I love to wander a strange city. There is something about being immersed in a vast urban jungle surrounded by throngs of strangers. The annonomity that crowded streets and unknown arenas are a perfect platform to find a respite from the rat race of everyday life.
So when my wife Tabitha had to do continuing ed for her degree in Chicago I got really excited. While she has been in class I have been on a spiritual retreat in an unlikely location, downtown Chicago.

It has been very fun so far. I spent my morning reading my Bible and journaling in a quiet part near Lake Michigan. This afternoon I going to just wander the Magnificent mile. It’s been refreshing to refocus and reconnect with God.

Wow.

We are back.  Back in the blessed United States.  We had such a good time but we had such a hectic 24 hours on our way home.   Sorry I didnt blog the last couple of days.  We stopped in Positano which is off the Almafi coast and didnt have internet there and then made a quick journey back to Rome to get on a plane and head back to Nashville.  

Our stop in Positano was a pretty hairy adventure.  We took an overnight train from Cinque Terra that started at 1:37 at night.   We had to leave Vernazza at 11:30 to go to a slightly larger town called La Spieza.  That was fine except for the fact that La Spieza got a little shade after midnight.  Tab and I hung out with some very silent families who were visibly trying to ignore the sleeping homeless people sleeping on the train platform.  But it was worth the discomfort to sleep overnight on the train all the way down to Naples.  Our train was pretty cool.  We had our own little bedroom on it that had a locking door and a guy who watched over us as we slept.  He also woke us up with hot coffee when we were about an hour away from Naples.  

The trip to Positano was pretty scenic except for the time we were in Naples.  Rick Steves warns about Naples because it is known for its thieves and pickpockets.  Over 1/3rd of the city’s adult male population is unemployed which leads to rampant petty crime.  With great apprehension we rode the rickety subway called the Circumvensuvia to the town of Sorrento.  From there, we took a bus over the mountains to Sorrento.  We stayed at a really cool Pensione called Pensione Maria Lousia.  Our host, Carlo Milo, was amazing.  He was so hospitable.  Our room had a balcony that overlooked the Mediterranean.    You can check them out here:  http://www.pensionemarialuisa.com/.  

If you ever get to go to Positano, you will find that the city is really quaint and built on a cliff overlooking the ocean.  Think Cinque Terra on a much larger scale.  Both on the size of the town and the size of the scenery.  It is the town that Robert Downey Jr. and Marissa Tomei go to in the movie Only You.  It is very beautiful.  But it is very steep.  We counted 414 steps from our Pensione to the beach.  

One of the coolest things was we bought sandwiches that evening from a local deli and ate them overlooking the sea.  Believe it or not, we finally got tired of pizza.  As we were heading down we heard this guy singing in a deep baritone from up around the corner.  We thought we were going to be crashing a private concert but it was just some random guy just bringing it.  He had one of the most incredible voices we have ever heard.  We just camped out right there and ate our sandwiches, watched the sea and listened to an amazing free concert.

We left Positano the next day by boat to go to Salerno.  We found out there that there is a Trenitalia train station in Salerno.  It is right across the street from the docks.  The trip that way is cheaper, shorter and safer.  The views from the boat are really beautiful.

Our trip back was pretty uneventful.  We went out one more time to Piazza Navona and the Pantheon when we got back to Rome.  Tabitha bought some cool shoes and we went to bed.  

The next morning at 6 AM Rome time, 11 PM Nashville time we got up to head home.  It was such a long flight.  We were up about 24 hours straight, minus some small naps on the plane.  It feels so good to be home though and in our own beds.  

Here are some pics of Positano.  

Jet lag is seeping in and I am about to crash.  I am going to post some more pictures tomorrow.  I have to edit them down in size and I just hit a wall.  Its great to be home though!

Tabitha and I are sunning ourselves on some rocks at the pretty little town of Vernazza in Cinque Terra. It has definitely lived up to it’s advance billing. The sights, atmosphere, food and hikes have been the best in Italy. This has been my favorite place so far. If you come to Italy you have to spend 2 days in Vernazza.

Yesterday we took a scenic hike on the coastline. All 5 towns are connected by a scenic and litter free hike. The hike between Vernazza and Monterosso is the hardest but by far the most beautiful. Between the rocky ocean views and the lush mountainside you will fall in love with the area.

The food is great too. Our favorite has been at the Pirata. Luca and Maximo, the owners are histerically funny and have unbelievable food. Their deserts and breakfasts are the best we have had here. If you want to find them go away from town behind the train station. They are on the right after the bank. I am posting a picture below They also have rooms to rent for pretty reasonable rates. If interested Email them at ilpiratarooms@libero.it

Also if you want a room closer in town you can get a private room with a bathroom like we did through a local resident. This was pretty cheap too. We paid 60 e a night. The room was simple but clean and comfortable. The lady who set it up was the very nice Monica Lecari. She speaks English so she connects people with local rooms We stayed at her sister’s Carmella’s room. Monica also owns and runs the Castello restaurant which has stunning views. Monica’s info is alcastellovernazza@yahoo.it

We have had so much fun here. I went cliff diving into the ocean yesterday near the castle. That was fun but I got scraped up trying to climb the rock by barnacles. It was so worth it.

The people are so nice here. It is sad that there are no evangelical Bible teaching churches here. I have some ideas about how to help here that are percolating in my brain. I will share them in the next post.

We are sad we are leaving Vernazza but we are excited to head down to Positano on the Almafi coast. We are taking an overnight train to Naples and then taking a boat to Positano. We have a sleeper car so we are going to get a great nights sleep while we travel. The only downer is it leaves at 1:30 AM.

Here are some pics of Vernazza. I can post some better ones from our camera when we get to a real computer. These are just from my iPhone. Thanks for commenting on how good they look Heather! We miss you Green Hills Church and our family and friends. Thanks for praying for us!

We are leaving Venice and headed to Cinque Terra, a quaint collection of fishing villages on the Mediterranian sea. We had a great time in Venice. Apparently I lost my last post in cyberspace. Cell coverage was really spotty in Venice.

Venice was very beautiful. We had a really picturesque room at the Casa D’ Arte, about 100 yards off of the Accademia bridge. It was quite the adventure getting to our pensions though. We were given the wrong directions and we to a hotel that was shut down. Amazingly someone answered our repeated buzzing of the bell and gave us a different address. We spent the next 30 minutes trying to find our way through the labyrinth they call Venice. We were hot, tired and frustated. We were absolutely miserable. We finally found our lodgings more through sheer luck than anything else. That was the most uncertain we have been about this trip to date. We didn’t know if we were going to find a place to sleep that night. God was really watching out for us.

We had a lot of fun in Venice. St. Mark’s square is very beautiful. The Basillica is very ornate and it looks like it was influenced by eastern architecture. The best part are the classical concerts that are performed nightly in front of the cafes. There dueling orchestras. It’s a surreal scene. I don’t recommend sitting at a cafe to listen. They charge a hefty cover to sit. You can hear just fine standing nearby. We made the mistake of sitting down. We paid 15 euro in top of our coffee for that dubious privilege.

That was one downer. The Venetians are masters of scamming tourists. They have been a tourist city for hundreds of years and are great at it.

Our highlights from Venice were St. Marks, watching the grand canal by the Rialto Bridge, exploring back streets at night and meeting up with a family friend called Mark Crooks.

Mark has been a missionary in Venice for 5 years. He started a church planting movement in Venezuela. He move to Venice after handing his church to guys he had trained in Venezuela.
He shared how hard it is to share the gospel in Venice. There are no evangelical churches on the Island. On the mainland the church he inherited had been around for 30 years and has under 20 people in it. There is a resistance to the gospel in Italy. This country needs more workers for the harvest.

Thanks for praying for us here. We are excited for our next stop in the trip. It is supposed to be really beautiful.

Quick update. We made it to Florence. This place is amazing. Even cooler than Rome. The Dwomo, a huge intricate Renaissance church, took our breath away. It was so huge and full of color. Tabitha actually stopped walking when she saw it.

We are in the Uffuzi museum right now about half way through but nned to take a break. Saw some Da Vinci’s and a ton of Michelangelo’s. We have been using Rick Steves’ audio tours courtesy of iTunes. It’s an amazing free resourse. We will see the David later on today at the Academia museum. Our hotel hooked us up with reservations. Another Rick Steves tip. If you want to know the best tool for this journey it was buying Rick’s book.

We are both a bit tired. We got up at 5:15 to grab a train to Florence. The Eurostar is so fast. The only problem we had was that all the train departure signs glitched out. So we wandered around the train station for 30 nerve wracking minutes until we found the right train. This has been such an adventure to figure things out as we go.

I will try to post pictures later if our hotel has wifi.

We hit the ground running our first day here. It was an adventure from the start. With no guide, no local contacts and no clue about how to speak Italian. My wife and I are having the adventure of a lifetime. We left Nashville with only a pair of backpacks, a camera and our mad survival skills. This is a rambling, running account of our adventure from my iPhone. I just hope I don’t get a cramp in it thumb. So I apologize for spelling errors on the front end.

When we got here we were surprised at be crazy lines to get through emmigration. There was no markings. Just a snarl of 1000 peope hoping they were in a line. Twice we thought we were in line only to find out cruelly 20 minutes later that we were not.

We had an adventure getting to the hotel. We are staying bear the Vatican so being savvy travelers we saved 40 dollars by taking the train to the train station from the airport and then hopping the metro. Getting around Rome is pretty easy apparently. The only funny thing was the one we had with some strangers that were hogging 3 extra seats by placing their luggage on them,on the train. They were upset when we asked to sit with them. So we opted to stand instead. No wonder we Americans get a bad rap.

The rest of the day has been on the go. We went to the Vatican museum and saw the Sistene Chapel. Truly amazing. I cannot fathom Michelangelo’s talent. Saint Peter’s Basilica was unbelievable too. I have never seen anything that huge or that beautiful. I am grateful it started the reformation. What a way to start out reform with a bang.
We will have pic’s and video up later. Didn’t take any with the phone. Sorry. Gonna crash now. We got about 3 hours sleep on the plane. Tab is out like a light. Hopefully we will check out the Spanish steps tonight! Peace!

I am blogging from a cafe 20 feet from the fountain in the Piazza Novona. The fountain the guy almost gets drowned in during ‘Angels and Demons’. The pizza here was amazing. Tab and I have had an amazing day. We went on a bus tour of Rome that allowed us to hop on and off at will. The bus was a red double decker with an open top. So touristy but awesome. With our Roma pass we had a big discount.

So we stopped and toured the Trevi fountain, the Colosseum, and the Pamtheon. We walked by the Palatine and the Roman forum but were too tired to spend and hour running around inside the complex.

The highlight so far was hanging out in the Colosseum. That was amazing. I love the Patheon too. That building is indescribable. It’s 2200 years old and huge.

Hopefully we will hit the Spanish steps again tonight. We went there for pizza last night and that was so fun. It’s a huge hangout. If you have any ideas of cool places to go let me know. Also if you want to say hi while we are here go ahead and leave us a comment.

Here are some pics I took with my phone. Better ones from the camera are forthcoming.

My wife and I are going to go on a whirlwind tour of Italy today!  We are so excited.  We have always wanted to do something like this and this opportunity dropped in our laps.  I will be posting some entries from there so stay tuned for pictures and a running commentary.  We will be visiting Rome, Florence, Venice, Cinque Terra, the Isle of Capri and Positano.  I am so excited!