We are a funny breed of people. Tourists. With our camera on our necks and our ball caps of our home teams. Our maps in hand guiding our every step to see as many things as we can and walk where millions of people before us have walked. And I mean millions. In Rome, more specifically the Vatican city, there is an average of 3 million people per day that come to visit. That's a lot of tourists. We have been surrounded by Asian tour groups, European and families from Iowa.The vendors are from Bangladesh, India and Africa. There is a rainbow of culture here. But a lot of racism too, I'll write about that in a later post.
The second day in Rome after sleeping a mere 3 hours before the breakfast buffet we had tickets for the hop on hop off tour bus. Thanks to living social discounted trips!!
DISCLAIMER: Aside from what you may believe about Doug and I taking this trip to Italy. WE ARE POOR! We don't want to appear rich or loose with our money. We are taking this trip purely because we are celebrating 10 years of an amazing and difficult and rewarding marriage. We are spending time with each other that we haven't had in years and we are going to enjoy every minute of it. If it means spending $8 on a stupid picture at the Trevi fountain so be it. We deserve it and you do too. Debt is hard, but it shouldn't keep you from living and experiencing AMAZING things.
Okay, back to the double decker, red party tour bus. Just kidding. It wasn't a party bus, but the side of it did look like a party with it's squiggly yellow lettering and the bright red headphones they handed us to listen to the tour of the city made. They made me feel all bright and sunny. Although one of the Asian tours had neon green earphones, that would have made me equally happy. :) Man, I am having a rough time getting to the point today.
The bus drove us through ancient Rome revisiting the sights that we had photographed the night before in the dark. We drove past "The wedding cake" which is a huge museum all white WHITE marble that is atop a hill looking down the crooked street to the coliseum. This building and the 2 behind it were designed by Michealangelo and are stunning. We passed the coliseum and numerous round-a-bouts where the center was a fountain. The churches are old and beautiful. One looking as if it could topple. The first stop we got off at was a church, couldn't tell you the name though. Haha, I'm terrible. We went in and at the entrance there was a security guard that made me put on a paper shawl to cover my shoulders. It was again a hot day so I had on a tank top and I had to be covered. Some girls had to wear one on their waist to cover their legs. Out of respect for the church and for God we had to be covered or possibly be refused entry. At this church over 1,000 years ago it is said that there was a miracle and snow fell from the sky on August 5th. So we are just shy of 3 days away from this holiday that that celebrate by dropping millions of white flower pedals from the sky. Bummer. After walking through the church we made our way back on the bus and took it to the coliseum stop. It still looked as amazing as in the night however now was full of people. People everywhere! I'm happy I got pictures in the night when it was a ghost town. We walked through the ruins of what used to be the rich part of Rome and was now just ruins with some amazing churches that still stood the test of time. The houses and other small structures were now just blue prints of red brick in the ground. You can't help but wonder what it looked like in the day. Small brick houses covered in white concrete and as you'd come out of your front door in the morning you see the coliseum and tall pillared buildings all white and grand with size. Amazing. We didn't go through the coliseum, but we only had 2 days to sight-see and we didn't want to spend it in line. We hopped back on the bus and took the tour through the Vatican and then back around to "The Wedding Cake" and climbed the steps from the courtyard up to the roof of the building. We looked down and there was Rome. The ruins, the coliseum, the churches, Vatican hill. You could see the mountains dark and out of focus in the far distance and in the shade of the white marble we cooled down and just took in the city. The tour bus took us back through the city passed the chariot track where Ben Hir was filmed. A long oval track that is set alongside a hill in a ditch. There used to be stands surrounding it that held 4 x as many people as the coliseum. Tall trees line the park, their lower branches trimmed so there is just a tuft of branches with green at the top. They remind me of African safari trees only tall and skinny and they are all over the city.
We ended our tour with Gelato after getting off the bus at the station. As we sat at this outdoor mobile Gelato shop I couldn't help but wonder if the owners are secretly mafia... you have to worry about these things in Italy you know.
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Friday, August 2, 2013
When in Rome
ROME.
We arrived to Rome soaring out over bluish green waters off the west coast of Italy. The sea sparkled along the bronze sandy shore. To the right we angled back towards shore and to the runway just barely inland, Rome staring at us just to our right and the water now to our left. It was 12pm for Italy but for MN still only 5am. Our bodies were stiff and tired. We wanted to sleep during the flight but the sights of the Swiss Alps towering so close out of my airplane window through the clouds below all snowy and jagged kept my eyes fixed in awe. I think I did drift off for 5 minutes or so towards the end of the two hour flight from Amsterdam. We landed at Leodardo Da Vinci airport and took our one carry on suitcase (insert proud pat on my back for packing so light between the two of us in one bag!) down the moving walkways to a train platform that would take us into the city for €8 per person ($12 US dollars). The blue and white train was short with only 2 or three cars. You could move between them with the push of a button on the wall through a sliding door. The door in our cabin wasn't functioning so the people just pulled it open. I don't know If it was the broken door, the head rest of Doug's seat falling out on him as he sat or the scratched graffiti in my window but something tells me this wasn't the newest train in Italy. It was a smooth 20 minute ride into the center of Rome from the airport, crossing through open fields of tall dry grass bowing in the breeze. The train rocked my heavy head right to sleep just 2 minutes before we got to our station for the hotel. Doug awoke me and I was so disoriented! I mustered up enough energy to drag myself off of the train and then buy tickets for us to ride the public transportation. We stood in the HOT sun awaiting our bus. It was so strong. The bus took us to our street where our hotel was. doug had said "I think the first hotel we are staying at is a little sketchy" but he was way off. It was a new hotel with beautiful rooms, a restaurant, a pool and a few adorable bars and lounges. We checked into our room by 3:00 pm and we were just going to take a 'little' nap (after being awake for 36 hrs). As soon as our heads hit the pillows we were out! We woke up almost five ours later OOPS! In the words of Doug, when got to Rome we only had three days so we were going to "push through the tired" and stay awake once we got there and see as much as we could that first day! Haha. So much for that.
We did however wake up refreshed and by 9pm we were ready to go. We found a river walk with markets and restaurants adorned with couches and candle light. With the Tiber river raging on the other side of the white picket fence we sat down to our first taste of Italian food. There was music playing blending with the chatter of the people walking the river walk. We had penne pasta and brick oven thin crust pizza with no cheese. It was delicious! We made our way up the gray stone steps after dinner out of the river walk and to the stone purple lit walking bridge above. It was night and looking down back to the market we just walked through you could see the white lights lining the white tents of vendors and restaurants along the river. The streets were small square cobble stones much like Coyoacán.
We followed our map holding it up like typical tourist as we walked through dim lit cobblestone narrow Alleyways. We passed groups of hipsters and small cafés. Waited to cross streets as mini cars and motor bikes passed. It was quiet and relaxing. So quiet actually. I remember saying to Doug, "For such a large city it is so quiet and you can still see the stars." Our cobblestone path lead us to the pantheon a large round tundra type building, once a church covered in white stone with pillars and white adornments ow showed its red brick skeleton. We rounded to the front where a column of white marble pillars stood facing a plaza with a fountain at the center and restaurants and candle lit tables lined the other four sides of the square. It was here that I felt like I was finally in Rome.
Our late evening stroll continued down the back alleys of the Pantheon and to the fountain Di Trevi. This place was full of people, even at 11 at night. We were quickly approached by a young man from Bangladesh who was eager to help take a picture of us in front of the fountain with my camera. I politely declined but he finally convinced me to give it to him and he ran away with... just kidding. He didn't run. But he did scam me into having him take our picture with his Polaroid and $8 US dollars later he ran away before the picture developed... I wish I had just stolen his camera and ran. Crappy lit dark picture. Oh well, live and let learn right? The fountain was built as a facade to a building, the architect thought he'd make it something large and memorable. So to the arch with a merman statue he added fountains and more fountains. And it is memorable! For centuries people have thrown pennies into the blue pool for luck of a safe return back to the fountain someday. We however looked at our bank account, the fact that we are currently homeless and without work and a Bangladesh man just took $8 from us for a picture, realized we should keep our penny. Lol.
We took another journey from the fountain to the coliseum. We turned a corner and woop there it is! So big! The tallest structure in Ancient Rome, so beautiful at night, the yellow lights adding contrast through the arches against the black night sky. We sat on a stone wall bahind a giant tree and talked as a few people passed, it was really quiet by this time. It was a half passed midnight when we decide we'd better head back to the bus station, only to find out that the bus line back to our hotel closed at midnight. Ruh ruh! But thanks to our 5 hour nap we had all the energy in the world. So at 1 am we made our way back to our hotel. 2 miles and 1 and a half hours later we got back to our hotel.
I watched the sun come up over the city at 5:45 and We finally got to sleep by 6am and got to the breakfast buffet before it closed. I'd say it was a successful day. After all the day in MN was just ending as we get another sunny day in Rome.
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
End of the Beginning
Can you believe that our time is already up in Mexico City? WOW! I haven't blogged since Sally's birthday party (I must have been tired after that party!) That is sad. I know. Especially for those of you who follow our adventures around the world and live and breathe for my blog! Well, that may be a stretch. haha. Well I do miss writing and would beg that you please accept my apology and
Orientation August 2012 we arrived to hear rules and security precautions to living in the city and how to travel. Stay on main roads, don't travel at night, be careful about using your debit card in a cash machine that is hard to get your card in and out of (as someone may have rigged it to take your withdrawl) and all sorts of other warnings. So my preconceived notions were that we were going to be foreigners living in a hostile and dangerous land. Before we actually found a house and school I worried that something bad would happen to us. However, I knew that we were meant to go there and that we would be protected. This was going to be an exciting new adventure and we were excited about what this historical city had in store for us; Doug as a human rights researcher, for me as a nurse and mother and for our family as a whole. We quickly found out first and foremost that God had gone before us to pave the way for blessings ie: housing, friends, school, church and markets and of course a near by wal-mart. We knew that God had his hand in every part of our new Mexican life within the first 2 weeks. Our apartment was found the first day, perfect for us. The school... 2 blocks away from the apartment. The parents in the school became treasured friends very quickly. Everything just fell into place. After 2 months there we had tried 3 different churches, 2 Baptist churches and 1 mega 'non denominational' church. I found friends through a women's group at the English speaking Baptist church and really felt like I was in my childhood church in some ways even though I didn't grow up Baptist. I am grateful for the friendships that I have made in Whitney, Rachel and Christine. The Thursday morning women's bible study from our church allowed me to fellowship with women on a deeper level and gave me the opportunity to use some of my worship experience to lead the women in song for a couple of the sessions.
Some of my favorite memories that are written on my heart forever are the memories I made with my class of girls at the Casa Hogar. They have such a big piece of my heart. I will miss the laugh of Lupita, her naughty ways always making me fall deeper in love with her everyday. She had her cuddly days and distant, crabby days. He mother never came to visit and this made her have more cuddly days with me. I wanted to adopt her the more the nuns shared with me about her home life. But Doug reminded me often that she HAS a mother. Even if that mother couldn't support her or see her, she was still her mother. Then at one of my last visits at the hogar I walked through the huge peach colored door and walked into the courtyard and saw my Lupita, laughing and smiling as if not a care in the world. Hugging her tightly to her chest on a tattered old couch by the office was her grandmother. The same face as Lupita just a lot older. Such a special bond between them. It was like she had hope, had love and didn't need me. I don't know how often this grandmother showed up, but I hope that it's more often now that I've seen how much she connects with her.
I will miss the silly antics of my sweet Fernanda. Silky black hair cut into a bob, eyes black and bashful. This girl can make me laugh! She loved to cuddle and is VERY independent. Her art projects were always the last to be finished and she loved to say 'one, two, three!" The numerous hours I pushed her on the swings beat out the others as it was her favorite thing to do even though she had to wait until after snack and lesson. Her favorite thing though even more than the swings was to wash her hands. This girl was always first to the sink and had to do the soap by herself.
I will miss the goofiness of Natalia her also independent attitude was a tough one at times but I could get her to laugh so hard! She loves when I dance and also when I give her horsey rides on my back. Lucky for me (insert sarcasm) they ALL love getting piggy back rides (with horse sounds running through the courtyard as the other girls chase us). So once the line had been gone through twice I would be DEAD tired! I would close my eyes and say I needed to rest and they would all collectively scream and scare me awake. This was one of their favorite things.
Along with the three girls above I had over the course of my 9 months at the hogar, 14 students. All but my main 5 little ones regularly attended preschool during the days but quite often they were very sick with cold, coughs and chicken pox. So those days I had all of them and it was a mad house. I ran out of cookies and milk a lot faster, I gave out way more hugs and loves, the crayons disappeared faster, the glitter was spilled and I went home with a hoarse voice and a head ache but it was all worth it.
One of my last days there I had a conversation with a 12 year old girl who felt comfortable enough after all of our time together there to tell me that she was starting her first period. The conversation ranged from her discomfort in her tummy to how she is now a woman. It was a proud moment for me knowing that I got through that talk with a girl who isn't even my daughter but that she felt comfortable enough to share it with me. I'm not entirely sure if it was appropriate or not (Doug says 'no') but the conversation transitioned into how now that she is a woman she needs to honor her body and treat her body as a holy temple and that she needs to save herself for the husband God is perfecting for her. She was so receptive and precious. Maybe it just freaked Doug out because it was weird for him, but for us it was such a moment! I pray that God will use that conversation for good and that Favie will know that she is perfect and beautiful and that her body is the temple of the holy spirit and I hope that she will be one less pregnant teen in Mexico city knowing that. I know that's not a conversation the nuns would be having with her!
We took some memorable trips since the last time I blogged to. All of the cautions that they gave us on that first day of orientation made us more careful but we never had any issues while traveling the country. We felt safe all of the time traveling or walking home from the store at night. We spent Thanksgiving eating fajitas on a booze cruise in Cabo San Lucas, Baja California (west coast) with my in-laws taking pictures of the sunset through the arch at the end of the peninsula. We spent Christmas with my parents in Puebla (to the East) exploring the Largest base pyramid in the world. We traveled via an Executive coach bus to Michoacán (to the West) for New Years. One of my favorite things was our trip to the Avacado Groves such a peaceful experience.
In May right before we packed up our house we took a trip to the southern shores of Oaxaca to Xipolite. A small town, quiet street with restaurants that spilled out into the street. It was a slow moving hippie town. We flew to the closest airport and took a taxi to the town. Such a contrast from our busy city. Our hotel was an open air old wood shack with 30 some rooms right on the ocean. I mean right on the ocean. It was so loud the first night at high tide I thought we would get splashed and was dreaming that the waves were coming in our balcony door. There was a fitted sheet and a top sheet. No comforter as it was such a warm damp climate. No air conditioning, just a ceiling fan. And it was bring your own towels and soap. $30/night! :) It was perfect. We lived in our suits and bare feet for 4 days. The weather was perfect, we arrived as a hurricane was leaving! Everyday was better than the one before. It made it really hard to leave. We took a minivan up through the twisty roads of the mountains to the city of Oaxaca. It was really curvy and scary at times when there wasn't a guard rail and you're looking down and you're above the clouds. It's not a great feeling. But it was absolutely beautiful. The higher altitude we drove the cooler and cleaner the air was. We stopped for a stretch break (during the 6 hour drive) in a small mountain town. People were wearing winter scarves and long sleeves. It seemed as if they stared at the strange looking white people in our shorts and t-shirts as we crossed the street to buy some hot cocoa! Me and Sally were so excited to have hot cocoa in the summer. We descended to a valley where the city was. It was a lot like Puebla only every street going our for blocks and blocks was nice, no trash, no crappy houses just historic buildings made into apartments or some kind of retail place or coffee shop. The main cathedral in the center of town was modest and the tall dark wooden doors and their all white etched glass windows with pictures angels were welcoming. Unlike the markets in D.F. here in Oaxaca the markets were
just filled with embroidered clothing. We all got something to wear and maybe just maybe we'll all wear it at the same time for a photo and I can post it. We had good food and a nice relaxing time for just a day and then got on another bus to take us 5 hours to Mexico City to our home. It was a great way to end our time in Mexico...
But see.. that's the thing... it's not really the end. We want to stay in this beautiful country. Doug is done with his juvenile research but would like to continue the research a lot deeper. His interest for this country and it's laws is just getting bigger and he wants to make a difference. That will mean more time! Sally's school is also something that we cherish there and believe that it is the best for our daughter to do another year in the school perfecting her adorable Spanish. :) So we will hopefully be returning in the Fall for another year of adventure.
PRAYERS:
*That Doug will find a sponsor or Foundation that will sponsor his research and support him
financially as a researcher
*I can quickly get my business up and running as a photographer in Mexico City.
*Language studies for me. I will continue teaching a photography course at a Christian Arts school
which is helping a ton for my Spanish practice but I need to get better!
hold on for one last ride.
Orientation August 2012 we arrived to hear rules and security precautions to living in the city and how to travel. Stay on main roads, don't travel at night, be careful about using your debit card in a cash machine that is hard to get your card in and out of (as someone may have rigged it to take your withdrawl) and all sorts of other warnings. So my preconceived notions were that we were going to be foreigners living in a hostile and dangerous land. Before we actually found a house and school I worried that something bad would happen to us. However, I knew that we were meant to go there and that we would be protected. This was going to be an exciting new adventure and we were excited about what this historical city had in store for us; Doug as a human rights researcher, for me as a nurse and mother and for our family as a whole. We quickly found out first and foremost that God had gone before us to pave the way for blessings ie: housing, friends, school, church and markets and of course a near by wal-mart. We knew that God had his hand in every part of our new Mexican life within the first 2 weeks. Our apartment was found the first day, perfect for us. The school... 2 blocks away from the apartment. The parents in the school became treasured friends very quickly. Everything just fell into place. After 2 months there we had tried 3 different churches, 2 Baptist churches and 1 mega 'non denominational' church. I found friends through a women's group at the English speaking Baptist church and really felt like I was in my childhood church in some ways even though I didn't grow up Baptist. I am grateful for the friendships that I have made in Whitney, Rachel and Christine. The Thursday morning women's bible study from our church allowed me to fellowship with women on a deeper level and gave me the opportunity to use some of my worship experience to lead the women in song for a couple of the sessions.
Some of my favorite memories that are written on my heart forever are the memories I made with my class of girls at the Casa Hogar. They have such a big piece of my heart. I will miss the laugh of Lupita, her naughty ways always making me fall deeper in love with her everyday. She had her cuddly days and distant, crabby days. He mother never came to visit and this made her have more cuddly days with me. I wanted to adopt her the more the nuns shared with me about her home life. But Doug reminded me often that she HAS a mother. Even if that mother couldn't support her or see her, she was still her mother. Then at one of my last visits at the hogar I walked through the huge peach colored door and walked into the courtyard and saw my Lupita, laughing and smiling as if not a care in the world. Hugging her tightly to her chest on a tattered old couch by the office was her grandmother. The same face as Lupita just a lot older. Such a special bond between them. It was like she had hope, had love and didn't need me. I don't know how often this grandmother showed up, but I hope that it's more often now that I've seen how much she connects with her.
 |
| Lupita, Fernanda, Natalia |
 |
| Girls waiting in line for bread in my little makeshift classroom |
I will miss the goofiness of Natalia her also independent attitude was a tough one at times but I could get her to laugh so hard! She loves when I dance and also when I give her horsey rides on my back. Lucky for me (insert sarcasm) they ALL love getting piggy back rides (with horse sounds running through the courtyard as the other girls chase us). So once the line had been gone through twice I would be DEAD tired! I would close my eyes and say I needed to rest and they would all collectively scream and scare me awake. This was one of their favorite things.
Along with the three girls above I had over the course of my 9 months at the hogar, 14 students. All but my main 5 little ones regularly attended preschool during the days but quite often they were very sick with cold, coughs and chicken pox. So those days I had all of them and it was a mad house. I ran out of cookies and milk a lot faster, I gave out way more hugs and loves, the crayons disappeared faster, the glitter was spilled and I went home with a hoarse voice and a head ache but it was all worth it.
One of my last days there I had a conversation with a 12 year old girl who felt comfortable enough after all of our time together there to tell me that she was starting her first period. The conversation ranged from her discomfort in her tummy to how she is now a woman. It was a proud moment for me knowing that I got through that talk with a girl who isn't even my daughter but that she felt comfortable enough to share it with me. I'm not entirely sure if it was appropriate or not (Doug says 'no') but the conversation transitioned into how now that she is a woman she needs to honor her body and treat her body as a holy temple and that she needs to save herself for the husband God is perfecting for her. She was so receptive and precious. Maybe it just freaked Doug out because it was weird for him, but for us it was such a moment! I pray that God will use that conversation for good and that Favie will know that she is perfect and beautiful and that her body is the temple of the holy spirit and I hope that she will be one less pregnant teen in Mexico city knowing that. I know that's not a conversation the nuns would be having with her!
We took some memorable trips since the last time I blogged to. All of the cautions that they gave us on that first day of orientation made us more careful but we never had any issues while traveling the country. We felt safe all of the time traveling or walking home from the store at night. We spent Thanksgiving eating fajitas on a booze cruise in Cabo San Lucas, Baja California (west coast) with my in-laws taking pictures of the sunset through the arch at the end of the peninsula. We spent Christmas with my parents in Puebla (to the East) exploring the Largest base pyramid in the world. We traveled via an Executive coach bus to Michoacán (to the West) for New Years. One of my favorite things was our trip to the Avacado Groves such a peaceful experience.
In May right before we packed up our house we took a trip to the southern shores of Oaxaca to Xipolite. A small town, quiet street with restaurants that spilled out into the street. It was a slow moving hippie town. We flew to the closest airport and took a taxi to the town. Such a contrast from our busy city. Our hotel was an open air old wood shack with 30 some rooms right on the ocean. I mean right on the ocean. It was so loud the first night at high tide I thought we would get splashed and was dreaming that the waves were coming in our balcony door. There was a fitted sheet and a top sheet. No comforter as it was such a warm damp climate. No air conditioning, just a ceiling fan. And it was bring your own towels and soap. $30/night! :) It was perfect. We lived in our suits and bare feet for 4 days. The weather was perfect, we arrived as a hurricane was leaving! Everyday was better than the one before. It made it really hard to leave. We took a minivan up through the twisty roads of the mountains to the city of Oaxaca. It was really curvy and scary at times when there wasn't a guard rail and you're looking down and you're above the clouds. It's not a great feeling. But it was absolutely beautiful. The higher altitude we drove the cooler and cleaner the air was. We stopped for a stretch break (during the 6 hour drive) in a small mountain town. People were wearing winter scarves and long sleeves. It seemed as if they stared at the strange looking white people in our shorts and t-shirts as we crossed the street to buy some hot cocoa! Me and Sally were so excited to have hot cocoa in the summer. We descended to a valley where the city was. It was a lot like Puebla only every street going our for blocks and blocks was nice, no trash, no crappy houses just historic buildings made into apartments or some kind of retail place or coffee shop. The main cathedral in the center of town was modest and the tall dark wooden doors and their all white etched glass windows with pictures angels were welcoming. Unlike the markets in D.F. here in Oaxaca the markets were
But see.. that's the thing... it's not really the end. We want to stay in this beautiful country. Doug is done with his juvenile research but would like to continue the research a lot deeper. His interest for this country and it's laws is just getting bigger and he wants to make a difference. That will mean more time! Sally's school is also something that we cherish there and believe that it is the best for our daughter to do another year in the school perfecting her adorable Spanish. :) So we will hopefully be returning in the Fall for another year of adventure.
PRAYERS:
*That Doug will find a sponsor or Foundation that will sponsor his research and support him
financially as a researcher
*I can quickly get my business up and running as a photographer in Mexico City.
*Language studies for me. I will continue teaching a photography course at a Christian Arts school
which is helping a ton for my Spanish practice but I need to get better!
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