July 29, 2007 - CarbFest

10:45 pm

We are sitting in bed after a relaxing day. We really didn’t do much at all. We got up and went to the bus stop and waited for the 10am bus to Vieste. About 10:30, we figured the busses didn’t run on Sunday so we checked back into our cheap hotel. Then we sat in the park next to our hotel for a while and journaled and talked. Afterwards we walked around and found lunch. It was a bit frustrating because almost everything was closed. Finally, we ended up at this place by the sea that didn’t have printed menu. But they would sell us the tourist platter for $15. Yah, we didn’t like that too much so we just ordered a cheese pizza. Even then, they wouldn’t tell us how much it was. It ended up being $5.50 so it wasn’t bad, but still… we came back to the room and at the pizza and then napped. I got up about 5:30 and sat in the park and wrote some more. Then we went down to the beach and played in the water for about 2 hours. I played the part of the dwarf and dug pits in the sand looking for shells. Bwige just sat by and watched, amused at my normal antics. The good part was we both took off our rings as to not repeat our honeymoon episode (aka so I don’t lose the symbol of our marriage). We walked around for a while afterwards and moseyed back here and showered and then went out for dinner. DINNER WAS REDICULOUSLY CHEAP! $3 for both of us! We got some pizza like things at a bar. One cheesy puffy thing that looked like a calazone, one piece of normal pizza, and something else that looked like a pepperoni roll but ended up being hotdogs wrapped with a kinda thousand island sauce. Not great, but not terrible either. Then we both got gelato w/ 3 flavors. Yum yum. I got 2 chocolates and a rum flavor. Bwige got mango/peach, fruit, and watermelon. Yum yum. Then we were wandering in and out of stores and saw this chocolate ball thingies… although we were full from the previous yummies, we got one anyway. It was coffee ice cream covered in a thick chocolate shell. Yum. Tonight was a sugur/carb overload! But that’s ok, we are in Italy! Yah. OK, time for all good fluffys to go to bed. See ya later.

July 28th, 2007 – The Adventures of Salty Dog and Mud Beast

10:00 pm

Today was wonderful. We spent the day in a small town called Barletta. It is such a fantastic little city. We are both thinking that Barletta needs a youth minister and a music teacher. We may just say here forever (no not really Rosa… don’t worry, we are coming home). All the people are so friendly. They just say hi to you as you walk down the street. I love the small town feeling and atmosphere. Last night we walked around and everyone in town was out strolling around. They even closed some of the streets for the purpose of hanging out. We love it here. We have not seen a single tourist the whole time (only a couple that didn’t look entirely Italian walking down the beach).

OK... first things first. The train ride was terrible. We rode in seats that were pretty uncomfortable and neither of us slept much. Fortunately, the train was 2 hours late getting to Barletta and I actually slept most of that last 2 hours.

We got to the town and wandered around for a bit looking for a hotel after walking down to the sea and getting our feet wet. YAH! The Mediterranean! We found a nice little place with a double and a bathroom for only 45 euros. We put on our suites and went and swam in the sea for a while. It was SO COLD! Like, the beach at Galveston is usually kinda warm so this was a shock for us. And the waves were so small. Like… all they way out, they weren’t more than 4 inches tall if that. And that was as far out as we could see… so I guess the smaller bodies of water aren’t affected by the moon as much. Bwige was getting in too slowly, so I kina pulled her in. Then I kissed her and she was very salty so I started calling her Salty Dog. And I was covering my arms in sandy mud stuff as to prevent them getting burned. Well, Bwige didn’t like the way it looked so she made me wash them off. However, she did start calling me her mud beast. So Mud Beast and Salty Dog explored the Mediterranean together. And we made an amazing find… a water-bat. It was this black thingy floating in the water and it had a snout that looked kinda like a bat but big flappy things in back. OK, so that’s not the best explanation, but I didn’t have my camera, so you can just make up whatever sea-,monster you want and that’s what I saw.

The city here is so quaint. The buildings are all lined up in a typical European fashion. However, most of them are orange and yellow. (Don’t worry, its not bright neon orange, more of a terra cotta). More people have cars here than they did in Rome, maybe that’s because they work in another city. There are also less scooters. The people are so relaxed… they hang their laundry out the window, sit on park benches, and stroll aimlessly down the street. No really... God, they DO need ministers here ya know…

Afterwards, we went and ate lunch at an abandoned restaurant. No, we didn’t scrounge for slugs in a 16^th century eatery, it was just that we got there at 12:30 and nobody was eating yet. When we left an hour later, it was still empty (we found out afterwards that people don’t eat till 2pm on Saturday). The food was amazing! We had a seafood mesh with lots of different stuff in it like mussels, little octopi, prongs, huge shrimp, and little thingies that looked like muscles but had a red leg sticking out of it. All of that was mixed into the risotto, which is like rice, except that its pasta. All in all, very very tasty.

We spent the afternoon napping to make up for our lack of sleep on the train. Then we went and strolled around and took pictures. We ended up at a nice restaurant for dinner. Again, we were the only ones there. The food was more amazing than lunch. The bruschetta was the best I’ve ever had. First, we had a plate with spaghetti mixed with lots of sea creatures like lunch except no octopus and red legged muscles (it also had the whole mussel shells in it). Yum.

Next we had a mixed grilled seafood platter. Wow, the biggest shrimp I’ve ever seen! It was almost the size of a plum. And there was also a hollow spherical squishy thing. I think it was a whole calamari because it was about that consistency. Also on the plate was a prawn, larger than a plum, and a whole grilled fish. OK, I know my descriptions aren’t that great, but in the world of seafood, I just don’t have that great a background knowledge and my saying that the calamari was about the consistency of a rubber ball wouldn’t sound very appetizing. So maybe by the end of the trip I will be an expert at describing food. I will swirl a nice glass of wine and after sniffing and tasting it, get a hoity toity look on my face and declare that it is pure and balanced… like a nun on a tightrope.

After dinner we strolled down the street. So much fun. Its so nice just to see people spending time together. So many people in the states spend all day working working working. Then they come home and collapse in exhaustion, only to repeat the next day. The weekends are spent lounging around the house to recover from the insane hours worked the past 5 days. People in the states live to work. People here simply work to live. They spend their evening strolling and socializing. Work isn’t that important because they close shop for 4 hours every afternoon to go relax at home and take a nap. Then, they are out till midnight hanging out with friends. How backwards America’s priorities are!

I heard a story one time about a guy lived on an island. He spent his mornings fishing to feed his family and the afternoon laying around in his hammock with his friends. One day a business man came up to him and suggested that he not be so lazy and spend his afternoons fishing so that he could take something to the market to sell. Why, the islander asked. The business man said that if he sold fish, he could save up his money and buy a bigger boat. Again, why? ‘Well, if you have a bigger boat, you can catch more fish, and sell more and save more money. Then you could buy a whole fleet of boats and hire other people to do your work for you. Then you would have all the money you could ever need!’ The island man though for a second, and with a puzzled look on his face asked what he would do with all his money. With a large smile on his face, the business man replied that when he had money, he would be free to lounge around all afternoon and sit in his hammock and hang out with his friends.

It seems to me, that Americans work to work. We spend so much time working that we don’t have time to hang out with friends. Bwige and I are always struggling to find time for deep fellowship. We are always doing this or responsible for that. I look forward to being at home with slashed schedules. (for those of you who don’t know, we dropped about half the things we were responsible for). We want to focus on life.

Well, that’s about it. Enjoy your busy lives. Keep on running around so that you can run around more. Keep on working long hours so that you don’t have time to enjoy the pleasures your money buys you. Or…. maybe you shouldn’t.

July 27, 2007 - 1,102 steps to a fabulous view

11:00 pm

We are sitting in the station waiting for our train to leave in 45 minutes. Today has been ok. We slept in… however, when I woke up about 7am our room was steaming and I was sweating so I went and go t the clerk guy and asked him to turn on the AC. I went back to bed about 30 minutes later when it cooled down a bit. We woke up a few hours later and had a frustrating time trying to book a hotel for tonight. I kept searching and couldn’t find anything under $300/ night (until I figured out that was for all 3 days). But still, $100/ night it a lot. So after me being grumpy, we just decided to show up and hope to find a room, so we packed up and left w/o any plans.

While in the subway station waiting for the train to go to Fiumacino, I remembered that I wanted to go back to St. Peters so we went the other direction instead. We went and I sat and read psalms aloud while Bwige walked around and took pictures. Just wow. I am still amazed at its size.

Then came the ascension. We climbed all 551 steps to the very top… it started with very wide steps, then normal steps, then steps with slanted walls when we were getting closer to the top so that you felt drunk. Then came the steps that were tall and almost vertical. I huffed and I puffed the whole way up and I almost blew myself down, but we made it. WHAT A VIEW! It was spectacular, Rome as far as you could see… I will post the panoramic when I get a chance.

Then when coming down, the first set of steps was the same as the last. However, this time it was vertical going down. Very very steep and difficult. I really don’t know how some people get down it. The steps ended and we came out into St. Peters. Yah! I got to see the chapel one last time.

Our next little adventure was to go to Fumaciano to get our bag (we hoped). We boarded the train and rode to the airport. When we got inside, joy of joys, the Delta desk was closed. We were told they were going to open tomorrow morning. Arg. So we wondered around for a while longer asking various people and finally (after about 3 lines and 5 people) got our bag back! AND THE PEASANTS REJOYCED! We actually danced around just because we had our clothes back in our possession. I have really learned that you don’t appreciate things until they are absent. We are always told to appreciate what we have, but it’s really difficult when it’s always right in front of us… *pauses to kiss wife*

So having our bags, we booked an overnight ticket to Barletta. The train should arrive at 5:45. We don’t have a sleeper car or anything so we will just sleep in the seats, but having clean clothes in our bags makes it worth it.

Oh, and for dinner tonight we had yummy new things. Bwige tried the lamb, which was very good, and I tried the rabbit, which was excellent and came in little balls. They weren’t like ground up and made into balls, they were just little spherical pieces of meat. Yum yum yum. I tried the white wine and my compliment of it was that I didn’t hate it. So I think I’m getting better… maybe by the end of the trip, I’ll be neutral towards wine. HAHa.

Well, our train should arrive soon, so I will see you later!

July 26th, 2007 - unfinished

Wow. What a day. I have a new favorite things in Italy. St. Peters. Absolutely beyond words!

OK, to start off the day, we got in line for the Vatican museum at about 8:15. It was about 200 yards long. However, it was moving along quite well. We knew that the museum opened to tour groups at 8am and individuals at 10. However, if they had room after the groups went in, they would let some individuals in early. Well, after about 20 minutes, we got to the entrance and found out that our line was for tour groups only. The line for individuals wound around the other side of the building. No really. It wound around the whole other side of the building. It was about 3 city blocks long, and that was at 8:45. By 10 it was even longer!. So the time spent in the other line was totally in vain. We sat down in the other line and finally got in the museum at about 10:30.

There is only 1 word that can describe that museum – overwhelming. In every way, overwhelming. When you enter, you start by going through an Egyptian exhibit that is pretty cool. It has things that are 4,000 years old. Pretty impressive. Then you go through some Etruscan exhibits (they were the forefathers of the guys who started Rome). Again pretty cool. But them you come to some of the Roman sculptures. OK, the big museum in Fort Worth is the Kimble. If they had a bust or something, it would be the center of their entire exhibit. The Vatican had a hallway filled with busts and statues. Literally filled. They had them lined up on shelves. A hallway filled with artifacts that, anywhere else, any one of them could be the centerpiece. This is where we began to be overwhelmed. The next hallway was similar, except that the ceiling was painted. The whole ceiling for the whole hallway. And not in some pretty printed wallpaper. No, painted, by hand, and any section could easily be taken and framed as a masterpiece. We could not take it all in, it was too much. Yet this was just a the appetizer.

Next came the paintings. Again, they had rooms filled with masterpieces, of which any few could be an exhibit on their own at a normal museum. Yet, this was still just the first dish.

What did me in were the painted rooms. Yes, the rooms were painted. Again, not a nice little framed piece of art, but all 6 walls. Yes, the floor was inlaid with marble designs. The ceiling was painted. All four walls were painted. Each one could be studied for hours on end. Each one intricate in its details. Each individual wall could be the masterpiece, the apex of any experts work. Yet it could only be passed by because it was among so many other great works. If Mozart were put in a room with 10 other great musicians from his day, he would shine brightly and people would flock to him. Yet, if you put him in the room with the 1,000 best musicians from throughout history, he would not shine so much. Mozart, Bach, Verdi, Vivaldi, Susa… I could not absorb it all. I felt as though I would burst if I took in one more sight.

Yet it did not stop coming.

Next were the tapestries. Woven rugs that would cover a very large living room floor hung in another hallway. Each one intricately woven to depict a story and maybe 20 x 30 feet. Next were the maps, bigger than the tapestries. Different maps, painted onto the wall of the different times in Italy’s history. Each beautifully painted and claiming to be only wafer thin and easily ingestible. Yet, each one could be studied for hours and I was already bloated on art as it was. And although I could not take in any more, it did not stop. I know that there were more exhibits that I don’t remember, and several exhibits that we totally skipped. However, it was just too much.

Then came their crown jewel. The Sistine Chapel. In the end, I have mixed feelings about this room. First, it must be described. It is a room probably 50 yards long and 20 yards wide. Again, every surface was painted in glorious detail. The ceiling has 9 main panels, in 3 groups of 3; the first depicting creation, the second the creation of man, and the third the fall of man. This is where you get the painting of God reaching out and touching Adam’s finger. That’s the Sistine chapel. Above the alter is the ‘Last Judgment’ painting. Again, a beautiful painting. However, I had a bit of a hard time understanding it; I’m not sure why.

Next is coming my assessment and the rest of the day, but its not done yet... you'll just have to wait... check back later

July 25, 2007 - The Statue and the Player / Acceptable Swimwear

2:00 pm – my trip

We have taken the morning off to sleep in and recover from yesterday. We slept till about 9am and then I got up and finished my paper. We packed up and left Grace’s amazing house and she dropped us off at an internet café so we could work on getting information for somewhere to stay tonight. We were so blessed to have her! Then we went and ate lunch at a small café and it was wonderful. I had tuna with tomatoes and lettuce. It was so good, even Bwige liked it and she wont EVER touch tuna! Wow! She had ham and cheese and it was also fantastic. I love the food so much! So far, this has been the best meal we have had. It was just a small place, but the sandwiches were full of flavor.

So now, as I am writing this, we are sitting on the train waiting for it to leave to go to Rome. Goodby Cesano.

2:00 am – my trip

We just got in. its very late and I’m very tired… but we accomplished a few things today. We checked into our hostel this afternoon. Nothing big, but clean. Then we walked around and Bwige shopped.

We also went to the Italian opera tonight. The show was Don Giovanni. It was pretty fun. Basically, Don Giovanni is this masked womanizer who tries to seduce this chick but when her dad walks in they sword fight and the dad is killed. The next day, the chick, not knowing who tried to seduce her, recruits DG to avenge her fathers death. Next, DG tries to seduce a different girl on her wedding night. Obviously the groom isn't to happy and wants to kill him too. In the end, DG is hiding under the statue of the dead dad, who calls him to repent. DG wont, but does invite the statue to dinner. So the statue shows up that night for dinner and drags DG out of the house, never to be seen again. The last scene is everyone rejoicing and saying how their lives are going to be better now. Yah, stupid ending. Almost as bad as Hitchcock’s ‘The Birds.’ Don’t waste your time on that movie either; birds invade this small town and start killing people. The main characters spend a terrifying night in this old house trying to keep the bloodthirsty birds out. Then, to end the movie, they drive off. Yah. No closure, no explanation, they just drive off. Seriously, if you are going to spend months and months writing a script, and music and thinking out ever detail, you would think they would have put a little more effort into the ending!!

Anyways, after the 3 and a half hour opera (which started at 9pm), we strolled over to the Trevi Fountain again. I took some nice night shots. Wow, I am still amazed at it. Its just so big and majestic. This is definitely my favorite thing so far in Italy.

Tomorrow, we are going to see the Sistine chapel, the Vatican Museum, and St. Peter’s basilica. However, if I were to be honest, I cant say that I know what each of them are… oh well, I’ll see tomorrow… in like… 5 hours…

2:00 am – my thoughts

So what is an acceptable thing for a girl to wear in the area of swimwear? I don’t know why, but I think I have been more sensitized to what is donned in the name of fashion. When you think about it, 75 years ago any girl who showed up at the beach wearing even a one piece would have been arrested for public nudity. Yet, today, girls wear skimpy 2-pieces that leaves almost nothing to the imagination. Girls walk around with little but the center of their breast covered and its considered acceptable. What ever happened to dress modestly? Why is it that we get onto girls for wearing short skirts and shirts that let their belly show but have no problem with girls of all ages walking around almost naked when they are by the water? Does modesty count only when you are not swimming?

It just seems to me that we allow way too much. I would not take it as far as they do, but the Muslims do a much better job in this area then we do. Much. They have their women cover up because the woman’s body is something that belongs only to her husband and he is the only one who should see it. I agree. Do I want some guy undressing my wife in his mind because she is wearing a 2-piece? Do I want his eyes focused on her chest? NO! A million times no. But isn’t that what the clothes are designed to do? The human eye is automatically drawn to differences. So if there is a white paper, your eye will first see the blue dot on it no matter where it is. In the same way, the body is all white (some more pale shades than others), and the eye is immediately drawn to the bright colors of the bathing suite. So where do a guys eyes focus? On her chest and between her legs. And we are ok with this?

I just think there is something to be said for modesty and for not wearing things that makes it hard for the other sex to keep their mind in the correct places.

July 24th 2007 - Dinner and a Coloseaum, all in dirty clothes

1:00 am (late Tuesday night) – my trip

So we just got done eating with Grace. Its been an exhausting day. I am about as tired as I have been in as long as I can remember.

We started off the day a little earlier than yesterday, we left the house at 8:45. That put us in Rome about 10am. We walk out of the subway station and BAM! There is the coliseum. Its so big. Its prettier than in all the pictures.

However, the line was ridiculously long so we pulled out our trusty guidebook, which had just cooked us breakfast and washed our clothes all by itself, and it told us to take a right and get tickets up the hill as both tickets cover the same thing.

We did.

We returned.

We skipped the 2 hour line.

YAH! Go Rick Steves for time saving tips! However, the unfortunate part for me was when Bwige said that Rick Steves was her man. Sad day.

When we got inside, we rented these little radios where you can punch in a number and it will tell you about what you are looking at. Well the guidebook said to bring your own 2 pair of headphones and a splitter so you can save money on them. It worked well (after exchanging the first pair). It was fun, because we had to be close because of the range of the wires, so we walked all through the coliseum, arm in arm, smiling our big goofy ‘We’re in love, get over it’ smile. Lots of fun.

OK, the Romans were nuts. Like, ‘I’m rich and I can do whatever crazy thing I want’ nuts. Actually, they were, ‘I have lots of slaves and I can do any crazy thing I want’ nuts.

It took 40,000 slaves to built this monstrosity, which was actually originally called the Falvian Theater, and a solid half of them died in the building. Talk about disposable resources!!! At one point, they wanted to commemorate a whale washing up on the beach, so they built a whale on the inside of the theater. Sometimes they would have naval battles on in the theater. YES!! Full naval battles with big ships. Which meant they had to flood the center after waterproofing the floor. Just wow.

I cant wait for the panoramic to turn out from this place.

Next we went and got very frustrated with the internet. We tried to look up our baggage information on delta’s website and they just didn’t have it in the system. Arg.. We also tried calling a few places and it didn’t seem to work. The Italian phone systems are proving to be very frustrating.

After that didn’t work, We decided to find a hotel to help us to call because none of the phones we were trying were working. We would try and call and it would give us funky Italian messages that were too complex for Bwige’s basic language skills. This wonderful hotel called the Delta office in Rome for us which transferred us to the baggage center in the US. The guy on the phone gave us good news! Our bags were still in New York! On top of that, they didn’t know exactly where in New York they were so he had us describe the contents and what it looked like and stuff… on top of that, and remember we are on an international call on the hotel’s tab, his computer dies and we sit there for over 10 minutes waiting for him to restart it. Finally, we don’t want to overstay our welcome at the hotel so we tell him we need to go. He takes another 10 minutes to find the number for the Rome airport for us. The 2^nd worst custom service I have ever dealt with.

Fantastic, now, after 3 days in Rome, when our bags were supposed to be delivered yesterday, they have lost them. We go outside and I hold Brigette as she breaks down into tears from frustration. Any company/person that makes my wife cry is blacklisted. Delta was not on our good list before, now they have dug themselves deeper.

After calming her down and getting her some yummy coconut gelato, we decided to spend the rest of the day on palatine hill. It was beautiful! Basically, palatine hill is made up of the ruins of the palaces of past emperors. Nice gardens, beautiful houses, one emperors private chariot racing stadium… yah. We got some good picture there.

Next, we went to the forum, which is where the senators used to walk around. I don’t know much more about it, but it was nice. However, all the walking was killing our feet. Between the hiking around all day long and the 20 pound pack, I was having trouble walking. However, that didn’t stop the day from being over.

Still in wearing the same pair of clothes from Saturday, we searched around for shop to buy something new. Unfortunately, things were closing around then, so I ran down about 15 blocks quickly looking for a place to buy some underwear. I found several. Unfortunately, because they were shops in the nice part of town, they wanted about $35+ for a pair. I can go one more day with old undies for that price! Anyways… my feel were about falling off. I was limping all the way back to Bwige, who I had left at a girl clothes shop to buy herself some stuff. The only time my feet have ever hurt that much was when I was in philmont. The last day we were coming back and it was a long hike down the mountain and I ended up with a blister literally 2 inches long on my foot. Unable to make it home, I practically collapsed on the Spanish steps and we sat for about 15 minutes and ate some bread we had bought earlier in the day (enough to hold us till dinner).

When we finally got back to Cesano, our wonderful host Grace had made us dinner! And how tasty it was! The first course was spaghetti with bell peppers in it. YUMMY. Even better was the eggplant parmesan with the next course. Wow, it’s the best I’ve ever had. As for the wine… well… Bwige liked it, but I’m still learning. I drank what was put in front of me and water after that. Grace was such a wonderful host I didn’t want to say anything bad about her expensive wine and offend her. I’ll learn to like wine eventually…

We talked about a lot of different things. It was fun because she speaks pretty good English, but her husband Marco doesn’t. So I can use my elementary knowledge of Spanish to talk to him and since the language is close, eh can understand enough of what I said. Bwige did much better at talking to both of them. We discussed how the big stores were coming in and killing all the mom and pop stores. I didn’t know they had that problem here also.

We also talked about the differences between Catholicism and Protestantism. I was saying how in Catholicism, you are saved by the sacraments as opposed to by faith. I talked about how that we believe that good works don’t save you, but simply show that you are saved. Just as me loving my wife does not make me married to her, but shows that I am married to her. Then, because it was almost midnight, Marco said that we should change the subject because it was too late to be discussing deep things. I laughed and said I was a night owl so my brain was just now waking up. I hope the conversation went well…

Well… time for bed… laterz.

July 23rd, 2007 - Rome 101

11:00 pm - my trip
Today was amazing! We started off by the Spanish Steps. The very first thing we did was to get some gelato and eat it on the Spanish steps. We got a man from LA to take our picture. Haha, in order to avoid my camera being stolen, I have decided that when I want my picture taken to only hand it to people I can run faster than! Anyways, then we went and found some pizza for lunch, it was so good! Mine had oregano, basil, tomatoes and mozzarella slices. Bwiges had a pizza with tomato chunks, basil, and crushed red papper (no cheese). Both were wonderful. WE sat and talked with a guy from Canada who worked on a Canadian cruise line who was sailing through Disney around the Mediterranean.

Then we went into a few churches that were amazing! They are so big and awe inspiring! When I see these incredible works of architecture that are 4 stories tall on the inside and I consider our plain little sanctuaries, it is no wonder to me that Americans have such a lack of awe for God. Our churches reflect it. Anyways, one of the churches had the head of St. John the Baptist… kinda weird.

Next, we saw the Trevi fountain. WOW. Its so big! Its like… .huge… like… half the length of a football field! Yah… wow.. the pictures just don’t do it justice. I think its been my favorite thing so far. I don’t know why, I just really like it.

We also saw the Victor Emannual monument. That was even bigger than the Trevi. Its like the size of the Texas state capitol. Yah… big… and its just a memorial to all the unknown soldiers. Yah… enormous. Those little dots in the picture are people…

Last we saw the Pantheon. Of all the thins I saw today I am initially least impressed. Its just a big dome. The dome is very large but its just a done. Again, the pictures wont give you a good perspective. However, when the age of the building is considered, I am much more impressed. Its ANCIENT… like 2500 years old (I don't remember exactly).

That’s about it… we wandered and saw some other stuff… all in all, amazing. Go Rome!

July 22nd, 2007 - Squished Spanish Spirits & Rejoycing in Rome

11:00 am – my trip
We are now sitting in the airport in Madrid. Our spirits are pretty flat at the moment. We got off the plane just fine but when we went to pick up our luggage it did not come down the belt. After about 30 minutes of waiting, we went to the lost baggage desk and they said that it was still in New York. However, they are supposed to deliver it tomorrow to Grace’s house in Rome. So no huge deal as long as we get it. It just makes the flight to Rome a bit lighter and faster.

We wanted travel into Madrid for lunch, but because of the hour travel time and possible traffic coming back, we decided to walk the streets around the airport and find some food. No luck. It is a maze of highways that are not easily crossable. We we headed back after about 15 minutes of being lost int eh concrete maze. On the way back, I stepped on a loose man-hole cover and it supprised bwige who turned quickly and twisted her ankle. Its not really bad, but it hurts. Although its not swelling so it shold be fine.

So now we sit in the Madrid airport, we are going to sleep a few hours before our flight to Rome. Hopefully things will get better.

9:15 pm – my trip
WE ARE IN ROME!! YAH!!! We are at Grace’s house and about to go to bed. She is the lady we are staying with. We met her on CouchSurfing, a sight that matches people traveling with people who want to host travelers. Its free to stay with someone. Just however many nights you stay with people, you let that many people stay with you. It seems like it should work well. we are staying with a mom, dad, and their son. We are very very tired at this point and would be happy with just a floor to sleep on. We have been traveling for 2 days now. As a side note, don’t do the whole ‘book separate tickets and save money’ thing… it does not work. You spend just as much and it takes more time and it’s a pain in the butt!

Anyways, WOW… we don’t get a floor at Grace’s house, we get our own little apartment! It’s a little efficieny with a kitchenette, table, bed, and bathroom. Oh my gosh its amazing! I cant believe its working out so well. Grace is so nice and I cant wait to get to know her more. On top of that, she fixed us dinner! It was tortalini and salad with tuna and tomatoes. Mmmmm… she asked us if we wanted wine and we said yes and so she set a bottle on the table. Bwige poured herself a little but hadn’t taken a drink when Grace came back outside, she was like NO! HAha, bwige poured herself a nice glass of vinegar… mmmmm. So she poured it out and got some of the real wine. The food was wonderful!! I was so proud of bwige! She ate the salad with tuna on it even though she HATES tuna. She said it wasn’t bad either! J We both think its very important to eat what is put in front of you without complaining. If you are allergic, that’s one thing, but otherwise, eat what you are given. First, you don’t know how they prepare it. You may like it! When Matthew was a kid, he hated lasagna but when forced to eat it at Aunt Becky’s house, he loved it so much he had 3 helpings! Also, you should be flexable enough to go with the flow. It can be very rude to eat only what you want to when you want to. You are a guest in their house and should act accordingly. anyways….

Hmm.. what else…. Well… we are tired and its time to go to bed. So…

OH OH OH!! One more thing. On the flight from Madrid, we met this group of Romans going home from a weekend in Madrid. They were SO nice! They talked to us the whole time about the best places to eat and things to do in Rome. Then they aksed us where we were going next and we said the Gargano peninsula and they were like ‘NO NO NO! You must go to Sicily, its so much better!’ So I think we will see Sicily instead. They were so nice. Texas are famed for being friendly… Romans put us to shame.
OK, no really, its time for bed. Goodnighit.

July 21, 2007 - The Adventure Begins

6:30am – my trip
The adventure has begun…. almost. Bwige and I spent all night packing and getting ready (aka we didn’t go to sleep). We left at 3:45 am for her parents house where her wonderful dad gave us a ride to DFW. Our flight is supposed to leave at 7:20 for New York at noon. Then we catch a flight to Madrid at 7:30 pm. This should give us a few hours to wander the streets of NY and have some roasted nuts and hotdogs. mmmmm… NY street food.

After checking in, going through security, and finding the right gate we sat to at our gate, excitedly waiting for our adventure to begin. My cell phone rang. “Thank you for flying Delta. We have an update for your flight. *pause* Your flight has been canceled. You will now leave at noon and arrive at 4:40. Thank you for flying Delta.” So here we sit in the airport with a 5 hour wait for our flight. The good news is that we should still have enough time to catch our flight to Madrid, the bad news is that we won’t get to have yummy NY street food.

I’m not really worried. We will get there when we get there. Now is time to relax and go with the flow. Its not really worth it to freak out. I’m just glad I went to walmart and got enough food for us for a good part of the day. Although… I nibble when I sit… so it may not last.

So here I sit, in front of our plane which is in the gate, where it will sit for 5 more hours. And the cutest girl in the whole world is sleeping beautifully on the ground waiting for our flight. Wow, a more wonderful princess has never graced the floor of DFW!


2:00 pm – my trip
We are en route to JFK. And we had a surprise in store for us – first class! Man, its nice. You get drinks before you take off, and they come around with a little basket of snacks for you to choose from (chips, oatmeal bar, peanuts) instead of the normal ginger cookies. I’ve never flown first class before… its kinda nice

3:00 pm – my thoughts
So Thursday night I spent all night cleaning the house – like from 11pm till 4:30 am. I could have just given it a once-over and been done with it, but I knew that it would thrill my wife if I cleaned well. So I gave the whole house a good spring cleaning.
I wanted to please Bwige. I could not wait till she woke up… I wanted to see her jaw drop when she saw it.
Well I was thinking later that morning about how that seems to be what God wants from us. He wants us to be so in love with him that we just long to please him. He wants us to go out of our way and lose sleep to show our love to him.
I want my heart to be so in love with Christ and so grateful for the fact that he saved us from eternal death that waking up early for him would be a privilege and a joy instead of a struggle. Isn’t that how we should treat God if we truly love him?

?:00 – my trip
Sitting in the airplane, somewhere over the Atlantic ocean. We are traveling 575 m/h ground speed at 35,000 feet. Outside the plane it is a toasty 1º F. I have no idea what time it is. I just know that I will arrive in Madrid in a few hours and I can’t sleep. But oh well, I can sleep when I get home! I am excited. It is just now beginning to sink in… I am going to be in Europe.

Yes, we are alive

hey guys, we are alive, we just havent had much internet access. basically, weve been running a bit crazy becuase we still dont have our luggage (its somewhere in New York). So weve been trying to take care of that and get clothes (we wore the same thing for 4 days...).

Other than that, we are doing amazing. The food is WOW and the sights are breathtaking. Tonight we are staying in a hostel with net access so you will get up update late tonight (about 5 or 6pm your time)

love yall much!

Well,

it is Saturday morning, 3:45 am. We are leaving the house.... the plane leaves at 7:20....

the adventure begins...

BBBBWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IM LEAVING IN 38 HOURS AND I HAVE TOO MANY THINGS TO GET DONE!!!


*RUNS AROUND CRAZY***