Wed, Thurs, Fri June 1st - 3rd Great Saint Bernard Hospice

On Monday morning we woke up at 5:00 am to prepare for what I am sure will be and has been so far the most difficult physical task we had. After boarding the train we caught a connection and then had to ride two buses and it took 2 hours to get to the spot where we could begin our hike. When we got to the base of the alps it was blizzarding and we had to strap on snow shoes and begin the 3 mile all up hill in snow shoe hike. It ended up taking almost 2 hours and it was extremely difficult. This pass we took is popular because it had been used since the Bronze Age to get from France to Italy. It was used by Napolean and many people making pilgramage's and this is where the Saint Bernard dog stayed and became famous. Once at the Hospice or monestary we were able to shower and rest and then we had tea time at 4 and mass at 6. It was exciting I had never been to mass before, these Friars that are there are dedicated men of the lord, trying to spread his love for people through their hospitality. Later that night we had class on Designing our life instead of planning it, hopefully I can talk more about that later. This was the first day I will break up the other two for lengths sake.