Pompeii

Quite simply, one of the most amazing days of my life (both of us). The best preserved ruins of any ancient civilization of the world. I had a wrap for breakfast at an outdoor cafe. We entered the ruins at 8:30am and immediately we went to the stadium that seated 20,000 people and standing in the center of the arena with images of the movie Gladiator, talk about the real thing! Couldnt remember the music to Gladiator until about 3-4 hours later.

We toured the ruins with a rented handheld audio guide. Broke for lunch around noon for more wraps (italian version of the greek gyro). Re-entered the site with Mt. Vesuvious continually in the background. Dad thought the most interesting thing during the afternoon section was a tour of the Brothel (google it if you dont know what it is), there were about 30-40 of these throughout the city itself. There were preserved frescos (a painting on the wall), depicting various positions... Spent another 4-5 hours in the afternoon before catching a train to Serrento. Totalled about 250 pictures today so you can bet you will see some good stuff when we upload them.

Just finished talking with Megan and making arrangements to meet her in Rome on Tuesday morning. Love you Megan!

Enough of this, we are off to dinner!

In Italy

Well today as you know megan is back in Louisville and I miss her terribly. Dad and I finally hooked up after some difficulty. He slept for a couple of hours then I awakened him. We went down to the Rhine River and after a brief stroll we had a great dinner at this outdoor cafe amongst several hundred young people celebrating the weekend.

Today we caught a train up to Clogone and toured this Cathedral and saw the "supposed" bones of the 3 wise men. .........shrouded in gilted gold. I bought a postcartd showing how everything except the cathedral was bombed out in 1945. Dad said Emma would have loved it. We then caught a plane down to naples followed by a train down to Pompeii. We have an unbelievable room in a pituresqueeeee setting. The whole train ride down here you could look to the left and see Mt Vesuvios and on your right the Adriatic Sea.....simply unbelievable. Super outdoor dinner under this vine canopy......Dad had me drinking wine that was grown on the slopes of Mt. Vesuvios while I listened to his rambling stories about the history of the early church and ancient Rome. Love to all.............a single lonely Ben...............Hurry to papa Megan

Who ordered the Doc?

In about 5 hours my dad will arrive in Dusseldorf. He said that he'd started taking sleeping pills about a week ago because he's been so excited. We're very excited to him to come. We're going to be traveling to Pompeii, Rome, Berlin, and Paris over the next 10 days starting tomorrow morning.

I'm so excited because he makes things so much more real. He doesn't visit some place he hasn't already read about. So when you go, he'll talk about what happened there, what something was used for, and more of the history behind it. It's like having your own personal tour guide.

Megan is currently in the states and will be joining us on Tuesday in Rome, her grandmother passed away 2 days ago and the funeral is today. We appreciate all of your prayers and support.

A Life Worth Living

Sometimes I wonder why I'm here in Europe...why God allowed me to get this job. Is it to build my resume? To open doors for me in the future? Is it to get Ben's business off the ground, giving him a full summer to work solely on his websites? Is it to stretch me, to get me out of my comfort zone? To strengthen our marriage? Is it simply a gift for us to be able to see Europe in a way we would probably never have gotten to see?

I also think about the things I miss at home...about my family and friends, about the things I did on a daily basis. Will I do things differently when I get back in September? Will I have better spending habits? Eating habits? Will I watch less tv at home since I never watch it here? Will I appreciate the things I love at home even more since now I am missing them so much?

Even with all those questions, being in Europe has made many things seem more sure to me than ever. Ben is the most amazing husband, and I feel at home with him wherever we go. We're having so much fun together and so much more time together than we did in Louisville. In our traveling, I have been once again reminded that God is the most talented Artist, that He has made the oceans and the mountains and His creation is breathtaking. I am also reminded of the verse in 1 Corinthians 2 that tells us, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him". To think, all this beautiful creation, and yet what He is preparing for us is inconceivable! Finally, I've been assured how important it is to have a Savior in Christ. My grandmother back in Louisville has been suffering with cancer and is probably in her final days on this earth. We have all been praying for healing for her, but sometimes God chooses His healing to be the perfect kind, by taking His child home to be with Him in heaven. It's hard being this far away instead of near to my family, near to my grandma, near to my mom as she tries to cope with taking care of her mother. As I said goodbye to my grandma before I left for Germany, she cried as she hugged me. We both felt then that it could be our last goodbye, but coming to grips with that now still just seems unreal. So what is the hope I still have? I will see her again in heaven. My grandma is a Christian, a follower of Christ...she raised her family to do the same, and so by God's grace I was raised to do the same. There is so much we can't be sure of in this world...so much disappointment...cancer and sickness and so much to destroy our bodies...we feel lonely, get depressed...but the worst thing we do is think we can find our own way, turn our backs on God, go down a path that only leads to destruction. Why would we ever do such a thing, when He sent His son to die for us just so we could be with Him forever? Why would we stop going to church, stop worshipping God in our daily lives, stop praying to the only One who can actually answer our prayers and give us a peace that passes understanding? How can we not fall to our knees in repentance and be eternally grateful that God offers all of His amazing promises and blessings and joy and contentment and hope if we simply believe in His son and the gift of His grace and forgiveness that He gives to all who would simply ask for it?

Being away from my "normal" life is an amazing opportunity, one that few actually get...and I see now what a blessing it truly is. I believe the answer to all of those questions I first asked about why I am here and what life will be like back at home could be "yes". God may have me here to stretch me, to bless me and Ben's careers, to help us appreciate what we have at home, to change some habits and strengthen others. So I will make the most of my opportunity here, learn what I can, take the good habits back home with me, and appreciate my life in Louisville even more than when I left. I can never know for sure why God has led my path in this direction, but I can continue trusting in Him that He always has a plan for me. What I do know without a doubt is this: We are all lost without a Savior; we would have nothing to hope for if this life was all there was. But my hope is in Christ, and I know that no matter what happens on this earth, wherever I end up, my final home will be with Christ in heaven...and that is what makes this life worth living!!

A collection of thoughts

There are a few random things here that we've wanted to post here but just haven't had a place for them....

• I'm really annoyed when I order TAP WATER and end up with a bottle of water. It happened again tonight. Whether it's part of the culture or not, it's about customer service. Next time I'm bringing my own bottle of water because it's another 5-6 Euros just to get drinks with dinner. We'd much rather spend that money eating out a different night trying some unique food rather than buying water. I also miss free refills!
• Smoking is everywhere and frankly, it's horrible. Seems like we can't ever get away from it and frequently smokers are very inconsiderate (such as finishing the cigarette outside of the train, but waiting till they're inside with the doors closed to exhale their last huge puff of smoke).
• There are places with almost 30 flavors of ice cream that are better than any ice cream we've had. Not just that, you can get a cone for as little as 50 cents (until today, we just found out the guy who sold it for that raised his price to 70 cents). We've had flavors like Cinnamon, Watermelon (you could taste it contained real fruit), a cookie dough type icecream but is different from what we've got in the US).
• The trains in Italy are crap. Some of the toilets just go straight onto the tracks which is really gross.
• Megan doesn't agree, but I'm really missing the english environment where I can understand everything that I hear...

The Cinque Terre...sort of

This weekend we visited the west coast of Italy to these five little towns on the beach called The Cinque Terre. We actually stayed in a hotel in the next town over called Levanto, but it was still on the beach. Let me start by saying that the beaches, the water, the mountains, the towns--everything about the scenery--was absolutely gorgeous and fabulous in every way, like something out of a dream. Let me then say that this vacation turned out to be a flop and that we spent the same amount of time traveling to and from there as we did actually there!! To start the whole thing off, we left on an overnight train Wednesday night (Thursday was a holiday and I took Friday off work).

It seemed like a good idea at first...one person didn't show up, so there were 5 people in our little cabin instead of 6, and they were all really quiet, no snoring or anything. But about 2:30 I woke up and was suddenly having a panic attack. The door was shut, the air had turned off, it was burning up, I was laying there thinking about how there was no airflow and 5 of us are crammed in this little room, I couldn't even stretch my legs out completely because the bunks were a little short...I tried to go back to sleep, but suddenly I was about to go crazy! So I climbed down from the top bunk, had to wake Ben up because I couldn't get the door open (it was locked), then I ended up sitting in the hallway watching Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on my ipod for the next 2 hours. A bunch of drunk guys kept passing back and forth...finally one of them put his hands on my hips from behind and asked me (in German) to come with him...I elbowed him in the stomach, told him to get off...that was the point I finally decided I could survive in my little cot again. Didn't really sleep the last few hours, but at least I could lay there listening to music on my ipod without feeling like I was suffocating like I was before.

The next glitch in our plans happened when we made our connecting train. We only had 5 minutes to get to the next train, so we checked the departure schedule, and it appeared that the only train leaving at the time ours was supposed to leave was headed to Venice. Given that is the east coast and we were going to the west coast, we weren't sure if that was right. Ben asked one of the guys at the tourist info stand, and he told us that the train to Venice was the right one. I felt wrong about it, I even pointed out to Ben on the train that the list of stops that scrolls on the board outside did not say anything about La Spezia (where we were headed). So when the ticket checker came by, we showed him our reservation and asked if we were on the right train. He looked at it, even said, "La Spezia" out loud and said, "Yes, this is the right train," and punched our reservation. Two and a half hours later we were in Venice, the intercom announced that this was the last stop and everyone had to get off...we went back to the ticket checker guy, asked what was up, and he looked at our ticket reservation and said, "Oh, did I punch this? No, this isn't the right train." Fabulous. We then had to spend 5 more hours and 3 more trains to get back to La Spezia. We should have been there at 11:30 on Thursday, and ended up there at 6 instead. Let me also mention that we left our apartment at 6 the night before, so it took us exactly 24 hours to get to our hotel.

We stayed in Levanto that night, walked along the beach, had a nice dinner...

...then went to bed early. Oh, and a bird pooped on me...

We decided to stay in Levanto the next day (Friday), too, since the beach was so close and so nice. Ben went and bought a few "necessities" for the day...

...and we spent the entire day laying on the beach and Ben getting in and out of the water. It was awesome! The beach was sandy feeling, although it was really just tiny rocks. Getting into the water was a little hard to do though because the rocks were big and sharp walking into the water, and then it would get so deep you couldn't even touch...plus it was really cold. Ben loved it though!

We ate dinner in town again and walked around a while. The town was so neat...felt so authentic, not full of tourists like our experience in Venice. We really loved the town, but unfortunately did not take our camera that night and so don't have pictures of the town itself.

The next day was our last, and we were planning on taking Rick Steve's tours through all 5 towns. He had about 30 minute self-guided walks through each one, and we got up early since our train didn't leave until 7 that night...we thought that would leave plenty of time. Well, turns out, Ben was extremely burned all over his back and stomach from the beach, and it was really hot out...and we had our luggage with us...so sweating, carrying heavy backpacks, and sun burns did not mix well for Ben. We took a boat to the town closest to us (Monterossa) first and saw some German bunkers the Nazis occupied during the war...

...and so concluded our tour of The Cinque Terre- ha. Ben couldn't take it, and I wasn't about to tour it all by myself, so we went to the train station in La Spezia, and ended up taking a train home that left at 2 instead. We had a 3 hour train, then a 4 hour train, then a 7 hour train overnight home (no cots this time, just seats...now I don't know which is worse!). We got home at 7AM this morning and slept until about noon. At least we have a day to relax until starting work again tomorrow, since our original train tickets didn't get us home until the afternoon. Morals of the story: overnight trains are awful, the people working at the train stations in Italy are not very helpful, and Ben must re-apply sunscreen every 30 minutes or he will, without a doubt, burn to a crisp.

Bavaria

Monday was a holiday here, so for the 3 day weekend we decided to take another trip.  We went to Bavaria, to a town called Füssen, Germany; and from there to Reutte, Austria. We left early Saturday morning by train and made it to our destination by 3PM.  Füssen is home to the famous Neuschwanstein Castle.  We took a tour there Saturday night- it was so impressive!  We had to hike up to the castle (although they did offer horse and buggy rides up), but it didn't take long.  

The view there was amazing- mountains and blue lakes- I'm starting to want to move to the mountains after seeing how gorgeous they are! 

 The Neuschwanstein castle is what the Walt Disney castle was modeled after.  It was built in the 19th century though, so it was really modern; Ben and I both agreed that we were ready to see something that felt like an actual castle, where you could picture a battle taking place to defend the fortress, that type of thing.  Sunday, we got our wish.  We took a 45-minute long bus ride just over the border to Reutte to see the ruins of a castle called Ehrenberg.  Let's just say that we also got our fill of hiking in on this trip as well- it took about 45 minutes just to walk to the base of the mountain, then we hiked up to the first ruins, which was about a 25-minute, uphill walk.  These ruins were AWESOME!!  

Ben and I loved it- finally felt like we were seeing a real castle.  Ben kept describing all the architectural details to me, explaining why there were windows in certain places that were wider on the inside than the outside (for shooting arrows), how the beams of the floor above would have gone into these holes in the walls, etc.  I guess it was more fun to see the ruins and just imagine what must have happened there, as opposed to seeing mad King Ludwig II's favorite reading chair at Neuschwanstein.  After these ruins, there was a "steep trail" (according to Rick Steves) up to some more ruins.  Wow, I thought I would die- it only took about 30 minutes, but it was SO steep, straight up the whole way...we had to keep stopping every couple minutes to let our legs rest and catch our breath.  Finally we made it to the top...the ruins there were neat, but I liked the first ones we saw better, so I was a little disappointed after such an exhausting climb to get there.  We took a longer, but flatter, trail back to the bottom, but it went fast going downhill.  We walked in the rain (luckily we had an umbrella, but we still ended up pretty soaked) back to town, then had to wait over an hour for the next bus back to Reutte.  We were pretty cold and miserable sitting there waiting, but after a great Italian dinner (I know, doesn't make sense, but pizza and pasta just sounded good) and a hot shower, we felt great after a day of touring and hiking.  All we did Monday was travel back to Düsseldorf, so it was nice getting home around 6PM to just chill out a little while before starting back to work the next day.

And by the way, we saw lots of people wearing lederhosen on this trip...I guess that isn't just a stereotype of Bavaria after all!  I still haven't heard any yodeling in the Alps though...

We'll have a full photo album of Bavaria to add to the list of galleries soon, so check back for those later.