Time Out in Aosta and a Sore Paw
/
Aosta - gateway to the Italian Alps
We’d been pushing hard lately and if you read David’s blog a couple of weeks ago, you’ll know that we needed a break. We were Via-weary. Not tired of the experience or tired of walking … it’s been a phenomenal trip. We were just physically tired and needed a break. Aosta, (Ah-AW-stah) the gateway to the Alps, was a fine place to re-energize. And there was another minor issue.
Before leaving Las Vegas last April, I was having a problem with a sore heel on my left foot. I had it checked out by a podiatrist, got a diagnosis of plantar fasciitis, received a cortisone shot and went on my way. Problem solved. Over the past few days, I’d had a recurrence of left heel pain to the point where walking was quite painful. David researched acupressure therapy for plantar fasciitis and his ministrations provided relief, but not for long. We reckoned it was time for another cortisone shot.
We searched the yellow pages (yes, they still exist digitally, even in Italy), found a nearby podiatrist and showed up on his doorstep bright and early. He was a young fellow (30s maybe?) and was happy to help except podiatrists in Italy cannot give injections. He suggested finding an orthopedist.
Back to the drawing board. After more research, we found one orthopedist not far away, but could not get in touch with him. We found another on the other side of town and luckily he had office hours. We took our number (literally, I was number 12 and had the ticket to prove it) and sat and patiently (not!) waited my turn. About 1-1/2 hours later, we met Dr. Cheney (pronounced Chen-AY). He was our age, pleasant and thorough and did not speak English. Google Translator to the rescue! He judged that my problem was not plantar fasciitis, but rather a heel spur. A painful shot of cortisone, two prescriptions and 180 Euros later, my heel was feeling decidedly better. We’re hoping this works out.
It rained pretty much every day we were in Aosta with only a few sunny respites. .We managed to do a bit of sightseeing on our travels to and from the doctors, ATM, grocery store and hotel.Mostly we slept, read, wrote and generally rested.
We deemed Aosta a particularly lovely city with an interesting history dating back to ancient Roman times and before. Take a look.
Piazza Emile Chanoux
Town clock at Piazza Emile Chanoux during a sunny, but brief respite from the rain.
Porta Praetoria, an old 3-arched portal to the city, has two narrower arched ports for pedestrians and a wider central arched port for wagons.
Ruins of a Roman wall right in the middle of town. Traffic diverts around it or passes through the middle.
There was so much more to see and do, but our schedule, the rain and my sore paw precluded us from further exploration. Join us next time as we tackle the last two legs of the Via Francigena in Italy and climb 8,114’ / 2473m to the top of the Great Saint Bernard Pass. You’ll be out of breath for this one!