To the Alps...

I am currently at my friend Alero's place in Geneva, Switzerland! ... so good to be with a friend :) God has been so faithful and has been keeping me safe- especially in Rome, which I was the most nervous about. My travels in Italy have come to an end, at least for this time... hopefully I'll return in the future!

From Switzerland, I'll be going up to Amsterdam to see another friend, and then on to Germany...

I wasn't able to upload pics last time, so here are a few recaps:

The leaning tower of Pisa (I was actually attempting to do a jumping shot but the picture was taken right before my take off, so I happen to be leaning with the tower :)

Cinque Terre-

Manarola where I spent the night

Florence-
Ponte Vecchio

My ravioli cooking lesson up on the hillside of Rufina-nearby Florence! (one of my favorite things I've done so far!)

Before... using the fork or utensil to make the ribbed edges

After! (It was pretty tastey if I do say so myself ;P)

Siena- Piazza del Compo

Rome-

Colosseum

Threw my 1 euro over and made a made a wish at the Trevi Fountain ;)

"Mouth of Truth" in the portico of Santa Maria in the Piazza Bocca della Verita, famous from the Audrey Hepburn movie Roman Holiday

"The legend is that if you're given to lying, you put your hand in there and it will be bitten off."

... thankfully, I still have both of mine!

Venice- Gondolas and bridges galore!
Louise (girl I met at the hostel), me and Franco ... he gave us a good deal ;)

Rialto Bridge

Walking through the streets...and over the bridges

View from outside my window...

Geneva, Swizterland

Me and Alero in front of the Jet D'eau :)

About to eat some Le Marechal cheese and crackers!

flexibility is the best ability...

Or at least a good one to have especially while traveling!!!

This past Sunday, I was in Nice, France (which was absolutely beautiful...reminded me a bit of the coast of Southern cali :) ... sorry, I'm at a hostel right now and unable to upload pictures.) I had my first gelato in Europe here and it was A-mazing! So much so that I got another one after dinner later in the evening! haha Hey, all the walking and climbing stairs I think requires me to get one! Anyways, I was supposed to head out on a train to Cinque Terre, Italy but there was a French train strike!!! I guess I couldn't leave France without experiencing one of their many strikes ;P God was so good though and traveling with a friend who works for Air France, I was able to fly into Italy but had to fly into Florence, Italy so lost a day at the Cinque Terre. I later learned that the place I would have had to make my transfer was pretty unsafe so I'm thankful. I took a train up to Cinque Terre yesterday (google it and you'll see beautiful pictures of 5 coastal towns) Hence, cinque meaning five in italian. I'm learning some Italian! haha I would've stayed longer but made reservations for 2 museums in Florence today so headed out this morning...

I was supposed to leave on a 7:30am train to get into Florence in time for my 12:00pm reservation but the train was delayed 1.5 hours!! I admit, my heart started beating a little faster and I was about to go into panic mode as I thought 'Man! I could've slept longer!' but realized there wasn't much I could do about the situation so decided to just wait and ended up meeting a few nice people who were also waiting for the same train and had a nice conversation with them. (I'm cautious of who I have conversations with and pretty skeptical of people here but I was in a public area and my gut said they were ok :P)

I was able to change my reservation when I got into Florence (gave them my American puppy eyes :P) so saw the beautiful statue of David by Michelangelo in the Accademia and Borticelli's Birth of Venus among many other things! It's surreal at times to see paintings, sculptures and scenery with my very own eyes that I have only seen in pictures. I wasn't able to take pictures in these museusms so we may have to go back together next time! ;)

Tomorrow will be a nice change of pace as I take a wine tasting\cooking lesson tour. I think we're going to learn how to make pasta, so we'll see how it turns out!

I'll be heading to Siena, Italy for a night on Friday and then on to Rome for a few days on Saturday...please pray for protection and safety. I'm most nervous about traveling there but excited for all that I'll see! Hopefully no more major glitches, or minor ones for that matter... but learning to go with the flow and be flexible! ... things don't always go as 'planned'

Buona sera! (Good evening!)

Sights in Toulouse...

I left Paris yesterday and arrived in Toulouse, France... (Southwest part of France) I'll be staying here for a few days before heading down to Barcelona later this week.

My Au Revoir Paris pic... I guess my Eiffel Tower stance :P


This morning I walked around the city of Toulouse then ate lunch (Some Baguette, Charcutrie, Quiche Lorraine and Orangina :) to get re-energized before taking a bike ride along their canal (Canal du Midi). It's 150 miles long!! But don't worry, I only went a few miles down. After being in rain and chilly weather in Paris, today was a treat being sunny and in the 50s. I am a little bummed I'm not in the 80 degree weather back in VA... but I'll take what I can get :) Tomorrow's supposed to be warmer! WAHOO!

Started the morning walk seeing this peacock in the garden across the street!


Then saw a few cathedral/basilicas... seeing these made me stand in awe of our creative God who created His people in His image.

Saint Etienne (a combination of Roman and Gothic architecture)


I love the stained glass windows in these churches!


Saint-Sernin (Roman architecture influence)




Church of the Jacobins (where Thomas Aquinas' remains are placed)


Taking a picture while riding the bike...almost fell off! haha:P


The Garrone River and Pont Neuf-bridge with the city of Toulouse in the background (not to be mixed up with Paris' Pont Neuf)


It is quite a quaint area :) ... Need to do major planning and reserving for the next few weeks' travel. Praying that it all works out, realized some museums I needed to book a month in advance! :\ But thankful for what I've seen and experienced already!

Thank you Jesus for blessing me with this trip... but even more, thank you for dieing on the cross for me and rising from the dead!
If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead!- 1 Corinthians 15:19-20a

684 stairs climbed and then some

I left London two days ago and arrived in Paris... Paris is truly all you imagine and more! :) It's amazing to see the Eiffel Tower with your own eyes,

climb 400 plus stairs to see the Gargolyes on Notre Dame,

(Ethan and I imitating one of the Gargoyles)


and another 284 stairs to get a beautiful view of Paris from the platform roof of the Arc de triomphe...that's after walking about 1.25 miles up the Champs-Elysees (today, in the rain :P) ...a street full of shops, where you really only "Eye" shop because you can't afford to buy anything except for a few postcards, or at least I couldn't!

I've had a lot of Charcuterie (various meats, including patte :P) and Baguettes. I enjoyed my first pain au chocolat in Paris today as well (a chocolate filled croissant!) I've had them before in America, but there's something that makes it taste oh so good as you take a stroll in France...or maybe you mentally tell yourself it tastes a lot better because it costs double the price, since it was bought at a stand near the tourist areas ;P

I'm learning to constantly depend on the Lord and bring my requests before Him...even for nice weather. After walking in rain today, I truly believe no prayer is too small... I was a little bummed I would climb the stairs in the Arc de Triomphe to be greeted by more rain, but I prayed on our way over that the Lord would stop the rain. And when we reached the top of the stairs, well, the rain had stopped and the clouds started to break as the sun just barely shone through! :) Had it still been raining, God would still be faithful, but I'm thankful He answered this little prayer today and blessed me this way. So if the sun is shining where you are, thank the Lord for the sun. And if there are clouds out and/or it's raining, thank the Lord that He is there too...and that He will make the sun shine!

(the view when I got to the platform room of Arc de Triomphe)


Hosea 6:3

Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth."

One Dream Come True

I've finally created this blog... and am totally a newbe! So we'll see how it goes :) As you can see, I haven't figured out how to edit the pictures and put captions under them yet but hope you still enjoy them! I won't have access to the internet every day, especially as I go off on my own backpacking in Europe, but will try to posting once in a while to keep you all updated!

Like many people I'm sure, I have always wanted to take a trip to Europe. Well this year, God has blessed me and made this dream come true! I flew into London yesterday morning (March 24) with my wonderful host family I've been living with. (Dave, Tina, Ethan "Monster", and Jacob "Gooby") The transition has been nice being in a "foreign" country since everything is still in English and people speak English, though with an accent. Or is it, I have the accent since I'm in their country?

Day 1- We hit the ground running to fight off our being jet lagged and took the "Tube," their underground metro system, to see Big Ben and ride on the London Eye - an observation wheel (sort of like a ferris wheel) allowing you to see London's skyline. We then walked along the River Thames and saw several bridges, the London Bridge and Tower Bridge being a couple of them. We ate at The Lamb Tavern for dinner where I had my first Fish and Chips (fish fried in beer batter and fries :P) then headed back. It was a great first day in London!

Day 2 - We went to see Buckingham Palace and the Changing of the Guard (slightly over rated :) but I enjoyed the music being played... from one of my favorite Broadway musicals, Les Miserable! We headed over to a huge mall called Harrods that was a giant mall/supermarket/pharmacy-everything you would need to buy store (thinking it was the mall with the biggest toy store for the kids to go to, finding out later there's a mall with 7 floors of toys called "Hamleys" whoops!). But we ended up buying a couple baguettes and sandwich meat at Harrods and ate them outside on a bench which ended up being an "unplanned" fun memory. We then headed over to the British Museum and Tina and I learned good shoes is definitely a top priority in traveling as both of our feet were not so Happy Feet :\ It's been a full day and need to get some sleep for tomorrow, so will post again when I can!