Yes, it is true we survived this whole trip without ONE cigarette burn. We dodged every little fire stick that came our way. We would like to think of this as an accomplishment!! Today we are sad that this is our last blog entry, but we are excited to get back home and see everyone. Plus every dog we see, which is about 30 a day, makes us miss little Jazzie that much more. I can not believe how much we miss her.
Okay so today...we woke up and began our journey to the St. Peters Square. This walk is about 5 miles one way that is if you do not get lost. We tend to find our way without using maps. So needless to say our 5 mile walked turned into about a 7 mile walk one way. We were trying to get there by noon so we could see the Pope, because every Wednesday and Sunday he sticks his head out of his apartment and greets everyone in the Square. We made it righ at noon, to find out for whatever reason he already addressed the crowd early. We were a little bummed, but we thought we would fight our way through the crowd and try to get to the front, just in case he was still up there. So we got to the very front area and saw him still standing outside the church talking with his people. Then out of nowhere we saw the Pope Mobile...We were so excited this is all that Chris talked about the whole walk to see the Pope. We were standing on chairs trying to get a picture, and thankfully we brought my zoom lens with us today. Then the next thing we know the Pope gets in his little white car, which looks like a mix between a glorified golf cart and a hummer but with no roof. They drove him righ by us, so we got some really really cool pictures! Here is he cool part the Pope usually just sticks his head out of his litle window but for whatever reason today there was a big ceremony. We were glad to be a part of the madness.
Oh..last night while we were walking to our hotel a bunch of police were escorting these cars. Of course we were trying to ask everyone who that was and what was going on, but no one understood us. We saw this guy in one of the cars with a turbin on his head, and we thought he was a part of this Islamic thing going on here. So we turned on the news last nigh to find out that guy we saw in the car was the president of Saudia Arabia. We are not sure why but he was here. Saudia Arabia president by night and Pope by day...we have had fun.
The rest of our day consisted of eating an amazing burrito, Hard Rock cafe again (we just couldnt resist) and our favorite gelato (the ice cream we eat every day sometimes twice). Tonight at dinner Chris and I chatted about our trip, favorite parts, funny parts, favorite town and sight, how much we miss Jazz...etc. We realized we did a ton of things over the past 2 weeks. You just forget sometimes until you stop and recall everything. It is hard to believe we have been over here for 2 weeks that is just nuts.
ohhh tonight after dinner Chris and I were meandering around. This priest was rounding a corner when he tripped over something. Chris said WHOA! the guy continued on like nothing ever happened. Well for whatever reason when he tripped it startled Chris and I and then Chris made that comment. Chris and I lookedat each other and tried with all our might not to bust out laughing because we didnt want to embarras him. So once he was far enough away we just lost it. We laughted for blocks and blocks. We are not sure why it was so funny, but we could not handle it...my abs were hurting by the time we were done laughing...ohhh good stuff!
So tomorrow we leave here around 10 in the morning and arrive in Indy around 8:30ish. We are excited to get back to America where we can boycott carbs and speak English with other people besides ourselves. We love you all so much and have loved all the great comments you left. We really do miss you all a ton. We need to have a big reuion when we get back. For the high schoolers reading this make sure to stop by after school on Friday. There will be some great snacks involved. Family Chris and I are having you all over Friday night and Saturday (if you are available). Details soon to follow.
SEE ya tomorrow or the next day!
Love ya,
Chris AND Lynz
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
donut in Florence, pizza in Venice & McDonalds in Milan
Ohhhh the places we have been! CRAZY! Sorry it has been a couple days since we wrote, we did not have internet access yesterday! We watched the depressing Colts game Sunday night in Florence. We did not get back into our hotel until almost 2am (our time here). We were so tired. Our plan was to catch a 6am train to Venice on Monday morning. So we got up a like 5:30 and walked to the train station. We soon learned that for whatever reason that train was not running to Venice that day. So we walked back to our hotel and asked them if we could get back into our room to sleep for a couple more hours. Thanksfully they let us. We got back up around 8 to catch a 9train to Venice. We got on that train YEAH! Finally on our way to Venice. We played some more Rummy, which I continued to beat Chris. He is not happy about this. We got into Venice...WOW it was so cool. This city literally does not have any roads. They have sidewalks you can walk on to get around the town, but the only means of transportation is by boat. It was very very fun. We found unbelievable pizza there, and ate it in St. Marks Square. After we ate we went to find a bathrrom, well we found one, but you have to pay 1 Euro to use it....that is so crazy. But we payed the fee because it was our only option. Afterwards we walked back into the Square and there was like 100,000 pigeons. Talk about weird. I have never seen so many birds in my whole life in one place. You had to watch were you walked because you could step on one if you were not careful. Chris bought some bird seed and thought it would be fun to feed these ugly little creatures. So I took some pictures of him with the birds all over him. Then he suggested I do the same. A little reluctant I agreed. Okay Chris made it look like a lot of fun. Once I have about 10 birds on me...I freaked out. I was screaming while Chris...he was taking pictures and laughing at me. Seriously a bird was sitting on my head. I thought for sure I would have some bird poop on my head, but thankfully I didnt. I dont know what I would have done because we did not have a hotel to shower off or anything. We hung out in Venice all day. We took a water taxi back to the train station. We did not stay the night in Venice because it was unbelievably expensive. So we decided to take a train to Milan (where I ate a fruit parfait and Chris had an orange). This train was an overnight train to Pompei, this was good for us because that meant we did not have to pay for a place to sleep that night. We get on the train and try to get comfortable. I wish I could explain how the train was set up well, but I will try. There are these squares (rooms)with 6 seats in them. 3 and 3 facing each other. So Chris and I tried to find a little room by ourselves so we could sprawl out and sleep over night. We tried but it didnt work. First this guy came in wearing a whole bottle of cologne...it about gagged us. Then another young fellow came in and joined the over night party. Thanksfully they got off at another stop, and didnt go all the way to Pompei. Chris slept the whole night sitting up, while I on the other hand layed across all 3 seats. We heard a rumor that if you put your feet up on the seat you will get fined. So Chris was scared to get fined so he slept sitting up. Poor guy, he didnt sleep very well. We woke up around 8ish and arrived in Pompei around 8:30 or so. We walked around Pompei for a little bit and decided that the thing we really wanted to see was too expensive. We ate some fruit outside this church until about 1 and then caught another train to Rome. We just love Rome so much we wanted to spend some more time here than in Pompei. So here we sit at 9:00pm with a stuffed out stomach. We ate at the Hard Rock Cafe tonight because we just could not handle anymore pasta. So we settle for an All American meal... burger and fries. We are going to get back into shape once we land in American.
For tomorrow, our plan was to sleep in the airport (because it would be free and our flight leaves kinda early), but we are not sleeping in a hotel here in Rome. Tonight after dinner we went to get out a little...let me repeat a little bit more cash. Instead of hitting the $40 button Chris accidentially hit the $140 button...YIKES. Here once you hit the dollar amount there is not turning back. Chris tried to hit the cancel button about 6 times, but it continued the transaction. We decided since we already withdrew the money we might as well stay in a hotel here and not be bumms in the airport.
We are sad our adventure is coming to an end, but we are sooooo excited to see our little girl, Jazz. There are so many dogs over here, we are not wanting to get Jazz a friend. I hope this wears off because I dont know how 2 dogs will do on our roadtrip to Cali.
Alright ya'll we are outta here for tonight. We will probably write tomorrow and that will be the conclusion because after that we will be in the air on our way home. We love ya all and can not wait to see everyone.
Love ya bunches
Chris and Lynz
For tomorrow, our plan was to sleep in the airport (because it would be free and our flight leaves kinda early), but we are not sleeping in a hotel here in Rome. Tonight after dinner we went to get out a little...let me repeat a little bit more cash. Instead of hitting the $40 button Chris accidentially hit the $140 button...YIKES. Here once you hit the dollar amount there is not turning back. Chris tried to hit the cancel button about 6 times, but it continued the transaction. We decided since we already withdrew the money we might as well stay in a hotel here and not be bumms in the airport.
We are sad our adventure is coming to an end, but we are sooooo excited to see our little girl, Jazz. There are so many dogs over here, we are not wanting to get Jazz a friend. I hope this wears off because I dont know how 2 dogs will do on our roadtrip to Cali.
Alright ya'll we are outta here for tonight. We will probably write tomorrow and that will be the conclusion because after that we will be in the air on our way home. We love ya all and can not wait to see everyone.
Love ya bunches
Chris and Lynz
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Venice is just not happening!!!
Well, another delay on our trip to Venice. We caught one train and then went to get on our next connecting train to head to Venice, and it was completly and I do mean completly full! That's so frustrating, but for what ever reason the Lord must want us here in Florence for another night. We found a cheap hotel, with HEAT, so that's a bonus! But the big find of the night (besides the great food) is a Sports Bar showing "American Football" (aka the Colts). We are really excited about this, we are also excited, because we are meeting an American named Gary there. Gary is from Detroit, but is living here in Florence right now, because he has nothing better to do with his life. He was in the Army and is out now and doesn't know what he wants to do. This maybe the reason why the Lord kept us in Florence for the night. Gary worked at the restraunt that we ate in tonight. He told us where to find the game, and said he would meet us there. I think the Lord wants us to share with Him that God has a great purpose for his life. Who knows, maybe this guy will end up in So Cal! God is great and knows what He is doing, so pray for us to have a great conversation with Gary tonight. And pray for Gary's heart to be soft towards the gospel.
So our plan, we'll see what God does...is to stay up late, watching the Colts game tonight (it starts at 10:15pm here). Then tomorrow morning our train leaves for Venice at 6:15am. We are going to spend the day in Venice and then take an overnight train to Pompei!!! Exciting...well, that's about it...we love you guys and would love to hear from you through the comments.
Talk to you soon!! Much Love,
Chris & Lyndsey
So our plan, we'll see what God does...is to stay up late, watching the Colts game tonight (it starts at 10:15pm here). Then tomorrow morning our train leaves for Venice at 6:15am. We are going to spend the day in Venice and then take an overnight train to Pompei!!! Exciting...well, that's about it...we love you guys and would love to hear from you through the comments.
Talk to you soon!! Much Love,
Chris & Lyndsey
High Heels & Mountain Lions
Good morning everyone! Okay, I think I need to clear some things up from the last blog post. First of all I had only 7 minutes to get to our website, type our blog, post it, and sign off. The owner of the Internet shop said he closed at 8:00pm, and we had to be out of there by 8:00pm. So that is why it was so vague, and full of typos I am sure. So let me back track a little and re-explain our past few days.
Our original plan for Thursday was to take a train to Venice. We got to the train station and went to our platform (where you catch the train). We waited and waited and waited. Finally we ask someone where our train was, and they informed us that Thursday was a holiday and many trains did not run. It was All Saint’s Day, who knew!? So we quickly decided to go to another town called, Montorosso. This is the town we described earlier as the town on the beach, but couldn’t remember the name. We hopped on the next train there, and that is where we landed Thursday early evening.
This began our search of a hotel/hostel…We began asking around and quickly learned this place was going to cost us a pretty penny. We found this place called the hotel Souvenir. We tried to ask the lady at the front desk how much it would be to stay there…she did not understand our English and we did not understand her Italian. We got out our handy English to Italian handbook and tried our best to communicate with her. She just was not wanting to listen to us…she just kept putting all these blankets on a bed in one of the room (she took us to go look at a room at this point). We were all frustrated and Chris and I left to try and find another hotel. Shortly after continuing the search we learned Hotel Souvenir would be our best bet. We trucked back there and tried again to ask about a room, this time there was a man at the desk. He did not understand us any better. Then in walked the blanket lady…and they began to go at it. For whatever reason they were not happy with something, we think it might of had to do with us. After watching them argue for about 5 minutes, she took us back to the room with all the blankets on the bed. We finally understood the room we were staying in for 3 nights did not have ANY HEAT, the reason for all the blankets. She showed us the bathroom, with the constant open window with no light. This became home for the next 3 nights ☺
FRIDAY we woke up freezing…and began our day in beautiful Montorosso. I am never going to be able to describe how amazingly breathtaking this place is. It is unlike anything I have ever seen before. Chris and I hiked up this mountain to another city which was about 1 ½ hours away. We were sweating like mad, but the views from way up high were priceless. Now the thing about this hike was that you hike at your own risk. There are many paths that are extremely narrow with no railing. If you lost your footing you were a goner…there was nothing to stop you except for a bunch of rocks below and the Sea. YIKES! Oh yeah…There were signs that had a high heel with an “X” through it along with some other obvious what not to wear while hiking. Now high heels and hiking who would ever try that? I know there are many things you can do in heels but hiking I am not sure I would try. Sure enough, we came up on this couple and she was wearing her little high heels hiking up this mountain. Now she was not moving to fast, but she sure was doing it! I was shocked out of my mind, I mean I lost my footing many times and I had on my running shoes. Boy she was a trooper! We spent some time in the other town, at lunch and walked around, and then hiked back to our town. While we were on our way back to our town Chris and I were discussing if there were wild animals up here. I was trying to convince myself there weren’t because we had nothing to fight them off with. Out of nowhere we hear this deep GRRRRRR…my heart sunk then stopped. I though “Ohh no this is how I am going to die, I am going to get ate by this wild animal, GREAT!” Chris started laughing then a few other people did and I looked up and this dad was hiding from his kids and was growling to scare them. Instead he freaked me out. After I regrouped from thinking I was dieing I joined everyone else in laughing. His growl sounded so real.
We were so hungry for dinner once we got back and showered, but we learned that Italians do not eat dinner at the same time we do. Their restaurants actually close between lunch (1:30) until dinner (6:30). We tried to ask a few people that work at the restaurants, but again they did not understand us and we did not understand them. We found this little Pizzeria that was open…since we were so hungry we though lets go. We ordered a pepperoni pizza with red peppers and Tabasco sauce on it. It was so good! The customer service here is NOTHING like the service in America. First of all when you walk in a restaurant you seat yourself, we learned this after walking in many restaurants where everyone stared at us while we stood in the doorway. Secondly they are just not happy you are in their restaurant. Thirdly, if you have a question just don’t ask because they do not want to answer your questions and sometimes they will just walk away to avoid your question. So we are excited to get back to American and have some GOOD service. Back to the Pizzeria place, there was one young girl serving the whole place, but the best part was she had her little baby on her hip while she was taking orders and giving placemats. For Chris and I this was bizarre, but this is just their way of life! Last night we ate at this amazing place. We had bruchetta as an appetizer, and 2 pasta dishes for our main course. This was by far the best meal we have had… we did not want it to end. It was so good we took a picture of it. Bucca di Beppo needs to step up their game to keep up with this! There is no such thing as the South Beach diet over here. It has been a fun experience, we have spent a bunch of time laughing at ourselves because we just have no clue how they do life over here!!!! ☺
Yesterday (Saturday) we spend the whole day relaxing. It was sunny blue skies and warm (we are not sure how warm because everything is in Celsius). We spent most of the day lying at the beach, and then went back to our frigid hotel room for a 2-hour nap. We pretty much did nothing all day, it was Fabulous.
We think this place we stayed is the vacation spot for Italians because there were not hardly any tourists, and everyone had their dogs with them. Their dogs were with them constantly, even when they eat dinner. Their dog just lays on the floor next to their table or under, it was so crazy, but cool. Chris and I have been missing our little Jazzie, especially after being around the hundreds of dogs Friday and Saturday! She would have loved this place, dogs without leashes walking next to their owner, and dogs playing on the beach, it was a doggy dream world.
I forgot to mention Chris and I are in a heated battle of Rummy (this is a card game). We play this at night before we go to bed for hours or on the train. The current score is Lyndsey 4 wins and Chris 0. I guess I finally found something I can beat Chris at. If you want to beat Chris at something try Rummy! Stay tuned another game will occur this evening…will Chris finally beat his undefeated opponent?
Now we are back in Florence (the free WIFI spot) and getting ready to take a train to Venice. We are staying in Venice for one night, I think. You know us our plans change by the minute.
This trip has opened our eyes even more to the greatness of God. All this He created by the sound of his voice that is incredible. We are so thankful to be called His Children. Chris and I have been reading and discussing the Great Commission, when Jesus told us to GO and make disciples…there is a whole country that is in desperate need of the gospel. It breaks our heart that the places originally created to be a place of worship are now places of museums.
We are on to our next adventure, Venice, hopefully we can find Internet. If you don’t hear from us don’t be alarmed.
Thanks for being a part of this journey, it has been fun!
Much love,
Chris & Lynz
Our original plan for Thursday was to take a train to Venice. We got to the train station and went to our platform (where you catch the train). We waited and waited and waited. Finally we ask someone where our train was, and they informed us that Thursday was a holiday and many trains did not run. It was All Saint’s Day, who knew!? So we quickly decided to go to another town called, Montorosso. This is the town we described earlier as the town on the beach, but couldn’t remember the name. We hopped on the next train there, and that is where we landed Thursday early evening.
This began our search of a hotel/hostel…We began asking around and quickly learned this place was going to cost us a pretty penny. We found this place called the hotel Souvenir. We tried to ask the lady at the front desk how much it would be to stay there…she did not understand our English and we did not understand her Italian. We got out our handy English to Italian handbook and tried our best to communicate with her. She just was not wanting to listen to us…she just kept putting all these blankets on a bed in one of the room (she took us to go look at a room at this point). We were all frustrated and Chris and I left to try and find another hotel. Shortly after continuing the search we learned Hotel Souvenir would be our best bet. We trucked back there and tried again to ask about a room, this time there was a man at the desk. He did not understand us any better. Then in walked the blanket lady…and they began to go at it. For whatever reason they were not happy with something, we think it might of had to do with us. After watching them argue for about 5 minutes, she took us back to the room with all the blankets on the bed. We finally understood the room we were staying in for 3 nights did not have ANY HEAT, the reason for all the blankets. She showed us the bathroom, with the constant open window with no light. This became home for the next 3 nights ☺
FRIDAY we woke up freezing…and began our day in beautiful Montorosso. I am never going to be able to describe how amazingly breathtaking this place is. It is unlike anything I have ever seen before. Chris and I hiked up this mountain to another city which was about 1 ½ hours away. We were sweating like mad, but the views from way up high were priceless. Now the thing about this hike was that you hike at your own risk. There are many paths that are extremely narrow with no railing. If you lost your footing you were a goner…there was nothing to stop you except for a bunch of rocks below and the Sea. YIKES! Oh yeah…There were signs that had a high heel with an “X” through it along with some other obvious what not to wear while hiking. Now high heels and hiking who would ever try that? I know there are many things you can do in heels but hiking I am not sure I would try. Sure enough, we came up on this couple and she was wearing her little high heels hiking up this mountain. Now she was not moving to fast, but she sure was doing it! I was shocked out of my mind, I mean I lost my footing many times and I had on my running shoes. Boy she was a trooper! We spent some time in the other town, at lunch and walked around, and then hiked back to our town. While we were on our way back to our town Chris and I were discussing if there were wild animals up here. I was trying to convince myself there weren’t because we had nothing to fight them off with. Out of nowhere we hear this deep GRRRRRR…my heart sunk then stopped. I though “Ohh no this is how I am going to die, I am going to get ate by this wild animal, GREAT!” Chris started laughing then a few other people did and I looked up and this dad was hiding from his kids and was growling to scare them. Instead he freaked me out. After I regrouped from thinking I was dieing I joined everyone else in laughing. His growl sounded so real.
We were so hungry for dinner once we got back and showered, but we learned that Italians do not eat dinner at the same time we do. Their restaurants actually close between lunch (1:30) until dinner (6:30). We tried to ask a few people that work at the restaurants, but again they did not understand us and we did not understand them. We found this little Pizzeria that was open…since we were so hungry we though lets go. We ordered a pepperoni pizza with red peppers and Tabasco sauce on it. It was so good! The customer service here is NOTHING like the service in America. First of all when you walk in a restaurant you seat yourself, we learned this after walking in many restaurants where everyone stared at us while we stood in the doorway. Secondly they are just not happy you are in their restaurant. Thirdly, if you have a question just don’t ask because they do not want to answer your questions and sometimes they will just walk away to avoid your question. So we are excited to get back to American and have some GOOD service. Back to the Pizzeria place, there was one young girl serving the whole place, but the best part was she had her little baby on her hip while she was taking orders and giving placemats. For Chris and I this was bizarre, but this is just their way of life! Last night we ate at this amazing place. We had bruchetta as an appetizer, and 2 pasta dishes for our main course. This was by far the best meal we have had… we did not want it to end. It was so good we took a picture of it. Bucca di Beppo needs to step up their game to keep up with this! There is no such thing as the South Beach diet over here. It has been a fun experience, we have spent a bunch of time laughing at ourselves because we just have no clue how they do life over here!!!! ☺
Yesterday (Saturday) we spend the whole day relaxing. It was sunny blue skies and warm (we are not sure how warm because everything is in Celsius). We spent most of the day lying at the beach, and then went back to our frigid hotel room for a 2-hour nap. We pretty much did nothing all day, it was Fabulous.
We think this place we stayed is the vacation spot for Italians because there were not hardly any tourists, and everyone had their dogs with them. Their dogs were with them constantly, even when they eat dinner. Their dog just lays on the floor next to their table or under, it was so crazy, but cool. Chris and I have been missing our little Jazzie, especially after being around the hundreds of dogs Friday and Saturday! She would have loved this place, dogs without leashes walking next to their owner, and dogs playing on the beach, it was a doggy dream world.
I forgot to mention Chris and I are in a heated battle of Rummy (this is a card game). We play this at night before we go to bed for hours or on the train. The current score is Lyndsey 4 wins and Chris 0. I guess I finally found something I can beat Chris at. If you want to beat Chris at something try Rummy! Stay tuned another game will occur this evening…will Chris finally beat his undefeated opponent?
Now we are back in Florence (the free WIFI spot) and getting ready to take a train to Venice. We are staying in Venice for one night, I think. You know us our plans change by the minute.
This trip has opened our eyes even more to the greatness of God. All this He created by the sound of his voice that is incredible. We are so thankful to be called His Children. Chris and I have been reading and discussing the Great Commission, when Jesus told us to GO and make disciples…there is a whole country that is in desperate need of the gospel. It breaks our heart that the places originally created to be a place of worship are now places of museums.
We are on to our next adventure, Venice, hopefully we can find Internet. If you don’t hear from us don’t be alarmed.
Thanks for being a part of this journey, it has been fun!
Much love,
Chris & Lynz
Friday, November 2, 2007
We finally arrived in Montorosso yesterday late evening. So began our journey of finding a hotel. Which usually is easy and a large selection. As we begin asking different hotels we find out this town is very expensive. so to find a hotel for 50 Euros a night would be good..YIKES. so we settle for this place...Okay let me explain. The man and woman were not happy about something so a huge argument took place while we were trying to check in. They worked there. Finally she showed us our room, which has no heat. There is a window that is wide open and we are not sure if it will close. We are trying to settle in, I go to wash my face and there is no hot water...then the cold water comes out orange. So I head to the shower to try to wash my face in there...and the window in there just does not shut. I am not sure why but it just doesnt. Ohhh.yeah the best part there is no light in the bathroom so if you have to go to the bathroom at night you have to do it in the dark. We are grateful to have a place to stay through.
This brings us to our day today...we hiked..and let me repeat hiked up this moutain to another town nearby. Ohh my the views were breathtaking...I just can not begin to describe. I guess I should mention this town is along the coast...so we hiked up the side of this mountain along the coast. The water here is clear blue..the pictures we took today look like postcards. We are definately sore from all the hiking we did today, but it was totally worth it.
Well that is all I have time to post because the Internet place is closing.
Oh..yeah something is really starting to smell in our room and we just can not figure out what it is...I hope it is not us..AHHH!!
We will not be able to write tomorrow,but we will right the next day.
Love ya all
Chris and Lyndsey
This brings us to our day today...we hiked..and let me repeat hiked up this moutain to another town nearby. Ohh my the views were breathtaking...I just can not begin to describe. I guess I should mention this town is along the coast...so we hiked up the side of this mountain along the coast. The water here is clear blue..the pictures we took today look like postcards. We are definately sore from all the hiking we did today, but it was totally worth it.
Well that is all I have time to post because the Internet place is closing.
Oh..yeah something is really starting to smell in our room and we just can not figure out what it is...I hope it is not us..AHHH!!
We will not be able to write tomorrow,but we will right the next day.
Love ya all
Chris and Lyndsey
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Rush...Rush...Rush
Hey Ya'll,
This one is going to be short, because we just arrived back in Florence from Assisi. Assisi was beautiful, it was probably our favorite stop so far. We stayed in a beautiful farm house with beautiful people last night. When we arrived, we talked the guy down, like 20 Euro, so that was cool. But he was a nice grandpa sort of man...in fact he was trying to communicate something about you are my brother, so I treat you well....very genuine, very nice, but we weren't exactly understanding what he was saying. Then we hiked up the mountain (and I mean a hike)...and went to the St Francis Cathedral...it was beautiful, but nothing over the top which I loved, because that was Francis' life, beautiful in poverty. From the Cathedral the view of God's creation was AMAZING. We took several pictures that we will post on facebook (or you can see them when we get back). When we got up there we read about the life of St. Francis and it was amazing. His key phrase was treat everyone you meet as a brother. All the sudden it hit us that this is what the old gentleman was referring to. He was treating us like a brother, like St. Francis. THAT MEANT SO MUCH TO US! St. Francis also were a "T" around his neck...it stands for the last letter in the Hebrew Alphabet which was used in the Old Testament as a prophetic sign of Jesus' death on the cross on our behalf for the Salvation of the World. Intriguing. I bought one to wear around my neck as a reminder of my Salvation through Jesus. This city was just a deeply spiritual experience for us...beautiful!
Alright, that's about all that I have time for, because we have to "run" (literally) to the train station to catch our train to Venice.
Hopefully, we'll find internet there and be able to write you all.
We love you guys, pray that God continues to reveal Himself more and more to us, as we will pray the same for you. Look for Him today in the simplicity of life.
Much Love,
Chris and Lynz
This one is going to be short, because we just arrived back in Florence from Assisi. Assisi was beautiful, it was probably our favorite stop so far. We stayed in a beautiful farm house with beautiful people last night. When we arrived, we talked the guy down, like 20 Euro, so that was cool. But he was a nice grandpa sort of man...in fact he was trying to communicate something about you are my brother, so I treat you well....very genuine, very nice, but we weren't exactly understanding what he was saying. Then we hiked up the mountain (and I mean a hike)...and went to the St Francis Cathedral...it was beautiful, but nothing over the top which I loved, because that was Francis' life, beautiful in poverty. From the Cathedral the view of God's creation was AMAZING. We took several pictures that we will post on facebook (or you can see them when we get back). When we got up there we read about the life of St. Francis and it was amazing. His key phrase was treat everyone you meet as a brother. All the sudden it hit us that this is what the old gentleman was referring to. He was treating us like a brother, like St. Francis. THAT MEANT SO MUCH TO US! St. Francis also were a "T" around his neck...it stands for the last letter in the Hebrew Alphabet which was used in the Old Testament as a prophetic sign of Jesus' death on the cross on our behalf for the Salvation of the World. Intriguing. I bought one to wear around my neck as a reminder of my Salvation through Jesus. This city was just a deeply spiritual experience for us...beautiful!
Alright, that's about all that I have time for, because we have to "run" (literally) to the train station to catch our train to Venice.
Hopefully, we'll find internet there and be able to write you all.
We love you guys, pray that God continues to reveal Himself more and more to us, as we will pray the same for you. Look for Him today in the simplicity of life.
Much Love,
Chris and Lynz
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Food Expectations...Yikes!
Since we have free internet we thought we should do a "bonus" unexpected post. Let me tell you a little bit about last night. Chris and I came to our free internet spot, as usual. Since it was raining we could not just sit on the curb so we had to sit under this canopy outside a cafe'. We thought we should buy something since we were using their canopy. I was cold and ordered a hot chocolate. Because nothing warms you up like a hot glass of hot chocolate especially when it is raining. We are waiting for the guy to bring it out to us. Finally this beautiful cup of warmth arrives...Chris and I take one look at it and just start laughing. This was the real deal..they dont mess around here. You ask for Hot Chocolate and that is exactly what you get...a cut of melted chololate in a little cup. It was like being at the melting pot but with nothing to dip in the chocolate!
Another food experience happned this morning at breakfast. Chris and I put what appeared to be cereal in a small bowl, filled it with room temperature milk and enjoyed this free breakfast in our hostel. After the "cereal" was about gone, Chris said I am pretty sure this is supposed to be oatmeal! I looked closely and sure enough it was oatmeal we were eating cold. What do ya do!?
Alright we are getting ready to leave Florence in about 2 hours to head to Assisi. We have not decided if we are staying the night there or moving on. It just depends on how much we find to do there. Also since we are heading to a new city, it is quite possible we might not find internet. So dont be alarmed if you do not recieve and update tonight. If we find an internet cafe' we will hope on and type till our fingers fall off!!
Oh...yeah Happy Halloween. Chris and I are dressing up as American tourists today! We heard at the MPCC there were people dressed up as the Youth Staff. Alissa I am really excited to hear about how you dressed up like me, the question I have is who was Chris?
Love ya,
Chris and Lyndsey
Another food experience happned this morning at breakfast. Chris and I put what appeared to be cereal in a small bowl, filled it with room temperature milk and enjoyed this free breakfast in our hostel. After the "cereal" was about gone, Chris said I am pretty sure this is supposed to be oatmeal! I looked closely and sure enough it was oatmeal we were eating cold. What do ya do!?
Alright we are getting ready to leave Florence in about 2 hours to head to Assisi. We have not decided if we are staying the night there or moving on. It just depends on how much we find to do there. Also since we are heading to a new city, it is quite possible we might not find internet. So dont be alarmed if you do not recieve and update tonight. If we find an internet cafe' we will hope on and type till our fingers fall off!!
Oh...yeah Happy Halloween. Chris and I are dressing up as American tourists today! We heard at the MPCC there were people dressed up as the Youth Staff. Alissa I am really excited to hear about how you dressed up like me, the question I have is who was Chris?
Love ya,
Chris and Lyndsey
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Do You Need an Umbrella?
We decided, last night to stay in Florence another night because we didn’t get to see everything we wanted to see since we went to Pisa for most of yesterday! We found another hostel to stay in for tonight. This one has probably been the nicest and yet the cheapest. We actually have our own bathroom…what a luxury☺
Today it has been drizzling on and off all day. We cannot be too bummed because up until now we have had blue skies and sunny, when the forcast said every day we were supposed to have rain. We were not exactly sure as to how to go about this day, with the rain and all. So we decided to…eat! We made our way to the free WIFI place and grabbed a favorite pastry and sat under a canopy outside. We stayed there for awhile until I started to get a little chilly. Now here is the thing when you backpack, you don’t have much room to pack for every occasion. My wishful thinking was that I would not experience rain or cold. So neither Chris or I were prepared for this weather we had today. So what did we do…? We went back to our hostel put on another layer of clothes and just walked in the rain. (No umbrella, nothing although many people tried to sell us one.) This meant what we were wearing around today was about all the clothes we packed for 14 days. We are now warm and ready to experience what Florence has to offer.
We began as any American would…with a meal. We found this cafeteria place that appeared to have GREAT prices. We are so excited because this pasta and pizza looks amazing, unlike any other place we had seen before. We get in line and you attempt to tell the lady what you want. This is always fun when we do not speak an ounce of Italian. Well when we got to the cashier to pay for our inexpensive lunch, we quickly learned we really cant read Italian because we thought the prices were cheaper than they really were. With food on our trays we looked at each other a bit confused and…walked to a table. Our cheap meal turned out to be quite expensive, but very very tasty.
Our first place of destination was to the Basilica di Santa Croce. This is a gothic church where Michelangelo, Galieo & Machiavelli are buried in tombs. This church has so much cool history about it, but I will keep it brief. Families could be buried in this church, so as you walk around there are slats about 4feet by 3 feet as part of the floor. People are actually buried underneath. Some of them have tiny hooks so as members of the family died they lifted the top covering and put them in there. When we got to Michelangelo’s tomb…his tomb is not buried in the ground it sits on a fancy platform. The crazy part is he is not actually in there. Right next to his tomb display is one of those slats and that is where the rest of his family is buried. He did not want to be buried with the rest of his family, but against his will when he died he was put in with his family. Some time later they thought they should put him in a separate tomb but keep him in this church. So they opened up the covering and tried to figure out which one he was. (I would not enjoy to be that person). They could not figure out which one was him so they left him in there and made an empty tomb for him. In the tomb is where most people think Michelangelo is buried and not in the ground with his family, because they didn’t have a tour guide like we did!!! I also got a picture of Chris with this huge table because that is where they laid Michelangelo’s body when he died so people could mourn his loss and bring flowers..etc. That is sooo stinkin crazy!
We were finished looking around the church and there is this beautiful garden area we wanted to take pictures of. I was taking pictures in Chris’ direction not really paying attention to what he was doing. He on the other hand was very aware that I was taking pictures in his directions so he decided to strike a pose. He was leaning on his forarms gazing out into the beautiful garden, just awaiting for me to snap a picture of him. So I did…then he tried to act like he didn’t do it on purpose…but we all know he was posing. We were cracking up laughing!!!!
We eventually left Santa Croce and went to the Galleria dell’ Accademia this is where Michelangelo’s most famous work is, David. As Chris and I were walking there, we were anticipating an elaborate museum big intersection and all the works. As we are walking, after we get our daily Gelato on a cone, we begin down this side alley street. We thought well it must be past here…ohh no. The museum was definitely and little entrance into a plain building complex. We would have walked right past it if it was not for the line of people. We get inside and we are anxiously making our way to the David. And we finally arrive the moment we have been waiting for. Ohhh boy this thing is ginormous. It was absolutely breathtaking, you can see David’s sling with some stones in his hand. WOW! We were not sure if you could take pictures, once we saw a few others we decided it would be fine. We though we will turn our flash off to be curtious and help keep this sculpture preserved. As we are taking pictures this lady comes up to us and sternly tells us “pictures are forbidden” AH…oppps. So we didn’t take anymore, but we do have a few cool ones of David.
That is about the extent of our day…Chris took a nap (big surprise huh?) I looked at all our pictures and now we are off to eat some more Carbs. What will it be like to have to eat vegetables again?
Tomorrow we are taking an early train to Assisi. Assisi is the little quaint village in the mountains where St Francis of Assisi was born, did ministry, had encounters with Christ, died and is buried there. We'll get to see his tomb and his church. Chris is really really excited as he really has a lot of respect for St. Francis. The train ride is always an experience! We are really excited about Assisi, although we are not sure where we are staying once we get there. But that is part of the adventure, and boy has this been a great adventure!
Love you guys!
Today it has been drizzling on and off all day. We cannot be too bummed because up until now we have had blue skies and sunny, when the forcast said every day we were supposed to have rain. We were not exactly sure as to how to go about this day, with the rain and all. So we decided to…eat! We made our way to the free WIFI place and grabbed a favorite pastry and sat under a canopy outside. We stayed there for awhile until I started to get a little chilly. Now here is the thing when you backpack, you don’t have much room to pack for every occasion. My wishful thinking was that I would not experience rain or cold. So neither Chris or I were prepared for this weather we had today. So what did we do…? We went back to our hostel put on another layer of clothes and just walked in the rain. (No umbrella, nothing although many people tried to sell us one.) This meant what we were wearing around today was about all the clothes we packed for 14 days. We are now warm and ready to experience what Florence has to offer.
We began as any American would…with a meal. We found this cafeteria place that appeared to have GREAT prices. We are so excited because this pasta and pizza looks amazing, unlike any other place we had seen before. We get in line and you attempt to tell the lady what you want. This is always fun when we do not speak an ounce of Italian. Well when we got to the cashier to pay for our inexpensive lunch, we quickly learned we really cant read Italian because we thought the prices were cheaper than they really were. With food on our trays we looked at each other a bit confused and…walked to a table. Our cheap meal turned out to be quite expensive, but very very tasty.
Our first place of destination was to the Basilica di Santa Croce. This is a gothic church where Michelangelo, Galieo & Machiavelli are buried in tombs. This church has so much cool history about it, but I will keep it brief. Families could be buried in this church, so as you walk around there are slats about 4feet by 3 feet as part of the floor. People are actually buried underneath. Some of them have tiny hooks so as members of the family died they lifted the top covering and put them in there. When we got to Michelangelo’s tomb…his tomb is not buried in the ground it sits on a fancy platform. The crazy part is he is not actually in there. Right next to his tomb display is one of those slats and that is where the rest of his family is buried. He did not want to be buried with the rest of his family, but against his will when he died he was put in with his family. Some time later they thought they should put him in a separate tomb but keep him in this church. So they opened up the covering and tried to figure out which one he was. (I would not enjoy to be that person). They could not figure out which one was him so they left him in there and made an empty tomb for him. In the tomb is where most people think Michelangelo is buried and not in the ground with his family, because they didn’t have a tour guide like we did!!! I also got a picture of Chris with this huge table because that is where they laid Michelangelo’s body when he died so people could mourn his loss and bring flowers..etc. That is sooo stinkin crazy!
We were finished looking around the church and there is this beautiful garden area we wanted to take pictures of. I was taking pictures in Chris’ direction not really paying attention to what he was doing. He on the other hand was very aware that I was taking pictures in his directions so he decided to strike a pose. He was leaning on his forarms gazing out into the beautiful garden, just awaiting for me to snap a picture of him. So I did…then he tried to act like he didn’t do it on purpose…but we all know he was posing. We were cracking up laughing!!!!
We eventually left Santa Croce and went to the Galleria dell’ Accademia this is where Michelangelo’s most famous work is, David. As Chris and I were walking there, we were anticipating an elaborate museum big intersection and all the works. As we are walking, after we get our daily Gelato on a cone, we begin down this side alley street. We thought well it must be past here…ohh no. The museum was definitely and little entrance into a plain building complex. We would have walked right past it if it was not for the line of people. We get inside and we are anxiously making our way to the David. And we finally arrive the moment we have been waiting for. Ohhh boy this thing is ginormous. It was absolutely breathtaking, you can see David’s sling with some stones in his hand. WOW! We were not sure if you could take pictures, once we saw a few others we decided it would be fine. We though we will turn our flash off to be curtious and help keep this sculpture preserved. As we are taking pictures this lady comes up to us and sternly tells us “pictures are forbidden” AH…oppps. So we didn’t take anymore, but we do have a few cool ones of David.
That is about the extent of our day…Chris took a nap (big surprise huh?) I looked at all our pictures and now we are off to eat some more Carbs. What will it be like to have to eat vegetables again?
Tomorrow we are taking an early train to Assisi. Assisi is the little quaint village in the mountains where St Francis of Assisi was born, did ministry, had encounters with Christ, died and is buried there. We'll get to see his tomb and his church. Chris is really really excited as he really has a lot of respect for St. Francis. The train ride is always an experience! We are really excited about Assisi, although we are not sure where we are staying once we get there. But that is part of the adventure, and boy has this been a great adventure!
Love you guys!
Monday, October 29, 2007
Deaf Elephants...
No longer sleepless in Italy...it is a beautiful thing. Last night was officially the first night we did not wake up in the middle of the night. I was so proud of Chris for staying asleep because that meant I got to sleep! Before I continue, I realize Chris has left out some major details about the culture in Italy. This info is important to fully understand what life is like here. Okay first people do not drive cars here (news to me) they drive mopeds and ride bicycles (bicycles at night with a headlight is quite humorus!) So you have to keep looking forward because you could get ran over by a bicyclist flying down a hill that is not going to move for you. Second thing if people do drive a car here they absolutely love to use their horn. There is a constant honking sound in the distance, it is quite funny. I would think they have to replace their horn every few weeks or so. Last but certainly not least...most people here walk around with a trail of smoke following them. Yes that is cigarette smoke, I have never seen anything like it, I am sure to have a few cigarette burns by the end of this trip. Okay on to the good stuff...
We woke up today full of enerergy and ready to experience our first train ride to another city. We trucked to the train station around 7am. We were early, so we were strolling around, trying to avoid the clouds of smoke, when we see our train. We are feeling pretty good, all is going smooth. We hop on our train, never looking closely at our train ticket. We see this cozy area to sit in when we hear a lady say she thinks we are in her seats. Who knew there we assigned seating on the train. We then look at our tickets to discover we are supposed to be on cart #154 and currently we are on like 170something. We look at our watch and realized if we hop off this train we just might not make it back on b/c this thing is pulling away any second. So we did what anyone else would do....we ran for it. Yes backpacks and all (thanks Chunk and Matt)...sprinted down what seemed like a mile to make it on just as the doors closed. SHEEWWW!
So we made it to Florence...found our hostel got checked in and dropped off our backpacks then decided we wanted to go to Pisa today. So back to the train station we go. We find our train and sit down. The next thing we know there is this kid passing out calendars. He gave one to Chris and I briefly looked at it...I will repeat briefly. The only part of the back I read was "I am deaf" I knew the front had a picture of an elephant (the calendar part). So I quickly put 2 and 2 together. Awee this poor elephant is deaf, and he is trying to raise money to support these animals. Once I said this outloud to Chris I realized that was not right. He busted a gut laughing and just kept repeating "Ohh I wish Matt Reagan was here!" So apparently the elephant was not deaf, but the boy was...I dont know. All I know is Sarah Reagan would have agreed with me right!?
We arrive in Pisa. A quaint town. We walked to the leaning tower of Pisa...soo stinkin cool. It is so funny to see a tall building leaning while all the other ones around are straight. Chris and I had a ton of fun here at the tower taking funny pictures. About 30 pictures later we walked over to this grassy area and here Chris decided to take a mini photo shoot of me in this grassy area. Okay I love photo shoots and all, but right now I have greasy hair & the same clothes I have been in all week....not ready for a photo shoot. But we laughed about it later! The wall that used to be around Pisa is still partially there. The wall was very ancient looking...many tall archs...and holes. There was not that much more to see here except a few cathedral that cost euros and we are running out fast! We figured we saw St. Peters Cathedral yesterday...were good!
We hike back to the train station and make our way back to Florence. We headed to our hostel to drop some things off and then head to dinner. When we got to our hostel there were like 8 girls staying in the other room there. We started chatting with them. A few of them were from Cali so we chatted with them about our upcoming adventure. They told us about this cool place to go...they told us the name, but all we remember is beaches! We are going to go there but we are not sure when. We chatted with them for about 45 mintues or so and then headed to dinner. Chris always asks me what I am in the mood for dinner...I never really know how to respond to that questions because they only have pasta, pizza and bread here. So...we ended up at a buffet imagine that. There was this place that had a happy hour buffet and a drink were only 6 euros. WOW! We marched right in there and tried to find the catch, but thankfully there was not one. We ate a little pasta..a little bit of pizza..peanuts...this mix of something I am not really sure what is was but we see people eating it before a meal, sandwiches (they only contained tomatoes and mozarella cheese...I think one had a meat)...and the best part the dessert. They have these cresents that are amazing...they taste like a cresent with icing and a little hint of butter...some are filled with vanilla others with jam. Ohh so good!
So that brings you up to now. Currently Chris and I are sitting well...I am not sure where. Dont worry mom it is not a dark alley there are some street lights! We are typing....breathing in the fresh smell of smoke...and listening to the sounds of mopeds and foreign languages...its GREAT!! No really it is so cool. Yes we did find WIFI which means we have pictures posted on facebook. If you are not sure what facebook is ask someone...the younger crowd will know!
Ohh...Chris is taking after my showering technique (which is about every other day). He has not showered since Saturday morning. I am so proud!!! Like husband like wife.
We are not sure if we are staying in Florence tomorrow night or heading somewhere else. We will let you know. We love you all so much and we are very excited to come back and share pictures and stories with you. We absolutely love reading your comments, keep them coming!
Much love
Chris and Lynz :)
We woke up today full of enerergy and ready to experience our first train ride to another city. We trucked to the train station around 7am. We were early, so we were strolling around, trying to avoid the clouds of smoke, when we see our train. We are feeling pretty good, all is going smooth. We hop on our train, never looking closely at our train ticket. We see this cozy area to sit in when we hear a lady say she thinks we are in her seats. Who knew there we assigned seating on the train. We then look at our tickets to discover we are supposed to be on cart #154 and currently we are on like 170something. We look at our watch and realized if we hop off this train we just might not make it back on b/c this thing is pulling away any second. So we did what anyone else would do....we ran for it. Yes backpacks and all (thanks Chunk and Matt)...sprinted down what seemed like a mile to make it on just as the doors closed. SHEEWWW!
So we made it to Florence...found our hostel got checked in and dropped off our backpacks then decided we wanted to go to Pisa today. So back to the train station we go. We find our train and sit down. The next thing we know there is this kid passing out calendars. He gave one to Chris and I briefly looked at it...I will repeat briefly. The only part of the back I read was "I am deaf" I knew the front had a picture of an elephant (the calendar part). So I quickly put 2 and 2 together. Awee this poor elephant is deaf, and he is trying to raise money to support these animals. Once I said this outloud to Chris I realized that was not right. He busted a gut laughing and just kept repeating "Ohh I wish Matt Reagan was here!" So apparently the elephant was not deaf, but the boy was...I dont know. All I know is Sarah Reagan would have agreed with me right!?
We arrive in Pisa. A quaint town. We walked to the leaning tower of Pisa...soo stinkin cool. It is so funny to see a tall building leaning while all the other ones around are straight. Chris and I had a ton of fun here at the tower taking funny pictures. About 30 pictures later we walked over to this grassy area and here Chris decided to take a mini photo shoot of me in this grassy area. Okay I love photo shoots and all, but right now I have greasy hair & the same clothes I have been in all week....not ready for a photo shoot. But we laughed about it later! The wall that used to be around Pisa is still partially there. The wall was very ancient looking...many tall archs...and holes. There was not that much more to see here except a few cathedral that cost euros and we are running out fast! We figured we saw St. Peters Cathedral yesterday...were good!
We hike back to the train station and make our way back to Florence. We headed to our hostel to drop some things off and then head to dinner. When we got to our hostel there were like 8 girls staying in the other room there. We started chatting with them. A few of them were from Cali so we chatted with them about our upcoming adventure. They told us about this cool place to go...they told us the name, but all we remember is beaches! We are going to go there but we are not sure when. We chatted with them for about 45 mintues or so and then headed to dinner. Chris always asks me what I am in the mood for dinner...I never really know how to respond to that questions because they only have pasta, pizza and bread here. So...we ended up at a buffet imagine that. There was this place that had a happy hour buffet and a drink were only 6 euros. WOW! We marched right in there and tried to find the catch, but thankfully there was not one. We ate a little pasta..a little bit of pizza..peanuts...this mix of something I am not really sure what is was but we see people eating it before a meal, sandwiches (they only contained tomatoes and mozarella cheese...I think one had a meat)...and the best part the dessert. They have these cresents that are amazing...they taste like a cresent with icing and a little hint of butter...some are filled with vanilla others with jam. Ohh so good!
So that brings you up to now. Currently Chris and I are sitting well...I am not sure where. Dont worry mom it is not a dark alley there are some street lights! We are typing....breathing in the fresh smell of smoke...and listening to the sounds of mopeds and foreign languages...its GREAT!! No really it is so cool. Yes we did find WIFI which means we have pictures posted on facebook. If you are not sure what facebook is ask someone...the younger crowd will know!
Ohh...Chris is taking after my showering technique (which is about every other day). He has not showered since Saturday morning. I am so proud!!! Like husband like wife.
We are not sure if we are staying in Florence tomorrow night or heading somewhere else. We will let you know. We love you all so much and we are very excited to come back and share pictures and stories with you. We absolutely love reading your comments, keep them coming!
Much love
Chris and Lynz :)
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Abs at 1am & our day with the Pope
WOW! Thank you guys so much for your comments, its so encouraging to log on over here and see you guys writing us!! (Amy & Greg, you are going to have to teach pa how to leave a comment for us:)
Well, another sleepless night in Rome! We went to bed wore out at 10pm, I was thinking I would be able to sleep through the night because I was so tired. I woke up completely refreshed and ready to go, got up looked at the clock and it was 1am!! DANG IT!! All I could think to do was do an ab workout to try and work off all of the incredible Italian food weve been eating. That woke Lynz up and she was dying laughing so we watched another church planting video, then she went back to sleep. I then spent the next 3 hours reading a book called, "Simple Church", great read if you are interested! I finally fell back to sleep around 530am, I slept great for another couple of hours, then woke up to get our day going.
Our day started with a 4 or 5 mile hike across Rome to the Vatican. Holy Cow! We saw some amazing sights. The Vatican Museum was among one of the sights, which contained the Sistine Chapel, which Michaelangalo spent a good chunk of his life painting...breathtaking! We then made our way over to St Peters Square, which was really cool to see in person. We went inside St. Peters Cathedral and words can not even begin to describe what we saw. It was a mix of awe because of the beauty and awe because, I feel like they put so much emphasis on these men...it kind of made me uncomfortable. They literally had bodies on display of former popes. We also went down into the basement to see the tombs of some former popes, including Pope John Paul II. There were people crying and praying at his tomb...yikes :)
Anyway, we also saw the place where Peter is buried. All of this to say it was quite an amazing day...and the architecture and the food never get old either. We did miss the Pope though, but it just so happens that we will be back in Rome the day before we leave and the Pope will be addressing the crowd at St. Peters Square, so we will get to see him then. We got great pictures today, we just cant find wireless to upload them, but if we do find wireless we will get them uploaded.
We love you guys, thanks for following our adventure and dont forget to leave comments, we love that!! ;)
Sorry for rambling, Im hungry, so we better go eat now and then across to the train station to make sure we know when our train is leaving Rome for Florence tomorrow. Lynz just got our hostel booked online for tomorrow night in Florence.
Im sure you will have more run on sentances and bad grammer to read tomorrow, not to mention I still dont know how to use this european keyboard. Lucky for you, Lynz told me she is writing tomorrow.
Love you guys!
Sleepless in Rome
Well, another sleepless night in Rome! We went to bed wore out at 10pm, I was thinking I would be able to sleep through the night because I was so tired. I woke up completely refreshed and ready to go, got up looked at the clock and it was 1am!! DANG IT!! All I could think to do was do an ab workout to try and work off all of the incredible Italian food weve been eating. That woke Lynz up and she was dying laughing so we watched another church planting video, then she went back to sleep. I then spent the next 3 hours reading a book called, "Simple Church", great read if you are interested! I finally fell back to sleep around 530am, I slept great for another couple of hours, then woke up to get our day going.
Our day started with a 4 or 5 mile hike across Rome to the Vatican. Holy Cow! We saw some amazing sights. The Vatican Museum was among one of the sights, which contained the Sistine Chapel, which Michaelangalo spent a good chunk of his life painting...breathtaking! We then made our way over to St Peters Square, which was really cool to see in person. We went inside St. Peters Cathedral and words can not even begin to describe what we saw. It was a mix of awe because of the beauty and awe because, I feel like they put so much emphasis on these men...it kind of made me uncomfortable. They literally had bodies on display of former popes. We also went down into the basement to see the tombs of some former popes, including Pope John Paul II. There were people crying and praying at his tomb...yikes :)
Anyway, we also saw the place where Peter is buried. All of this to say it was quite an amazing day...and the architecture and the food never get old either. We did miss the Pope though, but it just so happens that we will be back in Rome the day before we leave and the Pope will be addressing the crowd at St. Peters Square, so we will get to see him then. We got great pictures today, we just cant find wireless to upload them, but if we do find wireless we will get them uploaded.
We love you guys, thanks for following our adventure and dont forget to leave comments, we love that!! ;)
Sorry for rambling, Im hungry, so we better go eat now and then across to the train station to make sure we know when our train is leaving Rome for Florence tomorrow. Lynz just got our hostel booked online for tomorrow night in Florence.
Im sure you will have more run on sentances and bad grammer to read tomorrow, not to mention I still dont know how to use this european keyboard. Lucky for you, Lynz told me she is writing tomorrow.
Love you guys!
Sleepless in Rome
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Hi Friends!!!
We finally got to the internet...we cant find wireless, so we are in a little internet station. The good news is I will be able to update our trip, the bad news is we wont be able to upload pictures yet.
HORRIBLE NIGHT, INCREDIBLE DAY!!
The trip started out a little rough. When we arrived in Boston to catch our connecting flight to Paris, before heading on to Rome, we found out that there was a major strike in Paris with Air France and our flight had been cancelled. No worries though, they put us on a flight that went through Dublin, Ireland (so that was kind of cool). We finally arrived in Rome yesterday around 1130am (Rome time) which is 530am Indy time. We were stinkin tired...we decided we had to take a nap before going out and exploring. After our nap, we walked around the city and explored. We ate dinner at a nice little outdoor restraunt, we shared a Pizza. Later that evening we grabbed some Ice Cream, called gelato. We crashed at 730pm because we were so tired. I (chris) woke up feeling refreshed and ready to go, so I woke Lyndsey up and said lets go. She asked me what time it was, so I grabbed her watch and said 725am. I started to head towards the shower, when she looked at the watch and said "you have it upside down, its only 2:05 in the morning." Ok this would normally be a great thing, that I still have 5 hours left to sleep, but not last night...i was wide awake with no place to go, as was my bride. So we laid in bed and watched church planting training dvds for the next 4 hours.
This morning, we headed off to explore...this started an incredible day. We first visited the Collisium. It was amazing, words can not begin to describe how awesome a site this was. We saw Palantino Hill (where the Caesers (emporors) lived), the Circus Maximus, then we saw what so far has been the highlight of our trip. We visited and went down into the tiny dungeon (prison) where Peter and the apostle Paul where held. Its crazy to think that I stood and sat in the same tiny dungeon as these great men of faith. We most recently visited the Scarla Santa, which are said to be the stairs that Christ walked up to meet with Pilate and then walked down to be crucified. Constatine the Greats mom is said to have brought the stairs to Rome from Jerusalem in the early 300s. Facinating stuff!
Tomorrow is sure to bring some incredible memories as well as we head to St. Peters Square at the Vatican.
We love you all and cant wait to see you in a couple of weeks.
Please comment and let us know how you are doing.
Mom...how are you and Jazz getting along? :)
More updates to come, Lynz and I are going to grab some Pasta and Wine now!
Love Much
HORRIBLE NIGHT, INCREDIBLE DAY!!
The trip started out a little rough. When we arrived in Boston to catch our connecting flight to Paris, before heading on to Rome, we found out that there was a major strike in Paris with Air France and our flight had been cancelled. No worries though, they put us on a flight that went through Dublin, Ireland (so that was kind of cool). We finally arrived in Rome yesterday around 1130am (Rome time) which is 530am Indy time. We were stinkin tired...we decided we had to take a nap before going out and exploring. After our nap, we walked around the city and explored. We ate dinner at a nice little outdoor restraunt, we shared a Pizza. Later that evening we grabbed some Ice Cream, called gelato. We crashed at 730pm because we were so tired. I (chris) woke up feeling refreshed and ready to go, so I woke Lyndsey up and said lets go. She asked me what time it was, so I grabbed her watch and said 725am. I started to head towards the shower, when she looked at the watch and said "you have it upside down, its only 2:05 in the morning." Ok this would normally be a great thing, that I still have 5 hours left to sleep, but not last night...i was wide awake with no place to go, as was my bride. So we laid in bed and watched church planting training dvds for the next 4 hours.
This morning, we headed off to explore...this started an incredible day. We first visited the Collisium. It was amazing, words can not begin to describe how awesome a site this was. We saw Palantino Hill (where the Caesers (emporors) lived), the Circus Maximus, then we saw what so far has been the highlight of our trip. We visited and went down into the tiny dungeon (prison) where Peter and the apostle Paul where held. Its crazy to think that I stood and sat in the same tiny dungeon as these great men of faith. We most recently visited the Scarla Santa, which are said to be the stairs that Christ walked up to meet with Pilate and then walked down to be crucified. Constatine the Greats mom is said to have brought the stairs to Rome from Jerusalem in the early 300s. Facinating stuff!
Tomorrow is sure to bring some incredible memories as well as we head to St. Peters Square at the Vatican.
We love you all and cant wait to see you in a couple of weeks.
Please comment and let us know how you are doing.
Mom...how are you and Jazz getting along? :)
More updates to come, Lynz and I are going to grab some Pasta and Wine now!
Love Much
Monday, October 22, 2007
Coming Soon...
This Thursday, October 25, my beautiful bride, Lyndsey, and I will embark on one of the coolest adventures of our life. We will be leaving Indianapolis around 1pm enroute to Boston, from Boston we will be flying into Paris to catch our final connecting flight into Rome. Once we arrive we will be backpacking Italy for 2 full weeks, exploring God's amazing creation with just our backpacks and our EuroRail train passes. No reservations, no definite plan, just an idea of where we want to go and what we want to see. We're going to try to save as much money as possible by taking the train overnight to avoid the cost of lodging (thanks to Mike Lotz for that tip) and when we do stay in cities, we'll be staying in hostels (dorms) rather then hotels.
Our Possible Schedule:
Days 1-5 - Rome & the Vatican
Days 6-7 - Venice
Days 8-10 - Florence, Milan, Pisa
Days 10-11 - Naples & Pompei
Days 12-13 - Sicily
Day 14-15 - Rome
The great part is, we have the freedom to go where we want, when we want. So if we really like a city, we'll stay there a day or two longer and if we don't like a city, we'll head down the road. Hopefully we'll find a couple of really cool, coastal towns with great Italian food along our journey.
Our hope is to find wireless internet at least every other day, so that we can update this blog with pictures and stories. We are so excited to discover what God has in store for us on this trip and to share this adventure with all of our family and friends.
Our Possible Schedule:
Days 1-5 - Rome & the Vatican
Days 6-7 - Venice
Days 8-10 - Florence, Milan, Pisa
Days 10-11 - Naples & Pompei
Days 12-13 - Sicily
Day 14-15 - Rome
The great part is, we have the freedom to go where we want, when we want. So if we really like a city, we'll stay there a day or two longer and if we don't like a city, we'll head down the road. Hopefully we'll find a couple of really cool, coastal towns with great Italian food along our journey.
Our hope is to find wireless internet at least every other day, so that we can update this blog with pictures and stories. We are so excited to discover what God has in store for us on this trip and to share this adventure with all of our family and friends.
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