Thursday, July 5, 2012
About the photos...
Here's the deal... Pictures won't send from my email anymore. Sorry about that one! Don't you worry, though. First thing I do when I am back in ATX is upload them to Facebook. Sorry mom and other parents who are itching for the pics.
Valencia, Spain
We safely arrived here from Rome on Monday. Sunday night we all pulled all-nighters due to an early morning flight and the Spain vs. Italy game (Spain won... Which made for a relatively quiet night in Rome. No worries, we still found ourselves hanging outside the colosseum for a while, which was nuts. We just laid outside of the incredible building talking... and dozing off. It was surreal to think that we were sitting outside of the place where gladiators fought and the people we read about in the New Testament walked.)
When we got here on Monday, we had our first real "hiccup" of the trip, which is pretty good. Basically, we couldn't find our hostel and spent 2 hours calling around and looking things up online at an Internet cafe. We finally found it (thanks Newt!) and the place is great! It's a 7 bed apartment, complete with a kitchen, washer, living room, tv, bathroom, and dinner table - perfect for our last country together.
To keep with the trend, we took a long nap when we got to Valencia (after we found the hostel) then woke up to go see the city. We walked around for a while and went to city center then back to the apartment to play cards and hang out and go to bed.
The next morning, Gramps (Hutton) made us omelets (sooo yummy) and we headed out to the beach. The beach was (nearly) perfect - perfect weather with sand instead of gravel and the water wasn't too cold. Fabulous. I even went for a run along the beach... Seriously, could not be better. The only thing was, it was a nude beach. Totally fine- we just minded our own business and acted like it didn't phase us at all.
After, we went back to shower and found ourselves watching the Spanish Animal Planet channel for a while until Cloud (Kyle) convinced us that we should go walk around again. So, we did. We found a cool park place that had these art-climbing structures. After, we went back to the apartment again and played games/hung out and were off to bed.
Something about Valencia that you should know, the smells as you walk along the street are rarely pleasant. I often find myself holding my breath and hoping the by the time I breathe again the putrid odor would be gone. More often than not, it isn't but a minute before the smell returns.
Another thing, on a more positive note -Valencia has beautiful skies! Not only do they look like they were painted, but it feels like they are only 40 feet above us. It's incredible. God did a pretty good job... Between the beach and the skies, I'm fond of this place. It's definitely a different experience here from our other places. Valencia is a pretty random place to go... We aren't really sure of the history of this place... All we knew is there is a beach and Ryanair flies here. But since it's the end of the trip, we are all pretty much fine with just chillin here.
The NEXT day was FOURTH OF JULY! Yeah!..... Except we are in Spain and no one cares. The boys decided they wanted to see more of Valencia and the girls opted to just go to the markets, shop around a bit and then head out to the beach. We spent most of the day just lounging around and enjoying the sun and very salty water. When the guys came back they taught Smills and me how to body surf.. Ha. Then we all had a Fourth of July picnic on the beach. It was cute. After which we played with a volleyball, Barton injured nearly everyone, Sarah and I climbed a rope tower and the guys sang God Bless America to Heather. Nearly perfect. It's just sad that it was our last night together.
This morning was an early-ish morning (we actually slept last night, though.. So that's good). We finished packing up and said "bye" to Bart and Kyle (they are working at a summer camp in Austria for the rest of the summer) and are now on our way to the airport. The best part is... Sarah, Heather and I are wearing our matching shirts we bought yesterday.
Now we are in London to hang out for a couple of days before we all make our way home to the States.
It's been such a great trip! I'm going to miss traveling and traveling with these people quite a bit.
If I do anything cool in the next couple days I'll post it.. Hopefully I can get enough wifi to post some pictures. (I'm doing my best, mom.)
When we got here on Monday, we had our first real "hiccup" of the trip, which is pretty good. Basically, we couldn't find our hostel and spent 2 hours calling around and looking things up online at an Internet cafe. We finally found it (thanks Newt!) and the place is great! It's a 7 bed apartment, complete with a kitchen, washer, living room, tv, bathroom, and dinner table - perfect for our last country together.
To keep with the trend, we took a long nap when we got to Valencia (after we found the hostel) then woke up to go see the city. We walked around for a while and went to city center then back to the apartment to play cards and hang out and go to bed.
The next morning, Gramps (Hutton) made us omelets (sooo yummy) and we headed out to the beach. The beach was (nearly) perfect - perfect weather with sand instead of gravel and the water wasn't too cold. Fabulous. I even went for a run along the beach... Seriously, could not be better. The only thing was, it was a nude beach. Totally fine- we just minded our own business and acted like it didn't phase us at all.
After, we went back to shower and found ourselves watching the Spanish Animal Planet channel for a while until Cloud (Kyle) convinced us that we should go walk around again. So, we did. We found a cool park place that had these art-climbing structures. After, we went back to the apartment again and played games/hung out and were off to bed.
Something about Valencia that you should know, the smells as you walk along the street are rarely pleasant. I often find myself holding my breath and hoping the by the time I breathe again the putrid odor would be gone. More often than not, it isn't but a minute before the smell returns.
Another thing, on a more positive note -Valencia has beautiful skies! Not only do they look like they were painted, but it feels like they are only 40 feet above us. It's incredible. God did a pretty good job... Between the beach and the skies, I'm fond of this place. It's definitely a different experience here from our other places. Valencia is a pretty random place to go... We aren't really sure of the history of this place... All we knew is there is a beach and Ryanair flies here. But since it's the end of the trip, we are all pretty much fine with just chillin here.
The NEXT day was FOURTH OF JULY! Yeah!..... Except we are in Spain and no one cares. The boys decided they wanted to see more of Valencia and the girls opted to just go to the markets, shop around a bit and then head out to the beach. We spent most of the day just lounging around and enjoying the sun and very salty water. When the guys came back they taught Smills and me how to body surf.. Ha. Then we all had a Fourth of July picnic on the beach. It was cute. After which we played with a volleyball, Barton injured nearly everyone, Sarah and I climbed a rope tower and the guys sang God Bless America to Heather. Nearly perfect. It's just sad that it was our last night together.
This morning was an early-ish morning (we actually slept last night, though.. So that's good). We finished packing up and said "bye" to Bart and Kyle (they are working at a summer camp in Austria for the rest of the summer) and are now on our way to the airport. The best part is... Sarah, Heather and I are wearing our matching shirts we bought yesterday.
Now we are in London to hang out for a couple of days before we all make our way home to the States.
It's been such a great trip! I'm going to miss traveling and traveling with these people quite a bit.
If I do anything cool in the next couple days I'll post it.. Hopefully I can get enough wifi to post some pictures. (I'm doing my best, mom.)
Monday, July 2, 2012
Athens, Greece
Well, as I mentioned in the previous post - Greece is awesome.
Seriously, though, I love it here. Cheap GOOD food, incredible history and cool ruins, nice people and great weather. Not much could be better.
The first full day in Greece was ... Full. We woke up to go on a walking tour of the city (thankfully the boys woke up because our alarm didn't go off, so the ladies had a rushed morning). Our guide was actually born in Texas (San Antonio! Whatsup) and has been living in Greece for 3 years. She knew a lot and we were grateful for a real tour after our disappointing experience in Vienna. We walked all day (really...) and saw Athens in its entirety (pretty much). It was absolutely incredible! This city is full of amazing history and I was glad to learn more about it.
For lunch we had my favorite meal of the trip - gyros. Not only was it the best tasting but we also got it AND a water for only €2! I was so happy. I need Abilene to get a Greek restaurant.
After walking around all day and seeing the Agora (Greek and Roman), Acropolis, the Olympic stadium, the Temple of Zeus, Hadrian's Library, the changing of the guard, Temple of the Unknown Soldier and SO much more, we went to dinner at a restaurant next to our hostel for 10% off, again, and I got another gyro. Love those things.
We then made our way over to Mars Hill - where Paul spoke to the people and leaders of Athens (Acts 17). Interestingly enough, so did many other government and Greek Orthodox leaders. Apparently they were having some sort of ceremony/remembrance for St. Paul. We went on the opposite side and sat to look over the city as the sun set and read Acts 17 to each other. It was one of the coolest moments of our trip thus far. Just getting to read Scripture from where it actually happened was awesome and inspiring. We stayed up there a while and then walked around the city before heading back to the hostel.
We were sad not to go to the islands, but there is already just so much to see in Athens alone that we decided we will just have to save it for another trip. We're thinking a Mediterranean cruise, complete with a tour of the Holy Lands.
The next day we woke up to head out to the coast and spent the day on the beach. It was very relaxing and we even had a nice little picnic for lunch. Later that afternoon we headed back to clean up and head to dinner (traditional Greek food, of course - my new favorite type of food). After, we went to "Socrates NOW," a performance by the renown Yannis Simonides of the Apology of Socrates. It was a cool experience and inspiring. I would recommend looking him up. The actor is extremely talented and seems to be an incredible professor. After, we walked around Athens a bit more, went to the hostel and played go-fish until we went to bed.
The next morning, today, we went to the market, saw a few more spots in Athens, had our last gyro, and headed to the airport for Rome.
We just made it to Rome and we will be here the night before we leave for Spain in the morning. Just enough time to watch the Italy vs Spain game - the final game for the EuroCup. We are pretty excited to because we will be in the winning country either tonight or tomorrow, win-win for us!
Seriously, though, I love it here. Cheap GOOD food, incredible history and cool ruins, nice people and great weather. Not much could be better.
The first full day in Greece was ... Full. We woke up to go on a walking tour of the city (thankfully the boys woke up because our alarm didn't go off, so the ladies had a rushed morning). Our guide was actually born in Texas (San Antonio! Whatsup) and has been living in Greece for 3 years. She knew a lot and we were grateful for a real tour after our disappointing experience in Vienna. We walked all day (really...) and saw Athens in its entirety (pretty much). It was absolutely incredible! This city is full of amazing history and I was glad to learn more about it.
For lunch we had my favorite meal of the trip - gyros. Not only was it the best tasting but we also got it AND a water for only €2! I was so happy. I need Abilene to get a Greek restaurant.
After walking around all day and seeing the Agora (Greek and Roman), Acropolis, the Olympic stadium, the Temple of Zeus, Hadrian's Library, the changing of the guard, Temple of the Unknown Soldier and SO much more, we went to dinner at a restaurant next to our hostel for 10% off, again, and I got another gyro. Love those things.
We then made our way over to Mars Hill - where Paul spoke to the people and leaders of Athens (Acts 17). Interestingly enough, so did many other government and Greek Orthodox leaders. Apparently they were having some sort of ceremony/remembrance for St. Paul. We went on the opposite side and sat to look over the city as the sun set and read Acts 17 to each other. It was one of the coolest moments of our trip thus far. Just getting to read Scripture from where it actually happened was awesome and inspiring. We stayed up there a while and then walked around the city before heading back to the hostel.
We were sad not to go to the islands, but there is already just so much to see in Athens alone that we decided we will just have to save it for another trip. We're thinking a Mediterranean cruise, complete with a tour of the Holy Lands.
The next day we woke up to head out to the coast and spent the day on the beach. It was very relaxing and we even had a nice little picnic for lunch. Later that afternoon we headed back to clean up and head to dinner (traditional Greek food, of course - my new favorite type of food). After, we went to "Socrates NOW," a performance by the renown Yannis Simonides of the Apology of Socrates. It was a cool experience and inspiring. I would recommend looking him up. The actor is extremely talented and seems to be an incredible professor. After, we walked around Athens a bit more, went to the hostel and played go-fish until we went to bed.
The next morning, today, we went to the market, saw a few more spots in Athens, had our last gyro, and headed to the airport for Rome.
We just made it to Rome and we will be here the night before we leave for Spain in the morning. Just enough time to watch the Italy vs Spain game - the final game for the EuroCup. We are pretty excited to because we will be in the winning country either tonight or tomorrow, win-win for us!
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