Ciao Bella

I had my fill of pasta, pizza, art, history, air/bus/train travel, walking, and hostel stays and am now back in good old Olsztyn. It was tough, but I picked 5 pictures from my trip to Italy (which included time in Rome, Venice, Pisa, and Florence) to post here. (however, if you'd like to see more, you can check out Amber's blog for a slide show...I figured that, since she already did all that work, why re-invent the wheel, eh?) Anyhoo, while these are not necessarily the best pictures taken that week, they are of the things I found most interesting. So, here goes...

Kristin, me, and Amber in front of the Coloseum. It was amazing to see. It's so ancient, it's honestly kind of hard to wrap your brain around how old it really is.

This thing that looks like a sewer hole is actually the hole that Peter and Paul (you know, the guys from the Bible) were lowered into to be held in a Roman Prison. There originally was no other entrance/exit, but they've since added a staircase and built a church above the cell. Again, hard to really wrap your brain around...

This picture shows how there are layers and layers to Rome. This was taken from current street level, but you can see that the original city was about two stories down. They are building another subway line, but progress is very slow since they keep running into ancient ruins that must be first excavated.

This fountain was one of my favorite things of all that we saw on our trip. It's called the Trevi Fountain and it's beautiful. It was sculpted in the 18th century and "marks the end of the 19 BC Aqua Virga aquaduct, built by Agrippa...". The statues are of Neptune and two triton.
Finally, my favorite part of the whole trip was our two days in Venice. Amazing. There are no motorized vehicles...no scooters (which everyone drives in Italy), no cars, no trucks...nothing. Everything and everyone is shuttled in by boat. I fell in love. However, I'd better not get too attached, since the city is sinking at an average rate of 1 cm a year. That's significant. Of course, it was built on top of a marsh! Anyhoo...I loved riding on ferries instead of busses, walking along canals, seeing some beautiful wooden boats, and taking a gondola ride! Our driver didn't sing, but he whistled a little and did wear a blue and white striped shirt. It was just a quiet, peaceful place and I'm so thankful I got the opportunity to experience it. Ahhh...

Now, it's back to the routine, which is good. The students start back in less than a week and we're still putting together some details as far as meeting with students and praying for more opportunities. Please pray that God would open doors and stir a hunger in the students He's calling to Himself.