Gruyères

I had intended to have a really relaxed weekend this weekend and not travel --- but I did end up doing a little day trip to Gruyères yesterday with Jennifer and Jill to eat cheese, see the castle, and go to the HR Giger museum (more on that later!).

But first --- we went to La Maison du Gruyère for lunch. I had rosti again (sort of like hash browns) with Gruyères cheese, bacon, and an egg on top:




The dessert specialty of the house were meringues with "creme de la Gruyères" --- sort of a heavy cream that I imagine would taste amazing on a bowl of raspberries.

La Maison du Gruyère also had a working cheese factory that we were able to tour and see the giant vats that turn milk into cheese:

The factory gets enough milk to make about 48 giant wheels of cheese per day. Then the cheese goes into these cellars to age until it is ready to eat! As part of our tour, we got cheese samples that had been aged 6 months, 8 months, and 10 months --- the older cheese tasted much saltier but it was all delicious!

Me + cow:

Jill and I as Gruyères dairy farmers:

Then we hiked up to town of Gruyères itself, which is on a big hill, and saw the castle of Gruyères:
 

A view of the castle from inside the courtyard:
 

 The castle courtyard:

A banquet room known as the knights' room:

The castle gardens:

 A view from one of the castle balconies:

A view of the church below the castle:

 Then I (by myself) went to the HR Giger museum. Giger is a Swiss surrealist who designed the alien in the movie Alien (and also won an Oscar for visual effects for that movie). The museum itself was definitely surreal but also awesome. I got to see a lot of Alien-related artwork, but also some of Giger's original work. Unfortunately, you aren't allowed to take pictures inside, but this is the front of the museum:

And here is the one alien statue out front:

Plus, there is even an alien bar across the street!!

 The center of the city of Gruyères is quite beautiful. Cobble stone streets, old buildings, fall colors... it was a gorgeous day. Here are several pictures of the town: 

And before we left --- I just had to get a drink at the alien bar... even if it was just a Coke.

Milano e Como

I took a solo trip this weekend to visit Milan and Como, since I have never been to the northern parts of Italy and didn't want to pass it up when I'm so nearby in Switzerland.

But first a couple work-related updates. I finished the secondary work project that I've been working on (although will still probably be editing/tweaking once I get feedback) which is a validation of an HPV vaccine costing tool that Raymond and Mark are working on. With regards to my primary project, I had a conference call last week Wednesday with Raymond, Mark, my former boss Meghan Stack from the International Vaccine Access Center at Hopkins, and a gentleman from the Gates Foundation to discuss plans for a costs of care systematic review. Although we had talked about looking at pneumonia, diarrhea, and meningitis before --- the consensus was that it might be best to focus on one vaccine preventable disease and examine it very well and thoroughly rather than do a broader review. So I got started today looking into meningitis, which everyone thought was the best candidate given available data and previous work on the different diseases. Fingers crossed that I can come up with an acceptable work plan for the group, who have all agreed to collaborate on this project with me.

And my second update is that I will be traveling to London next week for two reasons: (1) to work with Mark Jit who works at the Health Protection Agency in London on both of my WHO projects, and (2) to see the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where Mark is also a professor, and where I am considering getting a PhD as early as next year. I am still a little overwhelmed by the possibility but I am seriously considering it, but I am also waiting until after this trip to decide whether or not to apply.

Okay, back to weekend travel adventures! The pictures are probably not as good or exciting this time around, since I was by myself, but hopefully you still enjoy this entry.

When I arrived in Milan in the early afternoon, I dropped my backpack off at my Airbnb-booked room in a local Italian family's home next to the S'Agostino metro stop (easy commuting via metro and walking from that location). It was during the time of day when a lot of places are closed, so I just wandered through the Castello Sforzesco (a 14th century castle turned museum):

The view from the front of the Castello Sforzesco towards the Via Dante that leads to the Duomo:

 The Cafe de Ville on the Via Dante where I stopped for a late lunch of insalata caprese:

The view down the Via Dante, a nice shopping area, one of many in Milan:

After lunch, I headed to the Pinacoteca di Brera, an art museum full of a lot of important Italian art, including Andrea Mantegna's The Dead Christ and Caravaggio's Supper at Emmaus --- here's the courtyard of the museum:

Then I wandered over to the Teatro alla Scala, or La Scala operahouse. As soon as I saw this poster on the front door:

 

I knew that I had to see the opera that night. It was definitely a sign that the opera that was part of the inspiration for the musical Rent was having its last performance that night. I rushed over to the ticket office... and paid what was most likely too much money for one of the few remaining tickets. Here's La Scala from the piazza out front:

After buying my opera ticket, I wandered around the Piazza del Duomo. Here's the Duomo itself:

And here is the entrance to the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, a cross-shaped double arcade shopping area (again, this is Milan, so there is always shopping):

 And here is the inside of the galleria:

 Me in front of the Duomo (the few pictures of me are all awkward self-taken photos):

Then I went inside the Duomo, and here are a couple of the highlights. First, the statue of St. Bartholomew Flayed (more than a little creepy):

 And here is what Milan's Duomo is probably most famous for --- the cross hanging down from the ceiling above the priest's head contains a nail from Christ's cross:

Since I had plenty of time before the 8pm opera, I went back over Santa Maria delle Grazie, a very simple looking church:

But the refectory of this church just so happens to be home to Da Vinci's Last Supper. By the time I arrived to the ticket office below, the tickets were all sold out for the day. I was told to come back at 8am the next day, which I did. Unfortunately, because people are able to reserve tickets ahead of time, which I didn't know, the tickets were also sold out by the time I arrived at 8:10am. Luckily, I arrived just behind a couple that was trying to return an extra ticket, so I graciously took it off their hands (the husband tried to charge me extra, but the wife insisted that he only charge me what they paid, how sweet). The ticket was for 3:30pm that day, so although I had planned a day trip to Como with a mountain hike... it didn't quite turn out that way. More on that in a bit.

 Dinner on Friday night was risotto alla milanese, or risotto with saffron, a local specialty. Also luckily for me, risotto is the specialty in the Italian north (pasta is obviously everywhere, too) so I was always sure to have GF food options.

 Then I headed back to La Scala via the Piazza del Duomo... here's the Duomo at night:

The red curtain inside La Scala:

And the gallery seating:

And the curtain AND the seating:

And the chairs with handy subtitles to translate the Italian during the opera:

And me at La Scala! I was just a few seats from center in row E --- pretty amazing seats, and a pretty amazing opera! I am really glad I spent the money for this once-in-a-lifetime experience (even if I was quite underdressed).

Saturday morning, as mentioned, I took a 30-minute train ride to Como, a little town on Lake (believe it or not) Como. Here's a few views:

Como's Duomo:

After walking through the town, I took the funicular up the mountain to the town of Brunate. I had planned to do an 8km hike to another lakeside town called Torno and take a ferry back when I thought I would have the whole day, but since I had to be back in Milan to view the Last Supper at 3:30pm... I had to just wander around Brunate for a while and then come back down to Como. But here's a view from Brunate at least:

And here's me by the lake:

So after I got back to Milan, I went straight back to Santa Maria delle Grazie (I took a cab --- didn't want to chance missing my timeslot) and got my 15 minutes inside to view Da Vinci's masterpiece. It was definitely a better experience than seeing the Mona Lisa at the Louvre (it is so small and there are so many people, it is just not that great an experience, in my opinion). Even though most of the refectory was destroyed in World War II, the Last Supper is still standing, even if it is quite damaged from so much exposure (particularly from when the refectory was used as a stable!)... plus one priest at one point cut into the painting to make a bigger doorway to the kitchen, so Jesus' feet were cut out from the bottom of the painting. But getting to see it up close, even with the damage, was pretty incredible.

Then I walked by one of Da Vinci's lesser known works in the graffiti medium:

Seriously, I actually took that picture because my Dad insists that Milan is ugly because it is covered in graffiti... so that picture is for his benefit. Look, Dad, graffiti!

Then I had a whole late afternoon/evening to kill in Milan since I wasn't in Como all day. So I decided to walk towards the Navigli District with several shops, restaurants, and bars. It is located along Milan's two canals. Here's the first one:

Oops. At least the second one still has water. This is the main area of the Navigli District, where I wandered around for a while, got dinner, and read my Kindle:

Dinner was a very yummy pork tenderloin with balsamic vinegar sauce:

I went to bed fairly early on Saturday evening. I had planned to walk around one of Milan's parks and another shopping area on Sunday morning before my 12:25pm train back to Geneva... but it was pretty cold out. So I just stayed inside a little cafe called Chocolat and got a couple latte macchiatos and some gelato. I love and miss Italian gelato. Even though I didn't get my hike in Como, it was still a very successful trip! This upcoming weekend, I don't have any travel plans (I go to London Oct 24-29) and so I may or may not write another blog post, since I plan on sleeping, reading, and watching TV. I'm exhausted. Love to you all!