geoff & juliet

geoff & juliet (bummer geoff's eyes are closed - oh well!)

meet geoff & juliet. juliet grew up in the philippines and geoff in australia. they live in sydney, australia. they are in the middle of a two week cruise around italy and are spending a few days in vernazza. they were a gift to me today. (i will come back to them in a minute)

left positano this morning at roughly 7:10am. when the bus pulled up it was full. i needed to get on that bus in order to make a bunch of connections - so i put my baggage underneath and got on. the bus driver told me it was full and i pretended like i didn't know what he was saying. i just smiled and kept saying "sorrento si?":) he let me stay on though - i stood right next to him in the very front of the bus. some of you have been on the road to positano and amalfi  - so you know why i was contemplating my immanent death. but five mins into the drive the lady in the front seat got out - so i sat down. yay! 

leg two of liz's travel day was the public metro from sorrento to naples. that was mostly uneventful. i did get on the wrong train at first - but it only required me to get of and get on another one with no major hassles. 

leg three was train from naples to rome. uneventful. except you know those people when you are traveling that seem to have no idea what they are doing and who they are affecting? like they are dropping their stuff in people's laps, hitting people with their luggage and taking FOREVER to figure out where to put their stuff once they got on whatever form of transport you are on? you know who i am talking about. yep - that was me today. i don't know what the deal was - but i was just up in everyones grill with all my stuff - dropping things and hitting people with my massive backpack. it was quite comical. can i chalk it up to only a few hours of sleep?

leg 4 - i was pretty tired and done at this point. so from rome to la spezia (3 1/2 hour train ride) i booked a first class seat. it was like $30 more than the regular ticket and it was worth it. i got to stretch out, sleep a bit and enjoy the amazing scenery as we traveled through a bit of wine country. totally support my spontaneous upgrade. 

leg five and the last leg - train from la spezia to vernazza. missed that hourly train by about 5 seconds. bummer. but not really. back to geoff & juliet. they missed it too. so we had an hour to chat while we waited for the next train as it is the only way to get to vernazza. on the train into la spezia i had seriously contemplated just getting another train to florence, changing my ticket and going to london early. not b/c i was tired of traveling. honestly i was just tired of being alone. what i have found on this trip is that i don't like to travel alone. once i get somewhere i am okay being by myself - but the traveling really isn't fun and i FEEL really alone in it. geoff & juliet changed that for me. they immediately took me into their lives. geoff was watching out for my bags and juliet was making sure i got to my bed and breakfast. we kept seeing each other in vernazza after we got here (since the town is like three blocks long) and we would stop and chat like we are old friends. i sat at a pizzeria outside for dinner. they were walking by and juliet says, "geoff - its liz! do you want pizza for dinner?" they had bought a bottle of wine - so they shared it with me. we had pizza, drank wine, talked, laughed. i love this on so many levels. a) Jesus knows what i need and always steps in when i am at my end 2) i think it is so amazing that you can strike up a conversation with people who live on the opposite side of the world and end up having dinner and acting like old friends in a period of hours. its really beautiful. when we left the pizzeria, geoff said, "good night dear!" and gave me a big kiss on the cheek. precious!

so anyway -  one bus, four trains, 11 hours and two new friends later i am in vernazza, italy. within a few mins of being here it quickly became my favorite. i will save commentary on vernazza for tomorrow. but i will leave you with a few pics so you won't be too mad at all my words in this post!!

me on the pier in vernazza - its a bit rainy at the moment

huge rocks on the pier  - i really liked this pic so thought i would share :)

my pesto pizza - so good!

meandering

i looked up the word meandering and the internet says the definition is "to follow a winding course". if that is true - then i spent today meandering. i walked from my hostel, which is at the very top, to the beach, which is at the very bottom. instead of climbing down the roughly 3000 steps, i chose the winding course of the road. it was so nice to walk down without a plan, stop and look at a shop if i wanted to or pet a dog. italians have their dogs in their shops with them. being the crazy dog lover that i am - i love this! i hung out with a beautiful golden retriever for a few minutes today. we are tight now.

the day in pictures:

view of positano from closer to the top

view from the beach

how european is this beach!

funny selfie at the bottom of the hill :)

cool stone staircase

i love all of the gates that lead to people's homes

these were carved out on the side of the street in the wall of stone

some random thoughts about my travels thus far:

• the elderly in europe rock. they are out walking and biking b/c they have done it all their lives and have to to survive. here in positano i saw an elderly lady, she had to be at least 80, walking up and down the steep stairs. amazing.
• italy keeps smart car and fiat in business. oh and whoever makes mo-peds/scooters or whatever you call them.
• i would NEVER want to drive in italy. or be a bus driver. in italy that is.
• europe keeps the tobacco industry going
• my lungs feel a little bit like they have a disease after being in europe with all of the smoke and exhaust - i can actually feel a difference. looking forward to getting out of lung cancer central.
• hostels are cool
• i really enjoy meeting new people from all over the world. i met a lady today who is from germany. she studied italian online for two years and wanted to work on her language. so she just came to italy. she got jobs in different cities teaching english and german in order to make ends meet. she just came to visit positano and ended up at this hostel. the owners needed help for a few weeks with reception - so she is staying for two months. so cool. 
• there are a lot of people out there searching for truth and looking for love in all the wrong places.
• "i want to do a gap year and travel around the world!" said in a whiny voice, while throwing a minor fit in response to the three australian girls who are in my room at this hostel. they are doing a "gap year" and traveling around the world for 5-6 months. 
• i am extremely blessed to have these 5 weeks to travel and am very grateful!
• british people are still my favorite. brilliant. cheers. sherlock.
• in my mind "pt" stands for pint. apparently in europe it stands for pitcher. 
• i love the ocean
• i don't like sleeping in the same room with other people. ever really.
• italian pizza is better than pizza in the usa
• i have kept to my goal of eating gelato everyday in italy. yum.
• phil wickham's new album is excellent. i love it.
• when you forget to put sunscreen on and walk around in the sun all day you get sunburnt. :(
• tomorrow is a new day with more adventures to behold. taking the 7:05am bus. moving on. 

a journey to the coast

just in case you were wondering about my perfect italian dinner last night:

this morning i got up and headed to the train station at around 8:30. i didn't have a ticket or anything - so it was the beginning of my travel adventure of the day. train travel is so easy in europe! when i got to the station there were kiosks everywhere. so i just purchased my ticket at one of them. my train left 25 mins later. it was supposed to be an hour and a few minutes. ended up being almost 2 hours to naples. we got stuck waiting for another train to pass or something. that is what i gathered with the NO italian that i speak.

in naples i followed the signs like a good little traveler and purchased my next train ticket. it was only 4 euros. it was a little over an hour ride on their metro. so denver peeps think lightrail except dirtier. :) so many people jam packed into the train. but hey - gets you from point a to sorrento. i got off the train in sorrento and figured out where to purchase my bus ticket to positano (thanks to a couple from australia). got on the bus and a little over an hour later drove into positano. note for next bus ride - take dramamine before. the drive was amazingly beautiful but SO many curves. its like driving in the mtns in colorado except there is an ocean on one side. :)

i missed my bus stop. i wasn't paying attention and just missed it. not a problem except if you know anything about positano it sits on a huge hill overlooking the ocean. my bus stop was at the very top of the hill. i got off closer to the bottom. and my backpack weighs over 40 lbs. i have climbed mtns in colorado - so yes - i could have walked up the hill. but i'm on holiday (everyone i meet says that and it sounds cooler than vacation). so i caught a taxi. and by caught a taxi i mean i stood on the side of the road for about a half an hour and no taxis. i had a little breakdown at that point - i was tired of traveling and not understanding the language is so hard! i went to this beautiful lookout and cried and prayed that God would provide a taxi for me to get back up the hill. turned around and one came up the street. thanks Jesus!

so now i am here in positano. my roommates in this hostel are three girls from australia who are on gap year and traveling the world for 5-6 months. they are great! and the husband of the couple that run this place is british. so. much. joy. i like to pretend that i am british even though i can't do an accent to save my life. so peter and i had a brilliant little chat. love it!

the best pizza place in town is across the street. so guess where liz is going for dinner?!

positano - the view from my little breakdown spot :)

steps down - it is basically straight down to the beach - something like 3000 steps. i think i will be taking the round about way. :)

my view at the hostel as i type this - the sun is setting - beautiful!

when in rome - prendere due (that's "take two" just in case you don't speak italian or use google translate)

started today off with a little pauline epistle to the romans. thought it was fitting. my fav part of it is right at the beginning of chapter one he says: "to all in rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people: grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." (romans 1:7) i am in rome and God loves me! this letter is for me. 

after a breakfast consisting of a croissant, yogurt and coffee, christina and i headed out for our day of tourism. really i think the saying should be "when in rome do as the tourists do" b/c there are more tourists in rome than romans. just sayin'.

we stopped at a really cool church on the way to the colosseum. there are churches on every corner and all of them are so amazingly beautiful. there were two priests in the church waiting to take confession - one of them was asleep. ha! we meandered our way through the streets toward the looming colosseum. what a sight. seriously - being here feels so crazy most of the time. all these things you see on tv and in movies or read about - its all right here in front of me. we were told the line into the colosseum would b really long and we would wait a few hours. we walked right in. my theory is that the pope was giving a papal audience at the vatican this morning - so everyone was there. 

outside the colosseum

it was amazing to stand inside this brilliant structure that was the place where so many died. for their faith and for no reason - or for pure evil pleasure. the colosseum was able to hold between 50-70 thousand people. and they would come to watch people be killed. unreal. i understand that other things happened there as well - not all death. but a whole lot of it. such a beautiful place full of so much not beautiful history.

inside

one of my favorite parts of the day was standing inside of the colosseum for a long time talking with christina. she is from germany and is catholic. she is studying theology and has a desire to serve the catholic church. we spent a long time talking about Jesus, what He did for us and how that affects the lives we lead. in a place that held so much death and evil, to have a life giving conversation about truth and God's love for us seemed redeeming.

loved this cross at the entrance

after we left the colosseum we walked through the roman forum. the ruins are pretty amazing. i can't imagine how spectacular it looked when it was all in tact. the columns on the buildings - huge! can you imagine what they must weigh? yikes! there were some cool arches too. we were hungry at this point so we went and found a little hole in the wall pizza place. we got pizza and sodas, sat out on the piazza, watched people and listened to this precious older italian man play the guitar. perfect lunch in italy. 

when only in rome for a day one should probably at least try to see the vatican. it was another 20 minute walk from where we were - so we went for it. we were tired of all the people, traffic and noise - so we walked down the steps to the path along the river. it was peaceful and a nice stroll. both christina and i said many times today how thankful we are that God sent us here at the same time to see rome together. we both feel the same way about being a tourist. we don't feel like we have to see everything. we just want to be present and enjoy what we can. it has been a real blessing to me to get to share this time with her. and to think - yesterday we didn't even know each other. i love that!

this is just the view from the outside. we didn't go in. it was around 2:45 and the line just to get in was about 3 hours long. b/c the pope spoke this morning, everything was closed. so everyone was there this afternoon. so i didn't get to see the sistine chapel - but that's ok. i'll see it another time. :)

seriously - there is so much in this city to see. i'm thankful to have seen what i did. tonight i'm having dinner at the little restaurant right outside my hostel. its outside on the sidewalk - will have some italian food and a glass of wine. perfect dinner in italy!  oh - and just in case you were worried - i had gelato again today. its my goal to eat gelato every day while i'm in italy. i don't foresee this goal being one i am unable to meet.

tomorrow i leave early for my trek to positano. fino a domani!! ("until tomorrow" - google translate is so fun!

when in rome

made it to rome. i sat in the very last row on the plane here, next to two american girls. across the row from us were 3 italian mob guys. at least that is what they looked like. acting all like i knew what i was doing, i followed the signs and found the place to purchase train tickets. got it. caught the train into central rome. walked the 3 blocks to my hostel. and that's all she wrote.

well - maybe not. i'm staying at an all female hostel. the women who run it are young, friendly and very helpful. its a cute little place decorated with a lot of pink. :) i'm staying in a 4 bed room. right now there are two other girls here. megana from canada and christina from germany. they are both great! christina and i went out on the town tonight and saw the sunset from the spanish steps - which is the widest staircase in europe (wikipedia is awesome!). and we ate gelato at the fontana di trevi.  or the trevi fountain if you can't do the italian.

rome is crazy. there are SO many people here. hundreds of people on the steps - hundreds of people at the fountain. so much traffic. i am so thankful i have the chance to see this city and all its amazing history. but it isn't going on my list of places i want to live.

sunset on the spanish steps

fontana ti trevi - largest baroque fountain in rome - one of the most famous in the world