Our Day in Venice

Friday, August 15, we headed to Venice, 

about a two hour train ride from Milan. 

We arrived in Venice and immediately felt like we were in a different world! 

If you’re going to Venice you definitely need to stay on the actual island of Venice

 at least for one night, it’s totally worth it! 

We arrived, got checked-into our hotel and then went to exploring. 

Our plan for Venice was just to wander and explore! 

All the advice we had received before leaving was just to walk in the opposite direction of the tourists,

 so we did and it was wonderful! 

We found the coolest little shops! 

We stumbled on a little pen and ink store, and our inner calligraphers went nuts! 

We could have spent hours in that store, and it was only about 12ftx9ft. 

We each treated ourselves to a beautiful handmade glass pen! 

Oh they’re just stunning! 

Walking around we happened upon some other little shops,

 it’s best when you walk in to a store and see the owner making what they sell as they sit behind the counter. 

We made the famous stops as well as all the side streets, 

the Grande Canal,

 the Rialto Bridge 

and St. Mark’s Square. 

In Venice, just be flexible and go where the day takes you.

 We ended up going to a play called The Goldoni Experience, which is an adaptation of several of Goldoni's plays that offers a really unique look at 18th century Venice. 

But I will warn you about this one thing….

if you see a dish, especially pasta with the word “Nero” in the title…

BEWARE! 

It’s black pasta made with squid ink and looks like worms!

 I accidentally ordered this for dinner…

it tasted good, 

but when I would move it on my plate it looked like worms and freaked me out. 

So if you like squid ink and worms…

go for it…

or if you’re just more adventurous than me. 

We had planned to take the Vaperatto back to our hotel but the schedule was really confusing and the line extra long, 

so we just decided to walk. 

We just tried to stay as close to the Grande Canal as we could and eventually found our way back without getting too off course! 

All in all it was a lovely day in Venice! 

Our Day in Milan

 Anna and I both arrived in Milan on Thursday morning, August 14th,

 and found each other quickly and easily! 

We made our way to our hotel and that was also rather painless! 

After that we set out to make the most of our day in Milan.

 We had a delicious lunch before heading to the Duomo. 

Oh my goodness the Duomo…it’s absolutely STUNNING! 

You are just walking along the street and then you turn a corner and 

BAM there it is in all its splendor! 

It’s absolutely stunning!

 I highly recommend a visit if you’re ever in Milan!

 It’s free to get into the church, 

just make sure you’re dressed appropriately or they won’t let you in! 

The inside of the church was just as incredible as the outside! 

And we didn’t realize it until later but we had been looking at all these dead cardinals…

one had been there for over 500 years! 

Also, if you visit the Duomo you definitely need to go up to the terraces!

 You can climb all the way up and around the top of the building and the view is amazing, 

plus you get a closer look at some of the architecture! 

When you go there’s a ticket booth on the right side of the church, 

around the corner, 

go there FIRST and buy the ticket, 

I think its 7 euros to go by stairs and 10 euros by elevator. 

If you’re young and in good health, take the stairs, it’s good for you! 

But it’s important to buy the ticket first because when you go to get in line for the terraces 

(on the left side of the building, around the corner)

 you get to skip the long lines of people waiting to buy a ticket, 

we got to go straight in! 

Also, be mindful of your surroundings when you’re at the Duomo. 

There are lots of tourists here and it’s very crowded so it’s where pickpockets and such like to roam. And, if a man approaches you saying he’s going to give you a bracelet, 

just say no and walk away. 

We had a bit of an altercation because a man insisted on giving Anna a bracelet

 even though she repeatedly told him she wasn’t going to pay for it.

 He ended up getting mad and tying it on her wrist just to spite me, 

but hey she did get a free bracelet. 

After the Duomo we headed down Via Dante and visited the Sforzesco Castle grounds.

 Jet lag was hitting Anna pretty hard, and I was running on four hours of sleep so we just strolled around the park and sat and talked for a while, 

before grabbing pizza to go and eating it in our room. 

Approximately 48 Hours in Zurich

Well my trip to Switzerland was a swift one! 

I arrived Monday evening, August 11, and 

left Wednesday evening, August 13, 

so I really only had one full day there. 

But, it was a great full day in Zurich! 

Here’s a recap! 

I arrived Monday around 7:30 p.m.

 and was picked up by my friend Rahel and her sister Dominique, 

who I was staying with. 

It was cold and rainy outside and took us a while to get out of the airport,

 so we just grabbed pizza and went back to their apartment to hang out! 

It was really nice to just rest and spend some time with Rahel. 

The next day we got an early start, and met Rahel’s sister-in-law, Ashley,

 (who is from Alexandria, LA) 

and went to a mountain that overlooks Zurich, Uetliberg. 

We could climb up to the top of this tower and look out over the city…it was BEAUTIFUL! 

There was all of Zurich laid out in front of us on one side, 

the gorgeous lake and all the red-roofed buildings, 

and then you turn around and you see the snow-capped Swiss Alps! 

It was quite breathtaking! 

It was a lot of walking to get to that little mountain look-out, but it was well worth it! 

Next, we went back into town and walked around a bit. 

She showed me the main shopping street (she told me the name but I can’t remember). 

We stopped in at Sprüngli and tried a few delicious chocolates, 

and we got an assortment to indulge in later! 

We continued our walking tour of Zurich by going to the lakefront, 

the opera house, 

Gross Meunster church. 

Gross Meunster was really cool because it has two tall towers and you can walk to the top of one and get a great panorama of the city! 

The view was wonderful…however it required many more stairs…

and might I add that these were the most treacherous and frightening stairs I have ever seen! 

The old stone spiral stairwell was never meant to accommodate more than one person…

so shoving a bunch of tourists up there gets a little dicey.

 If you were going up and someone else was coming down there was trouble.

 It’s a spiral staircase, so the steps get infinitely smaller the closer to middle you go. 

So what you are forced to do if someone else wants to come down while you’re going up,

 is stop and squeeze your feet onto the tiny little step, 

and then wrap your arms around the center post, 

like you’re hugging it. 

It was quite awkward, and at any moment one tap from an extra large purse could be disastrous. 

But the view was incredible, one of those postcard views! 

After that, we continued our walk and saw Zwingli’s church 

(one of the major figures of the reformation)

 and more of the Old Town of Zurich.

 Next, we returned to the modern age and went to Coop City, 

which is a big store similar to a Target. 

As some of you may know, my luggage situation has been quite the ordeal this summer, 

and my rolling suitcase finally bit the dust upon arriving in Zurich. 

So I bought a new one!

 It’s not the style or design I wanted, 

but it does have FOUR wheels,

 and IT’S AMAZING! 

That afternoon we met up with Ashley (sister-in-law), Dominique (sister) and a friend of theirs for a drink at a really cool little outdoor bar/restaurant. 

Then we continued to walk around the city before meeting up with some more people for dinner. 

We went to dinner at, what I thought, was a really Swiss restaurant. 

I was completely lost on what to order, 

so Rahel and her boyfriend, Toby were in charge of selecting my dinner. 

It was pretty simple,

 sausage and potatoes,

 but it was delicious!!

 After that we went to a bar that overlooks the city to sample our chocolates in style! 

Wednesday we woke up to a rainy and chilly morning, 

but that was no problem,

 it just kept the rest of the tourists away! 

We took the train into Rapperswil, a village on the other side of the lake.

 It was really quaint and charming, with lots of old buildings and cobblestone streets. 

It was beautiful…even in the rain! 

Then we took a boat back to Zurich.

 It was so nice to sit inside the cozy cabin of the boat, 

drinking hot chocolate, talking and looking at the view. 

After that it was time to head back to the apartment and then make for the airport. 

I had no problems with checking in or security…especially with my new awesome luggage!

 My flight from Zurich to Frankfurt was delayed by about 30 minutes,

 and I only had an hour layover anyway so I ended up missing my flight to Milan. 

But it actually worked out REALLY WELL for me!

 I was originally planning to fly into Milan through Linate airport, arrive around 10 p.m. 

Anna was flying into Milan Malpensa airport around 8 a.m.

 So my plan was to spend the night in the airport and go meet her in the morning.

 But because I missed my flight I was then rebooked on a flight leaving at 7 a.m. and arriving around 8 a.m. in Milan Malpensa,

 AND I got a free night’s stay at a hotel in Frankfurt,

including a free dinner and breakfast!

 So all in all I think I came out with a plan much better than my own!!

 Praise the Lord! 

A Belated Week 8 & 9

Well I apologize for letting the blog go the last month or so.

Do forgive me! 

I have been writing out the blogs on my computer but not posting them, 

so starting today I'm going to be releasing some backlog! 

So get ready! 

This was written on August 11th, 

the day I left Nice, France,

and I'm chronicling my last two weeks in Nice. 

The last few weeks have FLOWN BY! 

Let’s see what’s been happening. 

The last week of July we had our exchange conference. 

It was AWESOME! I wasn’t sure what to expect, 

and to be honest I wasn’t really looking forward to it. 

The interns were in charge of the children’s program.

 So we were looking at spending approximately 3 to 5 hours every night 

with an unknown amount of 3 to 8 year olds. 

But it went well and was so much fun! 

Our first night we only had one kid with us, 

but the numbers just grew each day. 

We were a little overwhelmed trying to figure out how to entertain so many kids, 

especially not knowing how many there would be or how old they were.

 But The Lord was ever faithful and guided us well! 

We had such a good time! 

The kids were great!  

There were several kids who had never stayed in the nursery without one of their parents, 

but were able to stay an entire night, 

several even stayed multiple nights! 

And by the end of the week, each one could say John 8:12 from memory! 

(Props to Antonio Orozco for the killer hand motions!) 

It was my favorite thing we did this summer! 

Since we had the conference during the evenings we got to have a bit calmer mornings and afternoons. 

So most of those were spent preparing for the conference or at the beach. 

My last week was nice! 

We didn’t have any planned ministry events so we were able to sort of make our own ministry plans, 

like having lunch with all the ladies on the team, 

helping organize the budget for kids club into a nice and orderly spreadsheet, 

or a lovely coffee date were all on the agenda. 

Wednesday was our day off, 

so Joanna and I went into Nice to go to the market and do a bit of shopping. 

Then she and I went to the Renoir museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer. 

Oh it was absolutely lovely! 

I highly recommend visiting if you’re ever in the area! 

It is the home where Renoir spent the latter part of his life.

 It’s just a stunning atmosphere.

 You’re surrounded by these beautiful gardens and olive groves. 

You can’t hear the noise of the roads nearby or the airplanes overhead.

 It’s like being in a different time. 

Joanna and I from Renoir's balcony!

The view from Renoir's balcony overlooking the Mediterranean!

Saturday, August 9th, was quite the day. 

Since my birthday was on a busy and inconvenient day, 

we weren’t able to celebrate much. 

So Saturday was my birthday…continued. 

Saturday morning I opened an envelope with 3 options for the day,

 Option 1.) a visit the the Renoir museum, a cookout and fireworks, 

Option 2.) a trip to Saint Jean Cap Ferrat, with a visit to the Rothschild Villa, a Venetian festival, and fireworks, Option 3.) a trip to a sandy beach with my own plush chair, a delicious beachside meal and of course, fireworks. 

After much deliberation I decided on Option 2, 

and boy was that a good decision! 

The villa was absolutely stunning…for a winter home. 

JK it was AMAZING…and completely ridiculous.

 Everything was absolutely immaculate…including a room completely decorated in monkeys, 

numerous pieces of furniture once owned by Marie Antoinette,

 and a multiple rugs that once belonged to the king of France. 

The gardens were even more amazing! 

They were designed to look like the deck of a cruise ship…and they really do! 

 

We had a lovely dinner in Cap Ferrat, 

followed by the strangest festival I've ever been to. 

It was a Venetian festival complete with a parade and fireworks. 

The parade was. . .interesting to say the least. 

But the fireworks were INCREDIBLE! 

The perfect end to my birthday. 

The port at Saint Jean Cap Ferrat. 

 These were some of the members of the Venetian parade...it also included a band that marched (NOT a marching band), flag throwers, traditional Venetian costumes, and whatever the heck these people were!