All roads lead to...

Dear follower, supporter, friend, fan, sponsor, host, fellow traveler, family member and everyone else that has supported me over the last two years,

I am about to walk into Rome, my second destination after Santiago de Compostela. Tomorrow I walk to Grosseto, and with almost 6000 kilometers behind me I have less than 200 to go to reach the Italian capital and the seat of the papacy. Another milestone on my 10.000 kilometer walk to show the power of the internet and the kindness of people everywhere. I have been hosted by almost 350 different households in six different countries: young people, old people, families, singles, christians, muslims, jews, atheists, agnosts, buddhists, rich people, poor people, male, female, homosexuals, heterosexuals, leftists, rightists, anarchists, communists, students, teachers, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. I feel blessed with all the help I have found on my way, without which I would not have made it this far.

I write to you now only to give you a quick update on what is going on. I plan to arrive in Rome on the 29th of November and if all goes as planned I will do so with a journalist of the Sueddeutsche Zeitung. That is the same newspaper that published an article about my journey and mission two years ago, which led to the Queen of the Netherlands sending me an email through her personal secretary. This time an article is scheduled for the christmas edition. I will be curious to see whether the Queen still reads it and if she will contact me again.

If you are checking the map on my website and you see the line end at Colle di Vale d'Elsa, that is because my GPS tracker is not working. I hope to find a solution to that soon.

For some reason, the German press seems more interested in my walk than the Dutch press. This article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung was published two weeks ago. But I am happy to share with you the link to the website of a Dutch magazine about Italy, De Smaak van Italie, where I am now writing a weekly column. It is in Dutch, so my apologies for my non-Dutch speaking friends.

Going to bed now, got 25 kilometers to walk tomorrow...

Ciao!