception lounge. Reunited! In Switzerland no less!
It is currently DEAD in Interlaken right now because there were floods last week. I am pretty sure none of the foreign train stations have gotten the word that train travel to Interlaken is back on track though. It´s been super quiet but that is alright with me because I have friends here and I´ve been only in cities for 5 weeks!
After settling in, we headed out for some official Swiss fondue! Yum. Everything is definitely as expensive as everyone says it is, but look at your surroundings! In the Swiss Alps by two lakes for craps sake!
Ok, it´s already Day 34 but it´s going to have to wait because I am very tired plus I want to go hang out! And I´m also paying for internet which sucks so I shall continue this tomorrow. Only ONE WEEK until I come home, oh no!! I apologize if some of these entries seems juvenile and undescriptive, it´s been a busy week :) More about that tomorrow!
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