Come Bella Cella Luna

I apologize for the lack of blogging in quite some time. Italy's wifi was not up-to-date and I didn't not bring my computer so here it is all my friends and family: Italy!

I will be the first to say, as we traveled from each city, my taste for italy increased. First we started in Rome, then Florence, and last was Venice. We stayed two nights in each city except Venice which we technically stayed two days but hopped a night train the second night back to Vienna. I guess it would make most sense to start at Rome.

Roma: Getting off the train, I expected to see the colosseum and roman forum right in my face. Instead I saw just another round of tall european buildings and people trying to sell me stuff off the street. Rome was my least favorite all the three cities we visited. Despite seeing roman ruins, forum, trevi fountain, spanish steps, vatican city, the pantheon, and the colosseum, the city itself irritated me. During the day was hot and men selling knock off designer bags and sunglasses constantly were in your face. And to top it off, I had money stolen from my hotel room by one of the maids! (So for all you world travelers out there, don't stay at Hotel Madison in Rome!) I figured this place would be my favorite, but unfortunately, I was horribly mistaken. My best suggestion for conquering rome during the summer is at night. Both nights I ventured out with friends to walk the streets and see the sites lit up in all their glory. Walking the spanish steps, throwing a coin in the trevi, and enjoying ice cream by the colosseum was so relaxing and made rome more enjoyable. There were way less tourist around and it was nice getting to enjoy some of rome's treasures without the hot sun.

The first thing we did was Vatican City. No, I didn't get to see the Pope, but thats okay, I don't think he'd like me that much especially after I was unimpressed with his city. The Vatican museum (where the sistine chapel and other famous pieces reside) was huge and hot as ever. I don't think, Rome especially, believed in AC. It was also like a poorly designed maze trying to weave past snapping cameras, fanny packs, and confusing building outlines. After almost two hours, I finally made it to the sistine chapel. It was very high on the ceiling, dark from the lack of window use, and no photos were allowed...of course that didn't stop my iphone! ;] Shhh! I could see how amazing this work by michelangelo was because of the great detail he put into it as well as the pace at which he had to work, but the hype was more then the actual room. I didn't see why this place was so famous... and quite frankly, I didn't understand that about many things I had seen over the past six weeks... But after thinking about it, most things in europe were famous because of how they changed an area or even the world and people never forget change.
After the museum, we made our way to St. Peter's Basilica. This is suppose to be the grandest church of all of Europe. Maybe if we had started in Rome, I would have thought the same, but I just found it pretentious and rude. Like many other catholic churches I had experienced, this one was just the same with focus on saints or mary (and in this case, peter's "bones'). The whole church was built around this large canopy where directly below is "Peter's body" and then all around the church are carvings of mary, glorified, either holding jesus as a baby or as a helpless dead man. It never really bothered me until I saw just how much it seems as though the focus has been taken away from who really we should be worshipping.  Something unique to this church were markers on the floor of other churches where they would lie if they were put inside this church. I don't really think it matters how big your church is compared to others...that just comes across as one of the rudest things to me. If you haven't figured it out already, I did not like this place....
The second day in Rome was much better and I promise I wont go off into a tangent for this one. We visited the pantheon, the roman forum, and the ruins. These were beautiful places and really increased my hunger to go to greece, crete, and turkey. Anyways, it was hard sometimes though to imagine (especially in the forum) what this old city use to look like in all its splendor, like how someone from biblical times would have seen it. There were grand temples, monuments, and parading streets that today are just remains with a few blocks and stones standing marking locations and giving the general look of "bare". Even in the colosseum, much of that place has been swept away from over the years ware n tare. But it was still a blessing and great opportunity to see things that were thriving during the time of Jesus and Paul. Even though I didn't really like Rome, I would like to go back someday with more time so i can admire everything this place has to offer and maybe find a better hotel.

Florence: Hurray! A town not consumed by people or sketchy people for that matter. I actually enjoyed walking around this city during the day and night, even if our walking tour the first day was three hours. It seems to be that with our group, that was always our luck: Tours that lasted FAR beyond the time they advertise. But, it was full of information and we basically saw the main things of florence, not housed in a museum, all in that time. First was the medici chapels, which for those of you who don't know, they were the main family of Florence that put this italian city on the map and made it what it is today. Large tombs, ceiling frescoes, and a dome...typical for a "ruling" family. Next while walking around we made our way to St. Mary's church of the flower, including famous the Duomo, Gates of Paradise, and church itself. The sad thing was not everyone in our group was allowed to go into the church. Italian churches generally have a fairly strict (depending on the church) dress code of no shoulders and no knees to be exposed and like the vatican, this church was more strict. Thankfully, scarfs became our best friends in italy being used as coverings rather then just warming our necks in the winter. Anyways, i enjoyed admiring the works from the start of the italian renaissance right in the church, unmoved and restored to there glory days. I would have liked to have gone up into the duomo but its 400+ steps didnt seem like something that my classmates or myself were willing to climb especially at this stage in our trip. Stairs had become the enemy... The rest of the tour contained more sites of florence intertwined with fun history facts, ending eventually with an old meat market turned blacksmith area in the 1600's. The rest of the day was spent at the leather market where all of us learned that we are fantastic hagglers. It was pretty fun and made me wish I could do this more often. This is where I collected most of my gifts for family and friends, feeling accomplished finding cool things at a traveling college students budget. The evening finished with a Rick Steves approved dinner and some tasty gelato! (Florence had the best kind of gelato out of all three cities too!).
Day two was museum day...grr......but, we did get to see "The David" and "The Birth of Venus" and I know most of yall know atleast one of those. The mean thing about florence was that both of these works were in two different museums. You basically had to pay over 30 euro to get into both places just to see these two works and maybe three others you actually recognize while everything else you saw wasn't worth it. Thankfully though, the "David" atleast was worth it. I never realized how big it was! 17 feet tall and your looking up! The statue size itself was large enough to awe an audience, but the work put into it and the story behind it was I think makes it amazing. And of course, no pictures we allowed...meaning I totally broke the rules again. Rebel! Ha you know your losing it when you think your awesome because you snuck a picture of a statue. And i think we all were losing it. By the time we made it to the second museum, all we cared about was getting enough notes for our journals so we could leave. Do i regret racing through some museums? Nope. I saw what I wanted and then some. I would say we maybe visited a total of 20 something museums the whole six weeks...I don't think i've ever gone to that many in my life so can you blame us? Once we finished with the museums, we once again were free to rome around and enjoy florence. Like Rome, I enjoyed florence at night. I felt safer and more relaxed walking down little alley ways. The prettiest part at night was the rows of street lights along the river. At one point, some of us just sat on the edge in silence and just let the wind blow our hair without a care in the world. Our trip was almost over; we were taking it all in.

Venice: Bright and early the next morning we made our way to the city without cars and and without cares. If I could get lost in any city it would have to be this one. Small winding alleys turning at random corners, little bridges leading to who knows where, and random dead ends to water ways. I couldn't believe that an entire city was built over water! Just getting off the train was breath-taking and we hadn't even seen the whole of it. After settling in at the hotel, we began yet again another walking tour only this one was two hours instead of three. I quickly became aware that Venice really wasn't a town where one moved to. I later found out that 95% of those who work in Venice, work with tourist and no one truly lives here anymore. It was like this city has lost its italian sense. It was like Venice had just become an attraction where people could take gondola rides, eat pasta, and buy presents for those back home. "Italian DisneyWorld" was how i coined it to a friend. But that doesn't stop me from enjoying this once thriving city from the 1300's. Of course, we did the very expected things like riding gondolas which are much nicer then I expected. And of course our group visited the Doge Palace and the Saint Mark's church that apparently puts this city on the map. Among some wondering, we did stumble upon the rialto bridge which unfortunately is cluttered with shops and we almost missed it. Among that, there wasn't much else besides walking around... It was at that time that our group was done. You could tell most of us were ready to be done with journaling, each other, and the program in general. I remember at one point just sitting on the ground staring at a family just like mine thinking i wish i was with them. Venice was lovely, and I will remember it more fondly then Rome, but my heart hungers for home.

I realize this is quite long and I promise I'm almost done. Currently, I am still in austria and am preparing for church camp in the coming two weeks. I can't wait to spend to weeks serving and spending time with God and his people, but home is where my heart is and I can't wait to be back.