June 13
Today we are up early to go to see "The Last Supper" by Leonardo Da Vinci. We were able to purchase tickets online to see the chapel where the painting lives. Only 25 people are allowed to see the painting at a time for only 15 minutes and the time slots are highly regulated...no reservation, no seeing the piece. First, we have a wonderful breakfast at our hotel and one of the best coffees we have had in months. Once we are all ready to go, Hudson's nose starts to bleed and doesn't seem to want to stop. We get the bleeding under control just in time to get ourselves to the metro and off to the church by 8:00. We arrive at the church and are surprised at how small it looks from the outside. We check in and the first time spot is for Paulie, Annie and Sam to go in at 9:00. Hudson and I look around the church at the other works of art and wait our turns to be let into the chapel. Once our time arrives, we stand in line and make our way to an automated door where all 25 people huddle inside and a climate control door closes us into the small ante-room. Then a new door opens and we are allowed into the chapel. It is amazing to be in the presence of such an amazing work of art and the benches provide a great place to rest while contemplating the scene. One reason that the painting is deteriorating so quickly is that Da Vinci tried an experimental technique of painting on dry plaster instead of wet. Wet plaster is much more typical of the time period and has proved to be much more stable over time. After we depart the chapel, we are off in a hurry to return to the hotel and to get ourselves back to the train station where we arrived. We go ahead an decide to walk (I know, I know), but at least we have realized the error of our ways and can get there in about a 10 minute walk. Once again lugging our stuff, we walk briskly through the streets of Milan and we arrive at the station with moments to spare for our train that is taking us to Zurich. Turns out the train is slightly delayed and we go to the ticket counter to print off our tickets. In our haste, we are unable to get our tickets printed and instead just keep our confirmation number handy for the ticket taker. We get on the train and shortly after departure, we arrive at the Swiss-Italy border where we are asked to disembark and get onto a Swiss train. We have to explain the mistake about our tickets to the conductor who says he will try to get the next conductor to explain that we have paid for a ticket, but do not have a printed copy. We transfer all our stuff to the next train and are underway. The scenery is amazing as we pass by the Lakes of Lugano, Como and Maggiore and we continue on through the Italian part of Switzerland climbing ever steeper into the alps until we arrive at the Goddard Tunnel. There has been a rockslide there and we are expecting to be asked to depart the train and ride on a bus around the rockslide where we will resume our train trip. We get all of our stuff off of the train, once again, and packed onto the waiting buses and drive for about 20 minutes where we are dropped off in the pouring rain and fog at the station at Fluhlen, a picturesque lake village. We get back up to the correct track with all of our stuff and wait for about 15 minutes for the train to arrive. We get back underway and before we can settle in, we are instructed to depart the train at Zug and get on our final means of transport to Zurich. After our final leg (four trains and one bus) we pull into the station to be greeted by the smiling faces of family! What a relief to finally be here. While not home, this certainly feels like a great place to simply rest for a while. We get to Carol's house and settle in and enjoy our visit and a lovely carbonara dinner at Baebli's house. It is so nice to be here. We sleep very soundly this night.
Today we are up early to go to see "The Last Supper" by Leonardo Da Vinci. We were able to purchase tickets online to see the chapel where the painting lives. Only 25 people are allowed to see the painting at a time for only 15 minutes and the time slots are highly regulated...no reservation, no seeing the piece. First, we have a wonderful breakfast at our hotel and one of the best coffees we have had in months. Once we are all ready to go, Hudson's nose starts to bleed and doesn't seem to want to stop. We get the bleeding under control just in time to get ourselves to the metro and off to the church by 8:00. We arrive at the church and are surprised at how small it looks from the outside. We check in and the first time spot is for Paulie, Annie and Sam to go in at 9:00. Hudson and I look around the church at the other works of art and wait our turns to be let into the chapel. Once our time arrives, we stand in line and make our way to an automated door where all 25 people huddle inside and a climate control door closes us into the small ante-room. Then a new door opens and we are allowed into the chapel. It is amazing to be in the presence of such an amazing work of art and the benches provide a great place to rest while contemplating the scene. One reason that the painting is deteriorating so quickly is that Da Vinci tried an experimental technique of painting on dry plaster instead of wet. Wet plaster is much more typical of the time period and has proved to be much more stable over time. After we depart the chapel, we are off in a hurry to return to the hotel and to get ourselves back to the train station where we arrived. We go ahead an decide to walk (I know, I know), but at least we have realized the error of our ways and can get there in about a 10 minute walk. Once again lugging our stuff, we walk briskly through the streets of Milan and we arrive at the station with moments to spare for our train that is taking us to Zurich. Turns out the train is slightly delayed and we go to the ticket counter to print off our tickets. In our haste, we are unable to get our tickets printed and instead just keep our confirmation number handy for the ticket taker. We get on the train and shortly after departure, we arrive at the Swiss-Italy border where we are asked to disembark and get onto a Swiss train. We have to explain the mistake about our tickets to the conductor who says he will try to get the next conductor to explain that we have paid for a ticket, but do not have a printed copy. We transfer all our stuff to the next train and are underway. The scenery is amazing as we pass by the Lakes of Lugano, Como and Maggiore and we continue on through the Italian part of Switzerland climbing ever steeper into the alps until we arrive at the Goddard Tunnel. There has been a rockslide there and we are expecting to be asked to depart the train and ride on a bus around the rockslide where we will resume our train trip. We get all of our stuff off of the train, once again, and packed onto the waiting buses and drive for about 20 minutes where we are dropped off in the pouring rain and fog at the station at Fluhlen, a picturesque lake village. We get back up to the correct track with all of our stuff and wait for about 15 minutes for the train to arrive. We get back underway and before we can settle in, we are instructed to depart the train at Zug and get on our final means of transport to Zurich. After our final leg (four trains and one bus) we pull into the station to be greeted by the smiling faces of family! What a relief to finally be here. While not home, this certainly feels like a great place to simply rest for a while. We get to Carol's house and settle in and enjoy our visit and a lovely carbonara dinner at Baebli's house. It is so nice to be here. We sleep very soundly this night.
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