384: So many Trains (appreciative)

This is one of the few good photos of trains I got today; I didn't actually ride this one, but I could have (it and the "Rock" trains switch off)

It's been a very long day.

I woke up this morning at 4AM, set a timer for 15 minutes, and then got up and got goin. I had essentially packed all of my stuff last night, so this morning was easy.

I grabbed a little rice bowl on the way out that'd I'd bought on Thursday, which turned out to be a great breakfast.

I ate it at the station, because I was a little early, and then got on the first train. The train from Viterbo to Roma Tiburtina was totally uneventful. I played some Forza, because there was power and I can play that game without internet.

I only had 20-ish minutes at Tiburtina, and I spent them trying to catch a good photo of a train in motion, which is hard. I have a couple (below), but I was mostly unsuccessful.

The one in the dark was taken at Viterbo, not at Tiburtina, but it's also good, so I'm throwing it in.

I really like the red one in the middle, this was a fun little challenge to try and brute force (I took like 200 photos of trains today, maybe 6 of them were good).

That second train ride was fantastic. It was a nonstop train from Roma Tiburtina to Milano Centrale, around 3 hours. That train is super fast, smooth, there's wifi, and on the way there I think I was in a first-class cabin but they didn't charge me extra because it was so damn early, so I had a big ol' seat, power, a desk, and a great view.

I spent that train ride working on my skateboard's designs: I'm getting closer to a fully figured out system and a plan for when I get back.

I spent that $200 yesterday on parts, which locks me into the sizing and spacing of those, so I need to figure out a way that the rest of it will align. I made good progress, as well as figured out my heat-sink problem. I'm going to have a full plan by the time I get back, so hopefully I can have the board working before school starts.

Milano Centrale is HUGE

This is the outside of the building (actually taken in the afternoon, whoops)

And this is the entrance to the platforms, of which there are 32!

It was really really cool.

I grabbed a poke bowl from a place there, which was actually quite good. I ate it there, because I figured I had the time, and I was hungry.

I had pre-bought a ticket for Milan's metro, which I activated on my phone, and I'm really glad I did that, because the lines for tickets were dozens of people (it was super busy today). Milan's metro system is remarkably well built and labelled, I rode three of the lines today, and it was super easy every time. It was clean, on time, and had sufficient city coverage.

I went straight to the Vibram store, because all else was secondary, and it was a fantastic success.

I mentioned sending them an email earlier this week, and they were open, and empty. It was a really cute little story, clearly low-volume, but I got to see all the different fivefingers designs in person, which was awesome.

I also had every interaction in Italian, which is such a huge improvement from where I started this summer. I need to keep up my practice, but I'm really starting to get the hang of it (one of the employees complimented my Italian, and told me he thought I was from Ireland because of my hair).

I was somewhat limited on choice as compared to the internet, because they only carried some of the colors, but I tried on 4 different pairs I was interested, and then settled on these two:

They only had the blue in the first pair, but I loved the way they fit so much I had to get them, and then they had the purple, or black (lame) or a white with pink sole, which was just a little too extreme for me, so purple it is. They both fit like a glove, and the barefoot feel on the blue pair might be the best pair yet.

I also grabbed a couple pairs of the official socks, because why not, and they gave me a keychain too! It isn't a fivefingers keychain, but it is a Vibram keychain, so I'll take it.

One of the other customers there (getting his first pair of these, I assume) asked for my advice on how to put them on, which was really fun (I was obviously wearing them when I walked in, and clearly knew what I was doing).

That did take a minute, but was done around 12:45, so I took the time I had left (my train back left at 3:15) to do some sightseeing.

I took the Metro a few stops to the Duomo, which I was told I needed to see, and is one of the largest cathedrals in the world. I didn't go in, but its size definitely impressed:

Next to the Duomo and honestly way cooler to me, though, was the The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, which is right next to it on the main square.

This is the view in each of the 4 directions from inside (the bottom left one is back towards the Duomo), and it's just a shopping center for rich people right now, but it's BEAUTIFUL, and maybe more importantly, it was heavily featured in Wonka (2023), the prologue-esque retelling with Timohtheee Shalommet (butchered on purpose). I caught that movie at random over winter break and kinda loved it, and I had assumed this incredibly cool building that they featured was fictional, but it was filmed right where I was standing, in Milan!!

From there I went to my 2nd sightseeing destination, what have become my single favorite buildings, full stop, Bosco Verticale. Bosco Verticale translates to "vertical forest", and these are just apartment buildings, but LOOK AT THEM

They're beautiful and I love them. They're also right next to a big ol' park, so even though we're still unquestionably in the city it was quiet, peaceful, and green.

If I end up in Milan, I would absolutely love to live here (pipe dream but shshhhh).

I had still a little extra time, so I went back to Centrale, got some veggie tenders from KFC (they were actually pretty good; it's a shame they don't have those in the states), and got on my return train.

I wasn't in the business-class seat this time, but I didn't have anyone next to me, so I might as well have been.

I used the time on this train to process all my photos from today and from Thursday (Farnese Palace), which I hadn't done yet.

The train app I used whiffed a little bit, in that it didn't put me at a connecting station, so after we arrived back at Rome (Roma Termini this time), I had to Metro to Valle Aurelia and then catch the regional train back to Viterbo.

I used nine different trains today across all of my journeys, totaling something like 14 hours (insane work).

6 hours each way, plus an hour and a half of Metro in Milan and a half hour in Rome. Good shit.

I'm back home now, and falling asleep in my chair as I write this, so I'm going to go sleep for 11 or 12 hours.

I don't have that many steps from today (11.2k, so a lot but nothing crazy), but I spent so much time standing and actively balancing (metro and taking pictures) that the thing that hurts isn't my feet, it's my shins, and like bad.

I'm gonna be sore tomorrow from all of my STANDING, which is silly, but whaddya do.

YOU SLEEP.

COUNTDOWN IS AT SIXTEEN DAYS.

GOODNIGHT