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