ah the places we have been

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tony and i could not believe what we were seeing as we finally had gone from two trains, many hours, and now on the bus on the coast of italy on our way to amalfi. it was not like anything we have seen on calenders, movies, post cards, or imagined.....as if coming alive out of the rock, as if carved right out of the surface of lush mountains and cliffs, were little italian villages that sat on the brink of cliffs plummeting down to the clearest emerald water we have ever seen. and as our bus took the windy road (much like higway one up the coast of california) surprisingly fast, and our stomachs were getting a little irretated, we could not help but continue gazing out the window. we stayed one village over from the quite touristy amalfi, in a village called atrani. there was one main courtyard where all of the store and restaraunt owners stood enjoying the sun until someone would come in. a group of old men played cards from one table to the next seemingly all day and at night the whole village (as in about 50 or so) would come into the courtyard. there are no words.
but making a slight change of tone in my writing, we have never spent a night so freezing cold in our entire lives. we stayed in a hostel that was an upstairs to our hosts house. he was very sweet to give us our own room although we did not pay for it and a double bed. but when we came back later at night after walking along the pier and enjoying the familiar sounds of the ocean, we headed back to what we thought would be the comfort of our warm, cozy room. oh contrar! the small vent was unable to heat our tiled floors and cement walls and we spent the night shivering even under the weight of 4 genuine wool blankets. let me correct myself, we spent the next two nights shivering under 4 wool blankets.
we decided in the morning to take what our host had suggested, an easy treks and walks,thanked him for the map and were on our way. 100 flights of stairs, and who knows how many inclines later, we were completely out of breath and sweating profusely. but as we looked around down on the atrani village and out to the ocean with the mountains cluttered with springs and little falls, it was comletely worth it. it took most of the day and practically all of our energy and we are still feeling the effects of the inclines in our thighs and calves, but it was gorgeous. amateur photographers that we are, we can only hope some of the pictures will give you a little glimpse. we both were so thankful and appreciative to spend two days enjoying Gods creation in its natural state, a switch from the stone and monuments we have been staring at the past 4 or so weeks.
now we are in rome and i cannot describe what it is like to look on the ruins of a city from thousands of years ago.
so how are we? well, contrary to how it seems i have portrayed tony, as i have gathered from recent emails and comments, tony has not become an alcoholic but i on the other hand have enjoyed far too many of my own portions of gelato. ladies and gents....it is phenomenal. we are starting to reminisce about food portions in america and how convenient everything is; not to mention the missing of our church, families, and friends....and of course our pups. we have not been able to be in an english speaking church since we have been here due to a combination of travel days, lack of internet time, and few english speaking churches. we have enjoyed memorizing scripture though and today attempted to drowned out some of the not so edifying music palm sunday has prompted thecatholic church to play, with fragments of hymns we remember. i am sure passer byers were less appreciative of our few huffs of notes with words as we hike the streets of rome, but we pray it still brought glory and praise to our God. as i said, our legs are in need of rest, and so we will be trying to take it easy at least in greece for a few days. we gave our stomachs a rest sort of today and splurged at the rome hard rock cafe. i will tell you what folks....nothing like a good ol american bacon and cheesburger.
sorry most of my blogs are so short and this one so long, the time we have varies on the cost of the internet. we usually have time to check email but not very much to respond but please feel free to comment or send emails. we will be heading to greece beginning monday night. it will take a night train to the other side of the italys coast, a fairy, and another train, so about two days travel. hopefully we will be able to post pictures...some places let you download and others dont.
well all, we still love traveling and showered yesterday so that was good. oh yes and laundry was done. i think we were becoming quite smelly. we say that each place we go is more and more beautiful and yet somehow the places prior never get less beautiful.
until next time.

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Comments

[Brittany]

Hi Stace and Tony! Just wanted to say hi and that we love getting your blogs. I am so glad you guys are having such a good time. Dylan misses his Aunt Tehe (?) and Uncle Tigs. Our house finally sold so we are moving on Thursday to a rental house that is a couple houses down from Andrew Gray's parents old house, down the street from mom and dad. It is the perfect house for us:)! Love you and miss you tons, Bee

[Nikki Gladd]

la vita dolce! :)
We just found out about your blog last night from the Ansberry's. You guys seem to be having a blast! Can't wait to hear more stories! Oh...and yes... we were extremely happy to find that Hard Rock Cafe' in Rome too! Continue to have fun!