Swiss Alps Experience

Zeb and Ivy and families - you'll never guess where we went yesterday. 

Gary and Linette took us over to Lauterbrunnen, which is about an hour or so from where they live. This is where you guys camped with the waterfalls, etc. BUT, instead of going into the valley, we boarded a train that goes up, and up, and up. We stopped at Wegenalp, looking straight across at Eiger, Münsch, and Juan Frau - The Top of Europe. We were up in the snowcovered mountains we looked up at last summer when walking in the valley.

Eiger

Münsch

Juan Frau

The lookout tower. Now I have to go back and watch the old movie, The Eiger Sanction. 

Gary and Linette.

Switzerland Visit

We have taken a side trip to Switzerland to visit Linette and Gary (Denise's cousin). It has been great to unwind from the trek, visit family, and see a part of Switzerland. First, I will show you a fun little activity. There are small dairies everywhere here and they have found an easy, no muss way to make fresh milk available to the locals. Of course I had to experience this, so off I go with my little pail and my milk money. 

You set your pail under Bossy, deposit your coins, ...

And Bossy delivers.

And your off for home with your pail of fresh milk. You can't get much closer to milking the cow yourself. The cows are just behind the door.

I drank more milk than I usually do because it was so good, and I wanted to have the excuse to go get more. It took me back a few years and I thought about John, the milkman from my childhood. 

The Palio

I am going to go back in our adventure to when we stayed in Siena. We both like Siena as a town. It has great history and is not a big city, but a fairly large town. The people there seem pretty friendly. We stayed in a B and B there that was over 400 years old. It was renovated and updated, but they kept some of the original timbers, etc. There is a famous large piazza there called the Piazza del Campo. We have read about the famous bare-back horse race that takes place in this piazza. The race is called the Palio. It takes place twice a year and has been going on continuously for over 400 years. The various contradas (read districts) compete against each other in the race. The race is wild and wooly. The riders have few limitations. They can hold up, hit other riders or horses, etc. It is common for a few horses to cross the finish line riderless. There used to be about 17 contradas competing, but things were so out of hand that a couple hundred years ago they cut the number who could compete. Now there are 10 competing contradas. Seven qualify from previous races and the others compete for the three remaining spots. The Palio was kind of brought to life for (even though it didn't take place while we were there) by hearing an emotional conversation about it in a ristorante. We found that one of the owners is somewhat of a celebrity of the race. So, we pursued the subject a little.

This is one of the owners and his daughter who is a waitress in the ristorante. Notice the picture of the Palio on the wall. Look in the bottom right corner and you will see this man. It looks like a running of the Bulls pic. On another wall is a photo of another year, and there he is again. It was fun to see their excitement when talking about the race. It is very competitive and emotional for the natives. 

The ceiling in our bedroom. Large timbers with cross beams and a tile floor above. 

A rooftop shot of part of the city.

This is the Piazza del a Campo. They are preparing for a large district event. They put up a large stage, speakers, etc and filled the piazza with row after row of tables and chairs enough to sit and feed thousands complete with table coverings and seat cushions. They had a huge contingency of workers who set up an assembly line fashion operation. They sang while they worked. You had to love it. 

Final journey of the Via Francigena

As we began this journey at the beginning of September, I remember how excited I was. I remember as we took that first picture in Verres with our packs on, ready to begin our trek, wondering how we would look and feel at the end. 

It has been a learning experience that I want to write more about but for this blog I want to share a few pictures of the last few days before and as we came into Rome. We did not take very many pictures the last day and the trail was very poorly marked. This meant we were unsure many times of our journey that day. 

In Sutri we were treated so well by the couple that owned the B & B. They invited us to lunch with them and treated us as if we were good friends. They had only been open since July and were excited to meet each guest that came their way. This helped us prepare for our last leg of the journey. We were to walk the day we left but it was raining so he drove us to the next town to our B & B. Riccardo thinks maybe the Lord is preserving my feet. They seem to take a beating with very many miles.

We spent a cold day at our next place, it rained all day and they built a fire in a fireplace the size of a small room. It did eventually throw off some heat and although they advertised a restaurant, they did not have one this time of year. They did feed us well, for a price, when they realized we had counted on this since they were several miles from town. The next morning it was still raining so again instead of walking the owner graciously gave us a ride to the next stop on our trek, La Storta. Our B & B hostess picked us up to drive us out to the agriturismo, again outside of town. 

This place was extremely beautiful, with a hotel just opened. The restaurant they advertised is only open on the weekend but she graciously made sure we had a lunch and dinner, for a price of course. We were happy to pay each time as we were out in the country. She also upgraded our room to a suite with an antique wooden tub since we were the only ones there that night. So the night before our final trek we treated ourselves to a long soak.

The next day we walked into La Storta and caught the train to the next town to take a few miles off our journey that day. We should have ridden it a lot further because the map was a bit misleading for the distance. The trail went through some towns that were not very nice and the trail was very poorly marked. At one point we were at a crossroad and had just turned the corner when a car drove up to the intersection and asked us if we needed help. We told him we were walking the Via Francigena and he pulled over, got out of his car to give us very clear directions in broken English. Again, divine intervention as we had just turned the wrong way at the exact moment he pulled up. He had walked it and knew just how to tell us to go with the added benefit of staying off a very busy main road.

We walked for many miles and finally came to a park shown on the map. It was obviously part of the Via but the signs have not been kept up and vandals have obscured many of them. Again, we were not sure the direction we took was correct. As we climbed up and then back down we could finally see Rome and knew we were almost there. The following pictures were taken as we came off the hill into Rome. We were very excited but also very tired. We had already walked about 10 miles and Rome was still in the distance. A very kind Italian man that lived beside the park took this for us and wished us Buon Viaggio!

A beautiful close up view from the distant hill of one of the domes. 

We walk into Rome, turn our data on to see where our B & B is and how far. It is still over 2 miles and after trying to figure out the buses we give up and walk since we know nothing of this city or the sections and streets. All said and done we did our longest trek of the trip, 14.31 miles. Waiting for us though was a very nice room with a pretty sun porch, a bottle of wine, another tub to soak in, and a very kind hostess. That is me on the couch, hiking shoes off and not to move again until dinner time.

Yes, we had to walk to a restaurant, but we celebrated our final walk and enjoyed the wonder of it all. 

We did it! Although  differently than we originally thought, it is still very satisfying. We are pelligrini! As Riccardo often said during our trek, "All roads do indeed lead to Rome."

Last night in Rome

Denise and I ate a big lunch in the Jewish Ghetto so we decided to just go have wine and something light for our last evening in Rome. Found a great little hole in the wall place called Angolo Divino. This guy had the biggest wine selection I have seen in Italy. We got his recommendation and then had cheese and meats with his recommended wine and a very decadent chocolate dessert. It was a good finish to our visit to Rome. 

Denise at our table in the back left. Fun, intimate place for a relaxing snack, wine, and dessert.

Dessert. Baked on order, with chocolate filling and a pear cream sauce on the side. I don't think you'll find it on anyone's diet list.

Ghetto 2

No trouble figuring out this is a Jewish area.

Unexpected reflection of some tourists in the Ghetto.

Looks like the Colliseum but is a portico that joined two temples in the Jewish area of the city. The old portion has been there since 26 BC. It became an important fish market area centuries later. The church established later still became known as the Chiesa dei San Angelo in Pescheria ( at the fish market). There used to be more porticos added as you can see from the isolated pillars on the right.

A perspective of size. That is Denise in the foreground. They built everything here Texas sized.

For Nick - the right to claim the heads of the largest fish. 

In the Ghetto

The Jewish quarter of Rome is called The Ghetto. It is a very interesting area and we discovered it was about 5 minutes from our B and B. We took in the sights there this morning and had lunch there. After roaming the neighborhood, we took in a Jewish museum. Added to the museum was a tour of the significant Jewish Synagogue of Rome. Our first time inside a Jewish Synagogue. We learned a lot about the symbolism of many of the traditions and objects utilized. The museum gives a great history of the Jews, particularly in Rome.

First things first. Before I could enter the synagogue, I had to don a kippah.(yarmulka)

The center altar. Behind the curtain, in a cupboard the scrolls are kept. They are brought out by devotees, uncovered, rolled out to be read, etc. then they go back in and are protected and ornamented with cloth, a top, etc. an elaborate setup. Pointers are used to read the scrolls so hands never touch them.

The dome (square) is about 120 feet up. It is subtle and pretty.

There is a right and left side for seating wit a balcony on each. Being a traditional Roman synagogue they still separate the men and women in the seating. The ladies get the balcony. Our young guide was recently married in this synagogue. 

Roman Colliseum

"Well, now we have seen one of the most recognizeable sites in the world - The Colliseum of Rome. I have to admit, it didn't disappoint. There was more than than I thought there would be and it was bigger than I had pictured. Some tiers are basically completely gone, etc. but it is still amazing to stand inside it and ponder the architecture, the size, and the history that happened here. 

I have seen so many pictures and have seen it used in so many movies, and read about it that it was kind of awe inspiring just to think I was actually here looking at the real thing. On big "game" days it was filled with between 50 to 80 thousand people. It was free and open to one and all of the citizens. The number and regularity of events depended on the status of the royal coffers. Thr rulers decided it was worth the expense to entertain the public. Maybe politics haven't changed all that much.

Just like today's sport stadiums, the Colliseum had elite seating - big box for the emperor, boxes complete with names in the stone for the senators, VIP seating for dignitaries, etc. One difference I noted was that special seating here as well as VIP treatment in some other famous sites like the Roman Forum was for artists, writers, philosophers, sculptors, and others. The top two tiers (read "nosebleed seats") where the common folk sat is the most obliterated. Sadly, much of the damage is not due to age and weather, but pilphering for building materials.  Of course that ended a long time ago.

Everything in this oval was under the floor of the games. Where the gladiators fought, and all types of contests took place was on a floor over top of this area. They had lever and pulley systems to take animals up and release them through the floor. There were underground passages for fighters to use so they could avoid the public (read groupies).

One of the popes had a Christian cross placed at the second level.

A stone-throw away from the Colliseum is the Arch of Titus. Interestingly, part of what is depicted inside the arch is the Romans taking the Israelites as slaves when they destroyed Jerusalem and carrying off religious relics from the Jewish temple. Many of the captured Jews were the slaves used to build the Colliseum. You can imagine the manpower that was utilized when you find that it was completed in 8 years. 

The Joy of a Laundromat when Traveling

I know that this may sound a little odd, but we were so excited when we stepped out our door in Lucca and the first block from our B& B in this very beautiful, old Italian town was a self serve laundromat. We could actually have everything clean in a little over an hour. 

They had great directions but we were just getting ready to leave and go find a small store to buy detergent in when two ladies came in and spoke enough English to tell us the laundry soap was put in automatically with the water. Since then we have looked for them in every town large enough to have one. It makes our life so much easier and I am sure we smell sweeter too!

While waiting at a laundromat in Florence we looked out the window and across the street was a Tea House, so off we went. The windows of the tea house were open and our table looked right into the laundromat. 

This was our first experience with doing tea this way: you select the tea leaves, and they bring them to you in your cup. The tea leaves are very expensive and of a very high quality. You put them in your pot and they pour boiling hot water into the tea pot but they said they never drink the first cup poured. It is always poured out. She poured it right into the tray they sat on and it went under the bamboo lining it. Then she poured the boiling water all over the outside of the teapot before leaving you to enjoy the tea. She said she would refill the pot with boiling water as often as we liked. The pots are very small as are the cups which insures a hot cup of tea each time you pour.

A wonderful way to wait for an hour or so! 

Sutri continued

Just outside the city wall there are some remarkable historic ruins. Many of the ruins are from as far back as the third and fourth centuries BC. 

There is a large rock outcropping just at the edge of where the later town now resides. The rock is "tuff" of volcanic origin. It is rather porous and easily (relatively) worked. 

There is a whole settlement carved into the hill on all sides. We were conjecturing what this room could have been. I think it was the mailroom.

This is a Roman amphitheater from about the 3rd century BC.

The next pictures are of necropolis near the rock settlement and amphitheater. They estimate that the first burials were in the first centuries.

Some areas were tombs and some were for urns.

Sutri, Italy

After our great hike from Capranica we reached the historic town of Sutri. I'll do two blogs on the town.   The first one will show points of our stay. The second will be some of the historic items. 

This is the main piazza in the center of the town (centro). We ate dinner at the ristorante on the far left between the fountain and the arch. 

The arch during our day walk-about.,

The arch after dinner. These arches are massive. Behind the facade there is part of a house which you can view from the other side. The arch is probably 40 feet in depth. 

This is part of the crypt UNDER the cathedral  about a block away from the piazza. 

Part of the wall from below the piazza on the way back to our B and B.