I can't believe we've been here one month. In some ways it seems longer, maybe because trying to pass the time while living in a hotel is so hard to do. I find that I'm living for the weekends because we always find something to do outside these walls. Not that I'm without a routine here. Every week day I get up, get dressed, go have breakfast, go for my morning walk around the airport (really the only place to walk), read, check facebook, read, check e-mail, read, play candy crush, read...honestly it's getting a little old, but I'll survive.
Things are progressing however. We're only a month (give or take a day or two) away from moving into our house. It's funny how you can get so tired of doing the mundane things of life. Laundry, cooking, cleaning...I haven't had to do these things for a while now but I actually miss them! Not only to have something useful to do but maybe to feel like I have some say in what I do and when I do it. If the hotel would let me do my own laundry I'd be happy to do it!
We have also found a church, or should I say God led us to a church. This is a non-denominational English speaking group who do their best to follow the Bible as closely as possible. They have a few traditions I'm not used to but traditions don't matter when you need people to worship and fellowship with. One of my biggest concerns in moving here was to find a group of believers who treated each other like family, and we've found it. I can't imagine the isolation we would feel if we hadn't found people who already care about us simply because we are Christ followers. God is good!
As for our adventures, we have been to the town center of Milan to see the Duomo and the Galleria and we've been to Sforza Castle. We have a good friend coming in August and we're going to see da Vinci's "Last Supper". I'm really looking forward to it but I doubt seriously that they'll let me photograph it.
This past weekend we went to Pisa. The drive (about 3 hours on a good day, 4 because of the traffic) was beautiful. Pisa is in Tuscany so we did see a little of the rolling hills and trees you've seen in photographs but it was so interesting to see palm trees and tropical flowers on one side if the road and snow topped mountains on the other. I wanted to take a lot of pictures but unfortunately on the autostrada (the highway) there's very few places to stop and my camera needs time to focus. I got a few good pictures of the mountains from the car but that's about it. Maybe next time we go to Tuscany we'll take some back roads so we can stop for pictures.
The leaning tower and the cathedral were amazing but the town itself isn't much. As a matter of fact it's pretty filthy! There are merchants set up all over the place selling "souvenirs" if you want to call them that. Mostly cheap tourist crap if you ask me. Some of these people are "in your face" types that try to stick stuff in front of you so you'll buy it. Now don't get the wrong idea, these merchants are not just in Pisa. They are everywhere tourists might be, there just seemed to be more of them in Pisa. I'm getting pretty good and holding my hand up and saying "NO!" You have to be pretty firm and sometimes downright rude. But as dirty and crowded as it was, I'm glad we went.
Climbing the tower is an incredible experience. The steps (256 of them) are very worn from centuries of use and as you're going up and especially down you're very aware of gravity throwing you off just a bit. It's kind of a surreal experience. Also, I knew that the top was a bell tower but I didn't know there were 7 bells of varying sizes. Standing at the top gazing over rooftops and mountains is wonderful. We were blessed by great weather too! I'm really glad I got to experience climbing the tower. It's something I wouldn't have wanted to miss out on.
The great thing about living here will be all the excursions we get to go on. Everything is in such close proximity it would be crazy not to take advantage of it. One thing I'm looking forward to is the overnight trips we can take once we've gotten into our house. We're planning to go to Switzerland for a few days in August and I can't wait!
Thank you again to everyone who's sharing in our adventure by reading this blog. I miss my family and friends terribly and being able to share this means so much to me!
For now,
Arrivederci!
Some snow dusted mountains
on the drive from Milan to Pisa
The Leaning Tower of Pisa (obviously!)
View from the bottom of the tower
looking up...
Just on of the well worn steps...
One of the 7 bells in the bell tower...
Over looking the city from the top!
No comments:
Post a Comment