Rest day in Vercelli today. After 7 days of intense walking in hot weather, my body needed some rest. I did almost 300km now and I'm still feeling fine. The blisters from the mountain paths are healing. Biggest pain remain the mosquito bites, but they will eventually heal as well.
My fundraising for Make a Wish is going very well. I can't say thank you enough to all the people who already made a donation. Together, we have raised 754 euro already. Just amazing! Last week, I received an e-mail from Make a Wish Belgium to say how grateful they are already. Later this year, we will be able to do something very special for children with a life threatening illness. But we are not there yet. For those who would still like to help, check the website https://www.inactievoormakeawish.be/fund.../dimitri-lanssens The amount you choose to give, is not important at all. Every euro helps, every euro makes a difference and will be used for the good cause. What did I do today? Well, to be honest, not much. I slept very well in my stylish italian room. The B&B casa di nonno deserves five stars. I did walk today, to the supermarket. It's always different than at home. Here they had pains au chocolat. But you had to weigh them like fruit. Never had that before. For two, I only paid 0.89 euro. During the hottest hours of the day, I enjoyed the shade on the rooftop terrace of the B&B. I even took a siesta. There was some work to as well, because I had to plan and contact my accommodations for the next ten days. As a non Italian speaker, it is not so easy to arrange a bed in some places. And because pilgrim hostels are small here, sometimes they only have 3 beds, it is too tricky to just show up at the door. But until now, I have always made it work. At the end of the afternoon, it was time for a walk around town. Vercelli is not a big city, but it has almost 50.000 inhabitants. It is situated in the middle between Milano and Torino. As you can imagine with all the rice fields around, it's an important agricultural center. The streets are organised in a bit of a chaotic way, I kept getting lost. After a walk under the trees along some bars, I found the basilica Sant Andrea. There was a man at the entrance saying hello to everybody. I wonder if he does that every day. The church is gigantic and there is a monastry next to it. Later, I ended up at Piazza Cavour, the main square. In the middle, a big statue of Camillo Cavour, a famous Italian statesman. The man also has a statue in Rome which I will hopefully see later. The square is a nice place for a drink. It was not too busy. What surprised me was how many police was around. I have to say I never felt unsafe. Walking back to my hotel, I had to look twice when I saw a red expensive ferrari parked in a disabled parking spot. He didn't do anything wrong, because the low sports car had a disabled parking card behind the windscreen. Just when I passed, a fit man walked out of a store, jumped into the car and left with a lot of noise. Something didn't seem right here? Tomorrow, the weather looks unstable with a high risk of thunderstorms. So I plan to walk only 12km to Palestro. The next 6 days look sunny and warm, so then I will push on to Piacenza where I will be half way to Rome. Pretty incredible! Fingers crossed it all keeps going well.
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AuthorMy name is Dimitri and I'm turning 40 in 2023. Through the years, I have tried to live my dreams. Everything is possible, the sky is the limit as long as you believe in your dreams and work hard to make them happen. Do what you never did before. Go where you have never been before. It will be scary, but it will also be worth it! Archives
July 2024
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