Tossa de Mar

Originally uploaded by Scrapbooking Pat

The day after we arrived in Barcelona, we headed out with my Mom, Jon & Kathy & Nacho, and the Heykoops to a beach town called Tossa de Mar. I had been here a number of years ago and really loved it, so they agreed to go back.

Tossa de Mar is a fun little town right on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It comes complete with beaches (and the occasional topless sunbather), boats, restaurants specializing in seafood, and its own little castle.

We spent the day swimming, snorkeling, and lying in the sun. And, because apparently we can't ever just relax, Stacy and I swam out to this little rock-island and climbed to the top where we waved frantically for a bit (hoping my mom would see and take some pictures) before climbing back down the sharp rocks in our bare feet (ouch!) for the swim back. Impressive, eh?

homemade pasta: just one of the highlights of Italy

part of a tasty meal
Originally uploaded by Wanderings

Early on in our trip, Stacy and I discovered that we had very different ideas about eating meals in restaurants. I wanted the full meal: appetizer, salad, pasta. Stacy was content with just getting pasta.

To compromise, we agreed that we would do an all-out meal in Rome.

It was amazing! This picture doesn't even come close to the wonder of the meal. We asked for the special, which is a fixed-price, multi-course meal. When asked if we preferred meat or fish, we said both. And so, without further ado, may I present:

The Meal

Appetizer #1:
steamed shrimp with fennel, thin slices of smoked tuna and swordfish
Appetizer #2:
a selection of meats including prosciutto, 2 kindso f salami, and braciola, topped with arugula and parmesan
Pasta course #1:
spaghetti with mussels in a light butter sauce
Pasta course #2:
spaghetti with a tomato and pancetta sauce, topped with parmesan
Secondi (meat):
Thinly-sliced veal with chopped orange and parsley
Secondi (fish):
Sauteed sea bass with mussels and carmelized tomatoes in a butter sauce
Dessert:
Chocolate gelato garnished with pastry chips and whipped cream, profiterroles with berries and cream (We really should only have had the gelato, but the waiters spoiled us with all the extras. 'Are you ready for your dessert?' they asked. 'Yes!' we grinned. 'Are you sure?' they responded, with the plate hidden behind their backs. 'Yes.' And the dish was presented and we oohed and aahed and beamed at them. There are perks to being single girls.)
After-dinner drinks:
Limoncello (the traditional Italian digestivo) - a liqueur that tastes like a lemon drop. If they like you, they'll often bring it to your table after the meal and may even take a drink with you.

Are you drooling, yet?

We spent four hours at that restaurant savoring every dish, dipping our crusty bread into the sauces, sipping red wine (on my part). One of the things that was wonderful about the experience was that we were eating dishes that we may not have chosen on our own. If you ever go to Italy, you must do this at least once. It's too much to do every night, but find a well-recommended restaurant, set aside an evening, set aside your preconceived ideas about what you might or might not like, order some wine (if you drink it), laugh with the waiters, and enjoy the best of Italian cooking.

slideshow problems

Apparently the slideshow in the previous post isn't showing up for some of you, so if you'd like to see some of my pictures from the trip, you can go here to check them out. Cool?

A selection of photos from our travels

We're back ... alive and exhausted. We may be posting a few more stories in the next few days (I know you all are dying to get Stacy's final gelato flavor count), but in the meantime, here's a slideshow of the places we visited on our trip.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR. Photos from Jen's Flickr Set.

Barcelona

We arrived in Barcelona on July 25 and were picked up by Jen's mom, Pat. I have to say that even though we are certainly capable of figuring out how to get where we need to go, etcetera, etcetera...it was such a blessing to have someone get us and drive us to where we were going. It really felt like being pampered, and it has continued as we've been staying with Pat during our stay here.

Our trip has definitely been winding down and Jen and I have really felt the subtle shift from travel mode to vacation mode. We've had the luxury of a real washing machine, free internet, the ability to watch a movie, and a kitchen to cook in!


On Thursday (July 26), we joined Pat, Jon and Kathy Haley, Nacho, and the Heykoop family for a day at the beach at Tossa de Mar. Jen and I took a long swim out to a rock island (I'm pretty sure I got stung by a jellyfish along the way - no...I didn't have anyone pee on me). We also had fun snorkeling with Jon and Kathy's gear, and we hiked up to some ramparts and towers up on a hill. After dinner at the Haley's we crashed for the night.

Friday was a day of relaxation (We watched "North and South." I totally recommend it for any of you "Pride and Prejudice" lovers.). Strolling to the market to buy our daily bread and produce is something Jen and I both could get used to.

Jen and I went to check out Barcelona on Saturday. We eventually found our way to the Sagrada Familia church which was planned by Gaudi. Honestly I thought it was pretty ugly (I admit to not being a huge modern art fan). It is still being worked on. The Nativity scenes on one side were by him. The Passion and Crucifixion scenes on the other side of the church are by another artist. They have they towers with weird tops like baskets of fruit or the old hats that popes used to wear. Weird.

After that we went to the Picasso Museum. It takes you on a journey through his life from his first paintings at age 12 or so to his later years. It really helped me appreciate his talent more as I saw the many different styles that he was very capable of. There was one room entirely devoted to the 50 or so paintings that he made (in somewhat cubist style) to copy the famous painting of his friend Diego Velásquez.

We strolled down "Las Ramblas." The food market, flower section, and pet section were my favorites. They had all kinds of small pets for apartment living (fish, parakeets, chickens, ducks, hamster-like things, chipmunks, something looking like a prairie dog, turtles, etc.). It was hard for me to resist the cute ducklings!


Our night in Barcelona finished with the fountains. We watched the 10:30 and 11:00 shows, which were different. It's a combination of changing water, lights, and music. Beautiful!

On Sunday we went to church with Pat and the Haleys and then had fun hanging out with everyone for lunch. It has been really fun to interact more with Jordan(she's in my small group in our high school ministry) and Brianna,the Heykoop girls, outside of the church setting.

It's strange to think our trip is coming to an end. We have one more day here, a day in London, and then home!

2 girls, 4 countries, 6 weeks, 1 pair of Chacos

Enough said!

Pompeii and Vesuvius

July 23-24

We intended to both of these in one day, but it was so hot and Pompeii was SOOOOOO much bigger than we expected that we broke them into 2 days so that we could hike Vesuvius in the morning. Herculaneum was also a nearby option and would have been interesting as well, but we wanted our last days in Italy to be a little more relaxing.

Pompeii -

We jumped on the Circumvesuviana train (kind of like an above ground metro) and rode to our Pompeii de Scavi stop. Think hot, no air flow, tons of people sweating (even the Italians) and I don't mean a little persperation - I mean dripping, gypsies asking for money as the young girls hold their babies, saxophone players playing on your car until the next stop, pick pockets, etc. Good times!

We arrived in Pompeii to a whole market of booths selling Pompeii and Vesuvius paraphenalia. There were also many stands with oranges and lemons (some lemons the size of nerf football). They sold fresh squeezed orange juice and lemon juice. They also sold granitas which were slushy/icy versions of those juices. Yum!

Walking into Pompeii was incredible. It was a huge and very modern, for its time, city. The streets went on and on. The housing went right up to the streets and shared walls all the way down. They had lead pipes that brought water from the aqueducts to the baths, private homes, and then others that brought water to the public water fountains.

I thought it was interesting that the poor were mixed with the rich, the restaurants and businesses were all interspersed. There were many houses that still had frescoes, mosaics, and even statues still there after excavation. There were several temples as well that seemed to be for different religions (we saw ones for Roman gods and another for Egyptian gods). They even had a theatre that looked like a mini-version of the one we saw the Greek play in at Epidavros, Greece. There was a bakery with a wood-burning oven, a public bath with the warm and cold baths, restaurants for the lunch crowds with holes in the counters for their pots, and even a brothel.

The streets were down a large step lower than where the buildings were. They had stones you could step across like cross walks at intersections. If there was just one stone, it was a one-way street because only one ox-cart could go through, if there were two or more stones it was two way. They also had the sidewalks raised so they could flood the streets to clean the trash and sewage out of the city.

The eeriest and sadest part of the town was seeing the casts (plaster poured into hollows where they thought people had died(. There was a room full of all the pottery and then casts of many people in the positions they died in from asphyxiation because of the 6-7 meter thick ash and cinder they were buried in. You could feel their emotions in their body positions.

Vesuvius -

The next day we went to climb to the top of Vesuvius. It's still an active volcano with it's last eruption being in 1944, but of course the big one that buried Pompeii in ash and Herculaneum in lava and hot mud was in 79 A.D. We rode a bus and then started the hike. It was only about a 30 minute hike from where they dropped us off, and you could walk around about half of the crater lip. The views were beautiful although it really was crazy to see that so much of the city is built so close still and is surrounding the mountain.

Sorrento -

For our last night in Italy, we enjoyed our last pasta dinner (homemade pasta with pesto) and finally tried octopus (I won't need to do that again. There's just something difficult about the suction cups and tentacles that was hard not to gag on.). We also had our last gelato. Sigh! Goodbye Italy!

Night walk through Rome - Sorrento

I forgot to mention that after our yummy dinner on Sat., July 21 we did a night walk through Rome. Can you understand why we were a bit tired? :)

We started at the Spanish Steps (definitely a big hang out spot, nice sinking boat fountain, but it's just a bunch of big steps - right?), then we walked to the Trevi Fountain. This was a little more interesting to me. It was still a hot spot with people everywhere. The fountain itself gets it's water from aqueducts and was completed in 1762 to depict "Ocean." It is all lit up and beautiful. Many people threw coins over their shoulders into the fountain to guarantee their return to Rome.

Our walk continued as we meandered through the very busy streets. The Piazza Colonna held a 2nd century column honoring Marcus Aurelius. We walked along the Via de Corso where the Berber Horse races took place (without riders) until a man was trampled in front of a queen in the 1800's and that put a stop to that fun. Royalty! On we went to the Egyptian Obelisk taken from Mark Antony and Cleopatra when they were defeated by Marcus Aurelius (that guy was everywhere!). It was set up like a sundial - pretty cool!

After that we saw the Pantheon, which really is fairly amazing. The columns are in one piece and are 40 feet long. They are the biggest in Italy and were shipped from Greece. The Dome is 142 feet high and wide. It was the bigest until the Renaissance. The dome gets thinner and lighter with height (volcanice pumice near the top).

From there we enjoyed the Piazza Navona and the Campo de Fiori. They were two packed squares filled with artists, mimes, and musicians. The last ruins on our list before leaving Rome were the Largo Argentina which were surprisingly filled with cats! Hmmm...

The next day (July 22), we took a train to Naples and then another one to Sorrento. After a hot, 20 minute hike uphill with our bags, we made it to our accommodations. Ahhhh! We were ready for a little relaxation after the business and heat of the last few days. The town was a cute seaside town, very picturesque. It was to be our base for our future days exploration.

Rome Extras

Okay - July 19 and entrance to Rome This was a special day for me because these were things I wasn't able to see on my trip to Rome with Karen several years ago.

After we dropped our bags at our hostel, we figures out the buses and made our way out to the Catacombs of Priscilla. I think this ended up being the most moving part of Rome for me. They are underneath the house of what was an ancient noble family who let the outlaw Christians be buried there.

We arrived there just in time for the last tour at 4:30 and were taken so quickly through that we had to run to keep up with our guide. He was pretty gruff at first, but seemed to warm up as he realized that we knew the Bible stories that he was talking about and had a real interest in the early church.

I was in awe the whole time. It felt like such a holy place. Many of the burial chambers were not open. You could see where they had buried babies and adults. Each one had their own shelf of sorts cut out where they were then slid in after being wrapped in cloths. You could actually see the many ancient Christian symbols on the walls. (fish - acronym in Greek for Jesus Christ, Son of God Savior, anchor - disguised cross, dove, cross, etc.) They had what they said was the first depiction of Mary and Jesus (around 200 A.D.) on a wall frescoe. There were many Bible story pictures as well. Noah, Daniel in the furnace, Jonah, etc. There were also many pictures of the Good Shepherd and people in prayer with their hands raised up (the custom of the time). You could still see the places in the walls where they put their candlesticks and the bricks didn't even look very old. It was incredible.

After that for a total switch, we hopped over to the other side of the river from the main center to visit Trastavere. It reminded me of Colorado's city of Boulder. It was more free-spirited with markets, musicians, and artists all over. It seemed to be alive well into the night.

We had some great, simple pasta that night. It just had olive oil, grated cheese, and pepper sprinkled on. Yet, it was delicious. The Thomson's daughter (missionaries in Italy) told Jen once that the difference between having pasta in America versus Italy was that in America, the sauce is what we look for to make it good. In Italy, the pasta is the star. How true!

Too much heat...

The effects of dehydration in the Roman Forum:

Madness













Pondering of the word "usta"











Weeping and gnashing of teeth (Jen's pouty face is pathetic. Me? Those are real tears you're seeing. That's right: I'm the master.)


Fish-like facial tics












Obviously we need more water...

Roma

Saturday, July 21

This was another packed day (and really hot!). Look for dehydrated pictures on the blog.

We started by going to St. Peter in the Chains church. This was another new experience for me and I'm so glad we went. The most beautiful sculpture by Michaelangelo (and his personal favorite) was there. "Moses" was a gorgeous and detailed piece that took him 30 years of on-off work to finish. It looked like Moses had horns, but they said that centuries ago, the Hebrew word for "rays" was mistranslated as "horns." Oops! :) There were also two unfinished sculptures by M. of "Rachel" and "Leah."

The Arch of Constantine was our first stop. (It instantly makes me think of my years in crew as my coach, Keith Jefferson, would tell us the story of this battle every year. They symbol we wore on our uniforms was the shield with the cross.) In 312 A.D. Emperor Constantine defeated emperor Maxentius to unify Italy during the Battle of the Milvian Bridge. Constantine was hugely outnumbered and the night before the battle he saw a vision of a cross in the sky. He had all of his troops put this symbol on their shields. The next day, his well-trained, and blessed-perhaps? troops defeated Maxentius. Of course, it was after his becoming emperor that Christianity was legalized. The story, and seeing the arch, still gives me goosebumps.

We then headed to Palantine Hill above the Forum (another new experience). It has the remains of the imperial palaces. We get our word "palace" from this hill where the emperors chose to live. We looked over the edge to see the Circus Maximus which was the old chariot course. It was really long with tight turns on each end.

From there we went back down the hill to start the Forum walk. We started at the Arch of Titus which commemmorates the victory over Judea (Israel) in 70 A.D. (I had studied that in BSF!) The Romans weren't kind because Israel wouldn't worship the emperor as a god. Rome defeated Israel, sacked their temple, and brought home around 50,000 Jewish slaves. They forced the Jews to build this arch and the Colosseum. Whoa!


Next we saw many more ruins. The Basilica of Constanine (hall of justice), Temple of Antoninus Pius and Faustina (built to honor his late wife), Temple of Julius Caeser (mound where Julius' body was burned after being stabbed to death by the senators and his adopted son Brutus), Basilica Aemilia (floor plan used for medieval Christian churches), the Curia (Senate house), Rostrum, Temple of Saturn, the Column of Phocas (608 A.D. gift from Byzantine empire to fallen Rome), 6 story high Arch of Septimius Severus in 203 A.D., and Caligula's Palace (evil emperor) all were certainly interesting. The Temple of Vesta and the House of the Vestal Virgins was something I had also heard about. They priestesses were chosen before the age of 10 and had to serve 30 years tending the sacred flame. They were honored by the Romans and even had their own box in the Colosseum opposite the Emperor. If a priestess served faithfully for 30 years, she was given a dowry to marry and had a statue built in her honor. If she was found to not be a virgin, she was strapped to a funeral car, paraded through the Forum and taken to a crypt. There she was given a loaf of bread and a lamp and buried alive. Harsh!

After finishing the Forum, we entered the Mammertine Prison. It is 2,500 years old, cistern-like prison. It supposedly once held St. Peter and Paul. Prisoners were lowered through a hole into the prison. There is a column there where Peter was chained, and a spring where water miraculously sprung up so that Peter could convert and baptise his jailers. Whether fact or fiction, the prison is real and it must be like a prison that would have housed many of the early church believers. It was very claustrophobic and the ceiling was only a few inches above my head.

We saw more bits and pieces. We walked to see the Trajan's Column, Market and Forum. We also saw the 4 maps that show the Roman Empire's expansion. It really is incredible to see how large it really became. We walked around the Victor Emmanuel Monument built to celebrate Italy's unification in 1870. Our last stop was the Colusseum. It still wowed me even though I've seen it before. It was built in 80 A.D. It's real name was the Flavian Amphitheater. It held gladiator contests and other spectacles with animals and people. This wasn't one of the arenas where Christians were killed from what I understood. It was huge just like a football stadium and would have been able to seat 50,000 fans. The floor was gone and you could see down into the cells where they kept various animals and people, etc.


Whew! With all the heat, we took our leave and later enjoyed our most extravagent meal of the trip. Jen will blog more on that. Hopefully the history lesson wasn't too dull (I do get really excited about this kind of stuff!).

Vatican and St. Peter's Basilica

Friday, July 20

We toured the Vatican and St. Peter's. Both of them were truly amazing. The seat of the Catholic church can't be minimized, especially when you see how it held together Italy during many dark periods and has had a far reach into all the world.

After waiting in line for quite a while with many tour groups surrounding us, we were able to start making our way through the Vatican Museum. I think my favorite pieces were Belvedere's "Torso," the purple tombs (4th century porphyry sarcophagi for Constantine's mother and daughter who were outlaw Christians - made in Egypt but never used as Constantine legalized Christianity), the mummies and sarcophagi from Egypt, the Laocoon group (1st century Hellenistic), the "School of Athens" by Raphael and his "Transfiguration," and lastly the amazing Sistine Chapel. We were lucky to get spots on a bench at the opposite end of the "Last Judgement" wall. It certainly made it easier to stare at the ceiling for the 20-30 minutes that we were there. I am in total awe that someone could have painted that vast space and to the scale that it is. Every face is a portrait. Every body well proportioned. There is amazing perspective and all of it done while he was lying on his back. Uncomprehendable!



We couldn't leave without sending a litte mail by Vatican post. Hopefully Mom, Dad, and Steph will get the postcard. Vatican Poste is supposedly much more reliable than the regular Italian poste. We will see!



After a tasty lunch, this time a tomato/orange cream sauce on homemade fettucine, and some time to sit in an air conditioned room, we wandered over to St. Peter's and a much shorter line. St. Peter's is truly incredible. Even though it is over 6 acres and can hold 95,000 worshippers, it still feels intimate because of the illusions of the architecture. Here are some bullet points from that.

-We stood on the purple, circular porphyry stone where Charlemagne had his coronation in 800 A.D. in the 1st St. Peter's church on this sight.
-Bernini's 70 ft. tall bronze canopy covery St. Pter's tomb -Crypt - tombs of popes, St. Peter, and Pope John Paul II (It was a slightly angled white marble slab on the floor, very plain and fitting. - There were many flowers and letters dropped there. There was a roped off section across from the tomb where people could pray.)
-Statue of St. Peter with kissable, rubbed off toes - from the 1st St. Peter's church
-St. Peter's throne and Bernini's Starburst dove window
-Spot where St Peter was crucified when it used to simply be "Vatican Hill"
-Obelisk in St. Peter's square - center of a Roman racecourse
-Mosaic version of Raphael's "Transfiguration" -Blessed Sacrament Chapel (Only those wanting to pray were allowed - Jen and I spent some quiet moments in prayer there)
-Michaelangelo's "Pieta" - It's beautiful but very strange to see how huge and young looking Mary is versus the much shrunken and small Jesus
-Holy Door - Opened only on the Year of Jubilee (used to be every 50 years and is now every 25), it symbolizes a new beginning and debts are forgiven

After that, we climbed the 551 steps to the top of the dome. It was fun to walk and have to lean over sideways as the dome started curving in.

What a day!

Firenze

Okay,

I know I'm backlogged quite a bit, but I now have a chance for some real computer time so I will be trying to catch up on the last week or so.

Florence - July 16-18

We caught our train to Florence and walked to the Ponte Vecchio bridge where supposedly our hotel shuttle was supposed to pick up every 30 minutes. Long story short...after calling the hotel multiple times to find out the actual locations and times for pickup (we missed the 12:30 one and they had a huge siesta in between until 4:00!) we were picked up around 4 p.m. That meant that we had to lug our bags (not as bad for me because my backpack is smaller and has a hip belt - but seriously hot for both of us) from around 12:00 -4:00. We decided with that amount of time to wait, we might as well see something. We decided to walk to the Duomo which is outwardly gorgeous with green and white and a little pink marble.

When we finally got the shuttle, it was about a 15 minute ride to our accommodations for the night. It ended up being a beautiful villa (Villa la Massa) right on a quiet, scenic curve of the Arno river. We were led to a separate building where we had apartment of sorts along with 2 or 3 others. Jen loved the colors of a lighter green with burnt red trim and accents.

One of the good things about the location was that it was remote and peaceful. One of the bad things was that we weren't in a town. We were hungry for dinner and the only close place to eat was at their extremely expensive restaurant. Instead we asked the concierge which direction the closest town was, and much to her bewilderment, started hoofing it. (Our "we really like walking" explanation didn't seem to quite make sense to her.) Anyway, we got to the nearest town about 30 minutes later and found a cute restaurant with some great pasta. Satisfaction! The walk really was nice even if we did have to walk along the highway for a while.

The next day (July 17) we took the shuttle back to Florence and then another bus to the small town of San Gimignano. It was a cute walled city with towers. The scenic views as we walked around the outside of the wall were what you think of as pure Tuscany, vineyards and cottages, greens and browns. It was lovely. Unfortunately, it was REALLY hot again (the sort where you can practically see heat waves flowing in front of your eyes). So we decided to cut it short and make the trip back to Florence to buy a picnic dinner before taking the shuttle back to the villa.

July 18, I started my day with a lovely complimentary buffet that they had. Both this day and the next I went down earlier (letting Jen take her time) and enjoyed the quiet. I was able to request the most marvelous hot chocolate from the waiters in their mint green jackets, journal, or even read the newspaper that they handed out liberally (The New York Times International). They had fresh fruit, fresh rolls with real butter (so nice after only have olive oil!) and all sorts of cereals and juices. Can you tell that this was a highlight? :) Jen would eventually come down and have some breakfast of her own before we would leave on the first shuttle at 9 a.m.

Our last day in Florence was packed with the biggies. We started at the Bargello which houses Donatello's sculpture of David. It was supposed to be the first nude in full relief after antiquity. It was a bronze statue and unfortunately was being restored at the time. We got to see the woman working on it with her magnifying goggles and scalpel as it was lying horizontal which was interesting.

We next made our way to the Santa Croce cathedral where there were many famous tombs. We saw the tombs of Nicolo Machiavelli, Michaelangelo, Rossini, and Galileo among others. We also saw what was supposed to be the tunic of St Francis of Assisi and a painting by Donatello.

Our next stop was the Accademia. Thank goodness for reservations. It was delightful to walk PAST the hot, sweaty line of tourists and be able to enter at our time. In entering the Accademia, I was struck again with the hallway leading up to the domed room where light is shining down on the perfect "David." Ahhhhhh! After getting over our next jaw dropping moment, we were able to then truly appreciate Michaelangelo's "Prisoners." The unfinished statues still captured in their marble really bring forth some interesting emotions. The other statue that I don't remember from before, but certainly appreciated this time was "The Rape of the Sabines." It was a very moving piece done in a spiraling fashion so that you had to circle it to appreciate each side as it reached toward the sky in emotion.

From those masterpieces we wandered to The Uffizi Gallery. It really was an amazing gallery of Italian art. Botticelli's "The Birth of Venus" and "Spring" were two of my favorites. I also enjoyed the unfinished work of Leonardo's "Gift of the Magi" as well as Michaelangelo's only surviving easel painting "Holy Family." The Madonna in one of Fra Filippo Lippi's paintings was sweet and touching. She was modeled after his wife. He was a monk and she was a young nun who fell in love and ran away together to get married. All in all, I have to hand it to the Italians for being inspirational in the world of art especially during the Renaissance.

Another picnic dinner and our last relaxing evening at the villa.

-Stacy

Pisa and Sienna

It's catch up time yet again.

Pisa - Friday, July 17

My first sight of the leaning tower was a jaw-dropper. It really was amazing to see it looming in front of us as we crossed the street. As we actually climbed the tower, you could feel the lean as we wound around from one side to the other. The steps were worn where the lean naturally forced you to go (on the right or left of the stairway).

The Cathedral was huge and beautiful. It really was supposed to be the focal point of the square but has been minimized by the fame of the leaning tower. The baptistry was also leaning quite a bit. Pisa was a quick one day stop, but I am so glad we went. It is such a symbol of Italy.

Jen has written a bit on this crazy day. The part she left out was that by the time our secondary train got us to our train change, we didn't have a six minute connection. Instead we made a run for it and got there as our connection to Sienna was pulling away. After much yelling and running alongside the train, on my part, they stopped the train for us and let us on. We made it to Sienna and our hostel with enough time to walk to our hostel from the train station (about 30 minutes) and get in before curfew. (Our curfew was midnight and we got there a little after 11 p.m. Thanks God!)

Sienna - Saturday and Sunday, July 14-15

Sienna was a lovely break for us. Luckily we were both fairly tired and spent quite a bit of time reading, catching up on sleep, and just wandering. It was like a lovely weekend break. The city's rooftops were fun to see. The main square, Il Campo, was really more like a huge amphitheater with the stones angling down. It was pretty alive and crowded at night.

We went to see the famous Duomo which was another great church. Another church we saw was San Dominica. It was dedicated to St. Catherine, who I think was the patron saint of Europe for her work in bring the papacy back to Rome after it had been in Avignon, France.

One of the funniest things about Sienna were the noises. The bells would constantly ring, which has generally been one of our favorite Europe sounds. However, there was this one bell that seemed to sporadically ring like just anyone could go by and crazily ring it at will. Then there were the drums. We finally figured out that there was a courtyard near our hostel where they were practicing this snare playing - flag throwing thing. It was really loud. Then there was the men's chorus. It sounded like a concert, but it seemed to be piped through speakers through town on the corners of the street. Basically this lasted from about 5-9 each night. Then there was our weird sink that would gurgle loudly and randomly all night long. So much for peace and quiet!

-Stacy

The end of the comic strip

We did make it to Sienna, but it was tight.

Our train was late leaving Cecina, so when we got to Empoli, we ran off the train to see which platform the train to Sienna was on. (Remember that we originally had only 7 minutes in which to make the switch.) Stacy checked the monitor to see which platform the train to Siena was leaving from, called out the number and headed down the stairs to the subway-type tunnel leading to the other tracks. I'm following her and see her start running as soon as she reaches the top of the stairs. OUR TRAIN WAS PULLING AWAY!!! She's banging on the doors and yelling for it to stop, I'm running behind her trying to pry the doors open. Stupid, probably, but we were desperate, people!

Well ... they stopped the train for us. The conductor-guy leans out from the front of the train and yells for us to get on. We collapsed into our seats panting and laughing and so glad that we made it.

(Stacy was later reprimanded by the conductor and bore the brunt of it for both of us. Apparently he didn't see me trying to force the doors open. It was a small price to pay for the assurance of a bed to sleep in.)

Humiliations Galore!

train passing through
Originally uploaded by Wanderings

Imagine, if you will, a comic strip. Two girls with brows furroughed are sitting on a train. The previous day's story goes something like this: The girls take a train to Pisa, wander around there for a few hours, then get back on the train headed to another town (Cecina). In Cecina, they will catch a secondary train to another town (something something Volterra) from where they will catch a bus to Volterra and their hostel. Upon arriving in Cecina at 7pm, they are told that the secondary line does not run in the summer and that the last bus has already left for Volterra. After a call to the next town on the itinerary (Siena) and confirmation that they can indeed come a day early, they get on a train heading towards Sienna. They have one train change to make in a town called Empoli. They have exactly 6 minutes to make the change.

Now for today's comic ... girls on a train, thought bubbles ready. They are not speaking, they are thinking.
first box
girl #1: "$@$#!"
girl #2: "Okay, if we miss the connection, we can see if there's another one leaving a bit later. It'll be okay."
second box
girl #1: "$@$#!"
girl #2: "If there's not another train, we'll just start calling all the hostels and b&bs and hotels in town. We'll charge the room if we have to. It'll be okay."
third box
girl #1: "$@$#!"
girl #2: "If we can't find a place to stay, we can walk outside of town a bit and crawl under a bush. We can put on all of our clothing to keep warm and we both have towels we could use as blankets. It'll be okay."


Can you guess which girl was me?

Leaning on the Tower

Leaning Tower
Originally uploaded by Wanderings

You just can't go to Pisa without taking the obligatory mixed-perception pictures. You can't. So Stacy and I took a few and then this really nice British lady overheard us talking about wanting one with both of us but not really feeling like we could ask a total stranger to do the whole "a little to the right, a little more, no - too far - back to the left" thing and she offered to do it. So here you are: evidence of us acting like total fools.

The Canoli Brothers of Vernazza

These are the twin brothers Gianluca and Massimo, masters of pastry and owners of the infamous eatery Il Pirata delle Cinque Terre. Yes, you guessed correctly: "the pirates of Cinque Terre". Don't worry, they only get fierce when talking about all of the people who ignore their maginificent pastries because their shop doesn't have a view. After sampling more than a few of their pastries, their homemade hot chocolate (liquid pudding), and their fresh pineapple slushie (puréed pineapple mixed with water, ice, and sugar), I must agree with them. The fact that so many visitors to Cinque Terre miss this little shop is a small-scale tragedy. So that is my plug. If you are ever in Vernazza, you must stop in for a pastry.

The morning we left Vernazza, we stopped in for pastries and hot chocolate. We were sitting outside at a table, waiting for our hot chocolate when one of the brothers brings out to little bowls of whipped cream. When asked if we should eat it now, he replied, "Don't eat this cream, yet, or you will ask me to marry you. You must wait for the chocolate." And he was right, if we hadn't had that chocolate, we would've.

Cinque Terre

Jen and I on the top of the Castella Doria in Vernazza where we were staying.

Our swimming hole in Manarolla.











At the end of our hike back from Monterosso to Vernazza. This is a picture of our sleepy town of Vernazza after everyone was asleep (as we should have been!).

What a day!

Funny Milan Metro Sign

one of the seven man-made wonders of europe: the nutella snack-pack

To all of my fellow nutella-lovers
(really, what isn't there to love about hazelnut-chocolate spreadable goodness?!)

I was in a small store
(I was searching for food)
when my eyes spotted something
that had to be good.

The box said 'nutella'
and I was intrigued
for all things nutella
awaken my greed.

Upon moving closer
I saw that this snack
was no simple treat and
I could not look back.

Nutella, this snack had,
and little bread sticks,
but this snack packed more than
a few tasty licks.

A drink was included!
Some sweet lemon tea
to wash down the chocolate.
I bought it with glee.

And though Stacy scoffed,
in the end she could see,
that this little snack box
was perfect for me.

Stratos - We love Greek men!

We LOVE Greek men!

They were all so friendly. However, as Jen put it earlier, our favorite Athenian jewelry maker, Stratos, deserves his own post.

What a charmer! We both were a little twitterpated by the encounter. He made us feel beautiful and made us laugh. (A winning combination!) He told us that we had good collarbones for the jewelry we picked out and liked. When we ooohed and aaaahhed about how beautiful it was on us he said, "the jewelry doesn't make the woman beautiful, the woman makes the jewelry beautiful." How can you argue with that?

First, he talked to us about the special olive oil soap that was made by the monks. It would soften the skin without irritating the most sensitive skin. "See," he would say, "I use to break out from shaving and now that I use this soap my skin is soft!" About shaving his grandmother would say, "After you get married and have kids, what's the point?".

I think that after his stay in America for college (He had a wrestling scholarship to Michigan State. His English was excellent!) he was more sensitive to body odor. He spoke of disliking when men would not bath and would smell horrible. He said that he was on the metro the other day and a man near him was holding on up high so that his armpit was in Stratos's face. He smelled so bad that Stratos took out some "Axe" (cheap cologne) and sprayed him in the armpit.

He was definitely didn't give us any pressure to buy. He would say things like, "Never buy it if you aren't sure. If your eye keeps coming back to it, and you love it, then it's a good purchase."

He said that there are two kinds of customers...the kind that just left and you. (Meaning that snobby, stuck-up, discount seeker and the customers that were polite and genuinely liked the products) He would tell the first kind of customer who asked how much something was that they couldn't afford it. I guess you can do that when you own the store and make the jewelry. We on the other hand talked to him and asked him questions. We appreciated his artistry. He ended up giving us our jewelry for a steal!

He really was an artist. He and his dad made all of the jewelry. He'd been learning the the family trade from the age of 5. They made glass lamps and painted icons in churches and created beautiful, delicate jewelry. After his mama had worked all her life so that he could go to college, how could he not come back to work in the family business?

Even so, it was hard not to swoon just a bit as he talked about the difficulty in finding a woman to want to marry, work in a family business, and raise a basketball team worth of kids. Traditional, charming, kind, generous, and funny: who can compete with that?

The only question now is...who gets to live in Greece to raise a basketball team - Jen or I?

Gelato: an unabashed bragging

Gelato
Originally uploaded by bokchoyboy

The tally so far:

Stacy (chocolate-y adventures)
hazelnut chocolate
cookies&cream
strawberry
dark chocolate
stracciatella (the fave from before)
lemon
mango
pistachio
yogurt w/ honey (blech!)
pineapple
merangue (double blech!)
raspberry
cinnamon (tasted like pumpkin pie spices, not good w/ grapefruit)
crema (think whipped cream ice cream - not as good as it sounds)
pink grapefruit

Jen (stuck-on-fruit, stuck in a rut)
dark chocolate
strawberry
limone (the favorite)
peach
mixed berry
orange
kiwi (weird)
limoncello (mmmmm... the new favorite)
pineapple (aMAZing ... real pineapple bits. tasty)
regular chocolate (blech)

Venezia - Cinque Terre

Well, I'm back at it again. I think my last update left us in Athens.

On July 5, we took a plane to Milan (the city we can't seem to get rid
of...Aargh!). The next morning we took the train to Venice for a lovely 3 day break (July 6-8). There is just something magical about Venice. I had wondered if I would feel that way again since I had been there before, however, there was no
doubt to the pull it has. We walked out of the train station to the sight of the canal, the gondolas, and vaporettos, and pure magic. I wasn't the only one to be affected. I looked over at Jen and smiled. She was transfixed, cemented to the spot where she stood, just soaking it in. Magic.

We bought our 3 day vaporetto tickets (a lesson to check your ticket as we payed for the 72 hour ticket and were given the 48 hour one). However, our elation wasn't diminished too much and we were able to work that out. We went onto the waiting area for the vaporetto. We sat down and for a moment, I forgot that we were just in the waiting place (I should know better - Aunt Ellyn). You get a bit of a jolt at the vaporetto (people ferry) runs into the waiting area and dock and everyone surges forward. One thing that we are learning in Italy, is that you have to be fairly aggressive in lines, or people will just cut right in front of you. So it was a vaporetto travel to our hostel stop (San Samuele), and then we meandered through the alleyways until we found our B & B. It was lovely to again have a room and bathroom to ourselves.

We then left to discover the city as we wandered the day away. We ate on the steps of the La Salute church, walked through St. Mark's square. (I don't quite get the fascination with feeding the pigeons and having them all over you - adults and kids - but it was entertaining watching. I was tempted to do as Rick Steves said...buy 2 bags of pigeon food and throw them at someone else's feet! I resisted.) I bought a beautiful oil painting of a canal in Venice from a sweet little man who paints in the colder months and sells his paintings during high season. We had the best cioccolato gelato on the entire trip! We wandered over the Accademia bridge, and enjoyed dinner (I had a cuatro formaggi pizza) by the canal. The next day we shopped in the market along the Rialto bridge and took the Vaporetto to Murano (where they have the glass factories) and Burano (where they make lace). In Murano, we saw a demonstration where the man, between puffs of his cigarette, created a small glass horse. It was amazing how quickly he was able to do it. Burano for me was new. It was quaint,quieter, and colorful. Every building was painted a different bright color. It was one of my favorite places in Venice. After buying some lace made by the older ladies of the town, we headed back into Venice.

On Sunday, July 8, we made it to St. Mark's Basilica. We are forever grateful to Rick Steves and his tip to check your bag at the nearby church. You then get a bag tag and can jump the line into the Basilica. I think that St. Mark's is one of the most impressive churches. The floor is a constant mosaic of different colored tiles in patterns. The ceiling is full of painted Biblical scenes in various colors with a main background of gold. Jen and I got cricks in our necks as we stared at the ceiling and tried to make out the various Bible stories (Noah, Joseph, Adam and Eve, Jesus' crucifixion, the disciples' deaths, etc.)

We later met up with Steve and Cindy Thompson (missionaries in Italy from Southern Gables church). It was such a special time. Jen and I didn't really know them. Jen knows their daughter Stephanie. After many of my discussions with the Haleys, the Newcombs, Alice Robbins, and the Hashes (other SGC missionaries), our hope was that we could be an encouragement to them, and not a burden in any way. I think there is something special about stepping into their world, seeing their church, their home, and walking there streets. It allows us the opportunity to bring our experience back to our church to share with others, and it helps us know how better to pray for and support them. It was interesting to talk with them and hear how they hadn't had much contact from supporters, churches, etc. for many years(They've been in Italy for around 24 years!).

I was especially impressed and amazed by their hardiness. It sounded as though they really have to be able to persevere even when they don't see any changes or encouragement. There are a lot of discouragements, and not just from the Italians. Sometimes it seems that progress is not seen for a long time, however, if you know that God has you in that place working with those people, you don't give up. You carry on in the knowledge that God knows. It was very inspirational and encouraging for me. I hope that they were encouraged as well.

Monday, July 9 we took the train to Milan (again) so we could then switch trains to Genova and through to Rapallo on the coast. After checking into our amazing hilltop hotel (thanks Dad!), we walked through the town to find dinner. We had an antipasti of prosciuto and melone (cantelope and prosciutto). It was an interesting combination of sweet and salty. Good!

The next morning we had to try out the pool before we took our next train to Vernazza. We're staying right now in one of the middle Cinque Terre towns. It is just as beautiful as everyone has said. We decided to stay in Vernazza that day. We climbed the small castella Dora, read at a cafe, had the most amazing pineapple gelato, and had dinner with a mozzerella and tomato salad (Is that it?), a first dish of seafood - squid, fish, etc., and I had a penne pasta with a fairly basic tomato sauce. (Jen and I have both learned that we're not big on Anchovies - me with a putanesca sauce on some pasta, and her having anchovies infesting her pizza!)

Yesterday, July 11, we had some amazing pastries at a local shop and bought our lunch for the day at a local market (nectarines, yellow pepper, asiago cheese, focaccia bread, cucumber...yum!). We then set off to hike the coastal trail to the other towns.

Our first hike to Corneglia had some fairly steep ups and downs (lots of deep stairs - Ugh!), but it was beautiful! Corneglia is set up high on a cliff above the water. I learned early on that it was much cooler hiking in my swimsuit and capris. Luckily, many of the people we passed were doing the same. Besides, I just adopted my Dad's philosophy when I tend to do embarrassing things that those people aren't going to see you again anyway. It really frees me up! After a weird combination of gelato flavors(cinnamon, pink grapefruit, and crema - like whipped cream - gross!), we headed down the trail to Manarolla.

Manarolla was one of my favorite towns because of the deep sea swimming. We decided to swim at the less crowded, but more treacherous entry (as Rick Steves says) swimming area. The waves definitely looked daunting. However, once I walked out to the edge, you just have to wait for a big waved to come in before you jump. Then it carries you back out to sea a bit. It's a little like being in a washing machine being tossed around. You have to tread water pretty hard not to just get thrown anywhere - like closer to the rocks, but otherwise it was somewhat relaxing. I just had to keep in mind that I needed to get back to the ladder before I got too tired. Once I figured out that I should only try swimming when the tide was pushing me toward shore, and then tread water when it was pulling me back out, I was able to slowly make my way back to the ladder. On my second attempt to swim, I discovered a jumping off point that was really fun and farther down and out into the water. Overall, it was my favorite experience so far in Cinque Terre.

The next town was Riomaggiore. There we walked around to see things, which doesn't take long considering how small they are. Then I got some pesto pizza for dinner, and we decided to take the train back to Vernazza as it was getting later. Unfortunately, we must have gotten on the wrong train. It was at the right time and going the right direction, but it took us right past our town to Monterossa. Then we were looking at how to get back to Vernazza. We already were a little tired, but we decided to just hike anyway. We were wandering through the town to find the trail (We should have looked at the map - another lesson learned!). We found a trail marked with the red and white stripe and started climbing the stairs. We followed it for a long time. It was surprisingly steep and didn't seem to go to the right as we were expecting. I was starting to feel that perhaps we might be climbing one of the high mountain trails, but I was hoping that it would start going toward Vernazza. Finally, near the top, we took out the map (Yes, I realize we should have done that sooner!) and discovered that yes, we were hiking the tougher high mountain trail. We ended up having to go back down the trail to take the coastal path that we originally thought we were taking. At this point the sun was setting and by the time we got to Vernazza it was dark. A little sketchy I know, but we did get some great night photos of the towns! (heh, heh)

Okay, well today we're going to hang here in Vernazza. I might hike back to Monterossa in the light of day and see the town. Tomorrow we are going to head to Pisa and Volterra hopefully.

More later

-Stacy

What I've missed

This is the first summer in four years that I haven't gone to Poland. I just finished reading the blog from this year's trip and I'm feeling just a bit sad that I missed out. It sounds like it was an amazing trip for the team and for the Poles. It reminded me that God is faithful - He has sent a different team of people to Poland to work with a different group of Polish students and leaders for the last 7 years and every year has been important and good and necessary. I'm so glad that Dan and Dave and Jon worked to make the blog available. You all rock!

I can't wait to sit down and hear all of the stories from the trip when I get back.

The people we've met ...

We have met some awesome people in Greece. Stacy already told you about Angel, our Croation roommate, but there have been a number of other people who have made an impression on us:

Angel (see Stacy's previous post for more info on this guy)

Felicia (and her awkward son Bill) shopowner, Nafplion
This woman owns a Kolomboi (worry beads) shop in Nafplion. Her husband and youngest son (not Bill) make all beads from precious stones and craft the Kolomboi themselves. She spent about 20 minutes telling us all about the beads and what the different stones were for (amber for arthritis, black coral for protection, camel bones for companionship). Stacy chose blue coral for happiness and though I was tempted to go for those camel bones, the price forced me to choose pink coral (also for happiness) instead. Shows you were my priorities lie. ;)

Fani shopowner, Nafplio
We met Fani in the jewelry shop that she owns with her husband. He designs and crafts all the jewelry in the store. She took the time explaining the different symbols that we had been seeing on jewelry. We both chose pieces that have the Meandros (Greek Key - symbol of life) on one side and a 4th centurey Byzantine design on the other.

Ryan 25 year-old contracter from Orange County, the bus from Nafplio to Athens
We would never have guessed that this guy was only 25. We met him while waiting for the bus and spent the first hour or so of the ride talking to him. [Stacy would say that I spent the first hour talking to him. I've learned that, as an extrovert, traveling with one other person doesn't give the energy that I'm used to. Whenever we get to talking with someone, I can feel my energy level refilling. So Stace let me do most of the talking, even though the boy was cute and time was short. :)] We were the first people he'd met in a week who spoke English and he was desperate for some conversation. Talked us (me, at least) into learning to scuba dive. Thanks, Ryan!

Angelo Greek-Australian B&B owner, Kastraki
First act of kindness: picked us up from the train station in Kalambaki. Recommended the tasty and cheap Taverna next door to his B&B, hooked us up with a map and a bus up to the monasteries. A talker. About foreign relations: "Americans and Australians must come together, holding hands like sisters. And New Zealand the other sister. And Canada the fourth. All from old mother England." About the monasteris: "Some big, some small - same Jesus inside."

Australian Family Sydney Hotel, Kastraki
We met these awesome folks (father, mother, teenaged daughter) while waiting for the bus up to the monasteries. They were very friendly and helpful - told us all about the skirts and shawls that the monasteries have for women who are wearing slacks and tank tops. Having just been to Italy, they made a few recommendations and warned us about the bus drivers. "They have two speeds," said the daughter. "Fast and stop."

Hostel Guy Student Travelers Inn, Athens
This guy, whose name we don't know, has been our check-in guy during both of our stays in Athens. This time, however, he took the time to add up on his calculator how many women come through the hostel and break his heart every year. Awww.

Stratos 28-year-old jewelry-maker, wrestling champ, and world class charmer, Athens
Stacy is gonna post on this guy. He deserves his own chapter. Left us both charmed and twitterpated. Sweet Stratos. Definitely our favorite Greek boy.

Meteora

Meteora is in northern Greece. It has really unusual rock formations (popular with rock climbers) and boasts several monasteries built precariously on the tops of these rocks. I believe the James Bond movie "For Your Eyes Only" boast some views of them.

Getting there was a bit of an adventure. As I said in my last message, we took the 2 1/2 hour bus from Nafplion to Athens. In Athens, we got on city bus 51 to take us to the metro station. There we took the metro to the train station. We got on our 4 1/2 hour train to Kalambaka. Arriving there at about 8:30 p.m. we didn't know how to get to the nearby town of Kastraki (about 3 km away) and to our hostel. A somewhat pushy taxi driver wanted to take us there for 50 euros! Forget that! I would have rather just set out walking. We called our hostel, and the wonderful Angelo (owner) came down to the station to pick us up! We loved Angelo!

So we again had two refreshing nights in his pension. He was so helpful and kind. (More on him later.)

On Tuesday, July 3 we took a shuttle to the top of the rocks and then hiked to 5 of the different monasteries. (Great Meteora - wasn't open on Tuesdays, Varlaam, Roussanou - nunnery, Agios Stefanos, and Agios Nikolaos, plus several monatery ruins and caves where they stayed) From what we understood, the monks used to live in the caves long ago. As the Turks came to conquer the area, the monks slowly started moving higher and higher. Eventually, they started building their monasteries at the tops of these rocks. They would drop down a net attached to a cable to get people or supplies. Then they would turn the wooden wheel, or perhaps some donkeys would, to get raise the net up the rocks.

Each night we ate at the taverna next door. They had the most incredible tasting souvlaki (like meat shish-kebabs) and squid. Who knew I would like squid? I'm also becoming quite partial to Greek salads, although Jen gets all the Kalamata olives and I take the extra tomatos. It works out. :) Jen also tried the retzina wine (I had a sip) which truly tasted like wood from the resin of a tree. It was so strong, but surprisingly started tasting good after the third glass. :)

Back to Athens the next day for shopping!

-Stacy

Nafplion - Our Seaside Paradise

Okay, I'm still backtracking to catch up.

Nafplion - The evening of June 30,July 1, and the morning of July 2

Since we went to Epidavros the night of June 30 for the play, we really just found and slept at the hostel in Nafplion that night. Still, it was a glorious break to stay in the same place for two nights and have our own room, bathroom, and even a private balcony overlooking the street with a view of the castle.

On Sunday, July 1 we enjoyed sleeping in, walking along the coast, eating lunch/dinner, and then hiking to the 14th century battlements of Acronafplia in the dark that night.

While walking along the coast, we found a small, fairly private cove and so proceeded to take a swim in the Aegean Sea. It was so refreshing! I had worn my swimsuit, but Jen hadn't. I was very proud of her for taking the plunge in her underwear. Of course, things did get interesting with a fishing boat that decided to park just off our cove and the boys that climbed down to also have a dip! :)

The next morning (July 2), we climbed up to the Venetian Palamidi castle (all 857 steps to the top). It was very extensive. We climbed to all of the different Bastions, into the rooms, the prison, and through many tunnels, etc.

Then we took our bus back to Athens so we could catch our train to Meteora. Whew!

-Stacy

Epidavros

June 30

From Athens, we traveled by bus to Nafplion on the Peloponnesian peninsula. We stayed there for two glorious nights. It was right on the Aegean Sea, and was obviously a vacation spot for Greeks.

That night we took a bus over to the ancient theatre of Epidaurus. The theatre is incredible. It was built in the 3rd century B.C. and has amazing accoustics. The actors can whisper and you can hear it in the back row. It was made of limestone and can seat 12,000 spectators. At the end of the play, the applause was truly deafening.

We saw the play "Antigone" by Sophocles. Thank goodness we had brushed up on the play and knew the basic plot. It was beautifully acted, but we both are now truly understanding the phrase, "It's all Greek to me!"

-Stacy

Because you need to know

Have we no shame?
Originally uploaded by Oh Lenna

No, this is not a urinal. And yes, Stacy and I have both used one of these. Not quite as difficult as it looks, but definitely not our preferred modus operandi.

Just thought you'd like to know.

Athens - in pieces

Athens (June 28, 29 and July 4)

Athens has been broken up for us over three half days with a lot of travelling in between. After flying from Milan to Athens on Friday we had time to take a walking tour of the city.

We started in Syntagma Square near our hostel. The Parliament building is nearby with the guards (evzones) in their traditional pleated kilts, white britches, and pom-pom shoes. They give the Vatican guards' uniforms a run for their money! :) We then made our way down Ermou Street which is a pedestrian mall of sorts. We hit several Byzantine churches and saw the Roman Agora and the Tower of the Winds. We walked through a charming little "village" which is like a taste of the Cycladic island of Anafi. The path twisted narrowly between white-washed walls with red-tiled roofs. It was very quaint. Last we ended at Monastiraki Square with the Acropolis towering over us.

On Saturday, June 29, we had the morning to visit the Agora and our main interest, the Acropolis. It really did take your breathe away. After walking through many different ruins (which I won't now take the time to describe), we walked through the Propylaia. It was constructed in about 435 B.C. and was aligned with the Parthenon. After climbing the stairs, you walk through a huge gate toward your view of the Parthenon.

I wasn't sure what to expect really, but I was completely blown away by the size of it. It really stands like a beacon over Athens and is the largest Doric temple in Greece. It is 101 ft. by 228 ft. with 8 fluted Doric columns at each end and 17 along each side. The amazing things was that it was completed in just 9 years (447-438 B.C.). The architecture was made to look harmonious which meant that it actually curves upwards in the middle and the columns tilt inwards just a bit. Incredible!

My other favorite building was the Erchtheion. It has a beautiful porch where the columns (Caryatids) are stone ladies holding up the roof. It was built in 406 B.C. It actually has three rooms. I found the Caryatids very beautiful, but was surprised to find that the originals are in the museum (except one that was pinched by Lord Elgin in 1805 and is in the British Museum) because the polution started corroding their crisp features after about 1950.

The story of the Acropolis Flag at the top was rather inspirational. When the Nazis occupied Athens in 1941, the ezvone who guarded the flag was told to remove it. After taking it down, he wrapped himself in it and jumped to his death. A few weeks later, two Greek teenagers climbed the wall, took down the Nazi flag, and put up the Greek flag. This was at the beginning of the resistance against the Nazis. It is very moving to see the passion and patriotism all over the world.

Lastly, Jen and I got to climb up onto Mars Hill. It was a very knobby rock with slippery stones from all the people who have climbed up here. It was very emotional for me to stand in the place where Paul preached to the Athenians. Even though the Athenians were famous for their open-mindedness, most were skeptical at the time and only a small number were converts. One of the greatest joys I have travelling is to be in the places and see the things that are spoken of in the Bible. It makes the Bible come that much more alive to me.

Today, July 4 (Happy 4th of July to everyone!), Jen and I spent much of our afternoon shopping after we arrived on the train from Meteora. It was fun to be girls together and buy pretty jewelry and gifts.

Sorry that these accounts are so long. I've given up trying to be succinct. Feel free to skim or skip at will. :)

-Stacy

swimming in the Aegean Sea and other adventures in Greece

swimming in the Aegean Sea
Originally uploaded by Wanderings

Happy fourth of July to the U.S. folks! It's 8:30pm here in Athens - this is the final night of our week in Greece. It has flown by too quickly.

Stacy will fill you in on most of the particulars, so I'm going to focus on a few of my favorite memories in an attempt to avoid duplicate stories. :)

Athens:
Highlights include an evening walk/self-tour (thank you, Rick Steves) passing some of the major sites. It was wonderful to enjoy the cooler temperatures, to watch the lighting change as the sun finished its descent (and to experiment with a variety of camera settings as we tried to capture the ancient "piles of stone" in the fading light), and to wander past the cafes and bars filled with people relaxing over their evening meals. We finished the day with a long meal of our own. Tasty.

Nafplio:
I slept in until 11am our first day here. It was WONDERFUL and necessary to keep Stacy and I friends, I think. I had been horribly cranky until then. That was when I finally beat the jet lag. WAHOO!!! Three awesome memories from Nafplio: (1)a spontaneous swim in the Aegean Sea (who needs a swimsuit?) ; (2)Felicia, the friendly shop owner who told us all about worry beads (komboloi) and (3)watching Sophocles' Antigone in (modern) Greek at the ancient Epidavros theater (WOW!).

Kastraki:
Tiny, tiny little town nestled up against the monasteries of Meteora. Angelo, our B&B owner who has spent most of his adult life living in Australia, rescued us from the train station and the €50 fare the local cab driver was offering for the 3km drive (that's less than 2 miles, people). We love Angelo!!! We spent the next morning hiking around the monasteries in blazing heat, but it was worth it. Can't wait to show you some of those pictures. The cafe next door had AMAZING food and great prices ... an entire (filling) meal for two people for less than €15. Awesome.

And now we are back in Athens, spent most of the day shopping (met some great artisan shop owners while we were at it - Stratos, you rock!), and after we are done here will settle in for another 2-hour Grecian meal.

I have LOVED the Greek food. Loved the late and leisurely meals. Loved the people ... some of my favorite memories are our conversations with the different people we've met. And I love being mistaken for a national (I've been spoken to in Greek a couple of times or told straight out that I look Greek). So cool, huh? Now if I could only speak the language ... ;)

Milan - catch up

It's been a long while since I've had a chance to write, so I'll try to sum up as best I can. (I know I'm not very good at keeping it short and sweet.)

Milan - the neverending day (June 28)

We woke up at 2:30 a.m. to walk to the shuttle by 3 a.m. at Victoria Station, London. We got to London Luton (reminder that it's way the heck out of London) and got onto our 6:30 flight to Milan. Arriving in Milan we checked into our hostel and wandered around until our tour.

On our tour we went to alla Scala Opera House (the most famous in the world). It has amazing accoustics, especially if you sit in the top boxes (the chicken boxes). All the most important musicians and composers have to succeed at Il Teatro Alla Scala to advance their careers. Rossini, Toscanini, Boccini, Giuseppi Verdi, and Salieri (competitor of Mozart) were there.

We then went to the Duomo (the 3rd largest cathedral after St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and another one I can't rememeber right now. The ceiling is painted to look as if it has been intricatelly carved like lattice. During WWII, they actually had time to take the stained glass windows out and move them so that it was able to be repaired after the bombings.

We also went through the Galleria Vittorio Emanuelle which was ful of expensive fashion stores. Milan really is a major fashion center for the world.

We wandered through the Sforza Castle and gardens. It was beautiful, but Jen and and I were definitely fading at this point in the day(she was still jet-lagged).

The last stop was to see Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper." This was the reason for going on the tour. I tried to individually book for tickets, but who knew that it would be sold out 1 1/2 months in advance! Anyhow, you are only allowed to be in the room for 15 minutes in a group of no more than 25. It was a bit of a miracle because the building was bombed in WWII and the wall the painting was on didn't get hit.

It was incredible! You could see it best by standing in the middle of the room. Da Vinci was on the cutting edge of the Renaissance style of painting by trying to make the bodies more anatomically correct. He visited morgues to study the human body. "The Last Supper" is amazing because every face is like it's own portrait. Of course, it's supposed to be the moment after Jesus tells his disciples that one of them will betray him. Interestingly, Judas is painted in a darker light to show that he is the betrayer. There is also a hand holding a knife, but you can't see whose hand it is...a mystery. You can really see the emotion in each of the disciples. Seeing this painting doesn't really describe it. It was an experience. It was an awe at the ingenuity and creative genious of Da Vinci. A photo, film, or book can't capture it. You have to stand in the room and soak it in.

That night we went to alla Scala to see Leonard Berstein's opera Candide based off of the book by Voltaire. We sat up in the chicken boxes in the front row. The orchestra was incredible as were the singers and dancers. It was a slightly over the top production, and the point of the story was long in coming. (We must accept that not all things that happen are for the best. People really have bad in them. You just have to do your best and "grow your garden." - Horribly condensed main idea) However, it was an amazing experience.

Finally, we got back to our hostel and into bed about 1:30 a.m. Killer!

-Stacy