This is a public service announcement: for the next semester as I study abroad I will be posting and documenting my travels. I have to do this for class but it is pleasurable as well. The travel posts will be mixed in with the other posts, which I hope to start again after a literarily bleak but very busy summer.

Now to Europe!

This past Friday after a few days in Barcelona I made it to Riva San Vitale, Switzerland.  Chris, An and I were in of the middle pack of arrivals and we spent most of the day walking about the town, meeting new people and helping them haul their luggage up the stairs. I took an evening rosary walk around the town, mainly to check out the churches. There are quite a few in town, but I haven’t done a good job photographing them so far but I enjoy visiting them often. Below is a view of the main church, from the balcony of the Villa we are living in.  Behind it is a very small church, called a baptistery, which is the oldest standing Christian structure in Switzerland, from the 6^th century.

There is a beautiful lake that Riva sits on. If you walk a few minutes north from the villa you walk through “down town” Riva and then run into it. Riva is flanked on either side by mountains, some of which you can see in the picture. It is a quiet town with not much more activity most of the time other than a few cars speeding down the street. There is an elementary school across the street and it will be interesting to see the activity incited with the beginning of school.

We spent the Saturday with a lot of free time mixed in with orientation. We went on a tour of the town given by a lady who works as the building manager of the villa and who is also a local. I went to a Vigil Mass with the locals at the Church of the Holy Cross, just a five-minute walk past the one pictured. 

On Saturday some of the group went on a hike up the mountain behind the villa and another group went to Milan, which is about a one-hour train ride. I chose Milan.

Arriving at the central train station we purchased metro passes and headed further into the city. Milan is the “fashion capital of the world”, this we quickly learned passing by every designer brand name store I could name, though that is not many. We were turned loose in the city center after a quick tour of the city. First thing I did was eat lunch in front of the Milan Cathedral.

This church is nuts. It is incredible and the intricate craftsmanship is almost beyond belief. You are allowed to ascend a spiral staircase on the side of the Cathedral to climb to its roof. We took the opportunity. You are able to walk all over the roof of the Cathedral and almost touch the numberless spires ascending from the church. Even in the most obscure places on the roof of the church we found ornate sculptures of saints, angels and gargoyles. I must officially proclaim the Milan Cathedral as my new favorite church. Inside, in the crypt the great Milanese bishop, St. Charles Borromeo is buried.

  

After seeing the church, which took up most of my free time, Chris and I went to another two churches we had seen coming in. We were going to grab a beer at a local eatery but with time running out we just met the group at the rendezvous point and headed back to Riva.  I hope to return to Milan to see some of the rest of the City, and spend some more time in this magnificent wonder!