Venice.Florence.Rome.

There and back.

Venice.

This was both Emily and my favorite place in Italy. Our hostel was tucked away in a neighborhood and kind of away from the touristy places. We took a water bus around the second day and loved people watching more than touring places. We went to San Marco Square, Rialto Bridge and Accademia Bridge too. Sometimes we would be riding down the Grand Canal and it would just hit me that I was actually in Venice, Italy. This trip has been such a wonderful thing.

The food is amazing and each dinner has been great. It has been pasta heaven for me
This was my first meal in Venice.

Gelato in Venice was the best too. We found a cheap place that had gelato for 1.10 euro and ended up eating it twice a day there. Tiramisu, lemon, and watermelon have been my favorites so far.

We just really felt at home in Venice, it was smaller and easier to navigate, people were also much more willing to help us get around. We were trying to find the Giovanni Evangelista church our first day there, ran into two cute old ladies and they walked us to it even though we couldn't understand one another's languages. It was so sweet of them.

Florence.

Because we had such a wonderful time in Venice, Emily and I were skeptical of what Florence would be for us. Our hostel was pretty sketchy. Once arriving there after about a 15 minute walk from the train station we arrived to find young Italian men running the hostel. The guy behind the desk explained to us that he could get us a great room and that they loved American girls. I was just praying that this wasn't some hoax. After paying we were actually sent to another location and had a great experience there, with our own room and bathroom. cool!

We went to the Accademia (literally next door to our hostel) and saw David, and then walked to the Duomo and Ponte Vecchio. If I could pick one landmark that I loved it was the Duomo. The church was enormous and absolutely spectacular. Dinner was fun that night and we found a great place hidden away. I had orchiette and Emily had ravioli with pears and cheese. It was delicious :)

Our friday morning was spent at the Uffizi gallery which had mostly paintings with religious meanings or statues. We were quite overwhelmed. Bartered for different souveneirs for gifts and then took a nap back at our room. That evening we tried to save dinner for much later and walked around to different shops. We found a great store called Signum that had journals and posters. It was a great find. Dinner was spent in one of the Piazzas at an outdoor cafe.
We had cappuchino around 9 o'clock which was an absolutely awful decision. We had to be at the train station around 8:30 that next morning and didn't fall asleep until around 2:30 the night before because of the caffeine in the cappuchino. All in all Florence was beautiful and there was a lot to see, but it wasn't my favorite of the trip.

Rome.

Rome has been overwhelming. It is a huge city with tons to do. This past Saturday after getting back from Florence, Emily and I actually laid low and took a break from sightseeing. But, after dinner that night, Debbie (who we are staying with in Rome) took us to get gelato near the Pantheon and then we walked to the Trevi fountain. It was a lot of fun. Today Emily and I went to the Colosseum, took a guided tour which was well worth it and then walked to the Roman Forum and Palatino. The ruins are amazing to see and it is crazy to believe they have been around for so long. Then we took the metro to Vatican city and walked around for awhile. We took Debbie out to dinner and had bruschetta, pizza, and tiramisu. yum!
One more day left in Italy and then headed to Lithuania. I am not really ready to go, so prayer that I would get adjusted to Lithuania easily would be much appreciated. I am so thankful that Emily and I had this time to travel and see a part of the world. The Lord truly blessed us with this opportunity.

Until next time.

Ciao.

Emily and I have been up for 31 hours so bear with me.

Our flight over was great, not much sleep, but fine nonetheless.
So, on the screens that they show movies on for the flight they also show where we are in our flight over, what time it is from our depature and the time until our destination. Emily and I didn't realize that they were showing us the time until our destination, and actually thought it was the time over in Poland where we were headed. Then we noticed the time was counting down and at the exact same moment realized it was counting down until we landed not the actual time. We felt pretty dumb at that point.

Breakfast before landing in Poland was hilarious to us both. We had woken up from minimal sleep to find a tray of the most interesting foods for breakfast. It consisted of a slice of deli ham, lettuce, 2 small cucumbers, 1/2 of a cherry tomato, dollop of cottage cheese and a dinner roll. Now, I wasn't expecting pancakes and eggs, but seriously they could have given us a heads up on what was going to served ;)

After landing in Poland we had our passports stamped and went through another set of security. Emily and I didn't think we would go through security again and had actually filled our water bottles up for the next flight. Thankfully the Poles are very generous people and allowed us to just dump it out and go on to our gate. Phew!

The train ride from the airport in Rome to Debbie's apartment was really fun and it was so neat to see the countryside leading into Rome. A Swedish guy sat with us and told us he had just moved to Rome to work for the World Food Organization (i think) for the UN. He travels all over, such as, he is going to Afghanistan next and Africa soon after that. It was sad though, because we could tell that his job meant squat to him.

All in all it has been such a great time. We head to Venice tomorrow :)

Until next time.

Ciao.

Leaving tomorrow.

The voyage, which is what Patrick calls it, starts in Rome.

I don't know what to expect so I am not truly looking forward to it, but once
I arrive I know that it will all mean so much more to me.

So. Goodbye to America.

and

Hello Europe!

(don't worry, once I get there my posts will be much longer)

thank you to all who will be praying for me. i appreciate it greatly.