this post should read as follows: dear me and friends, my sincerest apologies for letting myself and my small, but elite group of readers down. I have had ZERO coherent downtime on this trip... till today... in Paris... where I've barely set foot outside my 5th arrondisement , humble hotel's door.
At this point I've burned through 5 cities in 3 countries in a little over 2 weeks. My buddy justin and I are putting together a day by day comprehensive digest of what we actually did do in the last 2 weeks, otherwise we'll forget the details. And oh how many details there are!
Some highlights:
Shared bunks, chocolate, cookies, and stories with Sudanese/Eritrean Refugee's on an overnight train from Milano to Paris.
Uttered Catzo & Figa innumerable times with two great Milanese friends I made while hiking to the hilltop granary in Ollantaytambo, Peru.
Justin and I were nearly incommunicado by one of the above mentioned friends for dining at MacDonalds for lunch one day in Milan (where the local food is second to none, we are very guilty, mi dispiache FP)
Justin, Frank, and I have discovered the most fantastic word in the english language: Chav.
Started dinner with friends at a legitimate family restaurant in Barcelona at midnight. People eat only after 10Pm here...
I took my first mass on Ash Wednesday at San Pietro in the Vatican. Not a bad place to take mass, I have set aside no prohibitions for lent though.
After mass we saw the pope. He was being driven in the back seat of a BMW, there was a rapid street closure as they approached and people barely knew what was happening, they took such a fast turn towards San Pietro it was just awesome. He had the light on and windows rolled down and was waving to anyone who recognized him. They must've been hitting 50-60mph on narrow Roman streets that evening...
I visited the largest Gothic Cathedral in the world.
Have already purchased three expensive Eurostar Train tickets and not yet purchased my EuroRail global pass. Que idiota.
Admired the most expensive marble colummns and perhaps the oldest working lock/key doors in the Roman paladino.
The vatican art collection (see photo top right) is incredible.
