Kidney Stone and We Got Our Camino Certificates

The day started at 12:30 AM when Jack began to have pain in his right hip area.  It took awhile but he finally decided it had to be  kidney stone which happened in August in Yosemite. It was the right kidney and it hurt pretty bad - but at least he knew what to do.  He downed two strong painkillers and a ton of water and after a few hours the pain was a lot less.  He tried to sleep but that wasn’t happening.  Another pain med and more after around 5 and things kept improving.  

We decided to head out to St Peters around 10 and he felt a little dizzy but the pain was pretty much gone. The walk went slowly but it still a lot of fun to walk thru Rome.  

When we got to St Peters we were able to jump the long line by showing our Via Franchigena passports and we went right to the front.  Once inside there was about 20 other hikers getting their certificates.  It was so fun to get it filled out inside the church entryway.  

We toured St Peters which we had both seen before.  What a magnificent church.  There is always renovation happening but it is so huge it doesn’t matter.  The crowds were actually not huge but still busy.  

We left and headed back to our home. We had some lunch on the way back on a side street with several fun looking cafes.  

We only had 30 minutes after we got back before heading out to the Borghese museum.  We had a great tour guide who did a wonderful job describing how Bernini made a name for himself and revolutionized sculpting.  He made the subjects flow in a way no one had ever done before. We also saw the five Caravaggio paintings in a single room.  He is one of Jacks favorite artists so this was very special.  The church didn’t like his paintings because they were so dark but many experts loved his view of life.  He often used local people for subjects even if they were in a painting of the Virgin Mary.  

We had an alarm go off so we had to exit the building.  Luckily it only lasted 20 minutes so we went back in to finish the tour.  So much to see and learn about Italian and world history.

Afterwards we went back to get ready for dinner and a Michelin restaurant nearby. We were ok the roof of a lovely hotel sitting outside with a view of St Peters and other sites.  We were worried about rain but the sky cleared and it was a beautiful night.  

Our waiter was excellent and so was the food.  We talked about our trip and how many wonderful experiences we had.  We don’t know if we will have another adventure this long but we did love every part of this journey. 

Just one more day in Rome then head to Boston for 4 days then home!!