Log/Pic 72 Switzerland & Italy

I went to Vatican City to sit through a blessing with the pope. But before that I went to the Vatican museum and spent a good long time in the Sistine Chapel. But first I...

... traveled to basel, Switzerland to see my friends Anneka and Patrick. I had met them while sailing around the Galapagos Islands and we stayed together for awhile after our cruise was over. I had not seen them in three years-and I had never seen their three week old baby, Lynn.

Switzerland was a blast and my friends were awesome hosts. They took us to Lucern where we took a boat on a pristine Lake and then got on this cog train up the mountain.

View from above

View from the gondola on the way down

We crossed over to Germany to get the German train to Schaffhousen and Newhausen to see Rhinefalls. Back in Basel we would drift three kilometers down the Rhine River.

Our hosts took us horseback riding...Englsh style. Just before our second run, Lisa got bucked off and separated her collarbone.

Rome, Italy was next. Here the Roman coliseum.

Inside

The Pantheon

To Pisa to see the leaning tower

(see website for this photo)
Five degree tilt

Then to Venice

Gondolas

Next I went to Bolzano, Italy to see the 5000 year old Iceman.
Then back to Switzerland. From St. Moritz we took the Glacier Express-an eleven hour train ride through the Swiss Alps. I arrived in Zermatt and did some hiking along the Abenteur Gorner Gorge (shown below).

More hiking through the little Swiss villages

But the real reason for this stop was to see the famous Matterhorn.