European Adventure: Entreveux, France

June 12, 2010
Day 1

     After Cervo, we left Italy and traveled north into France. We stopped in a town called Entreveux. I really enjoyed Entreveux. There was about a 3 mile walk from the campground on a trail with many deadly cliffs to get to the town. On the first night Katy and I borrowed my grandpas GPS and went on the trail. We walked around the town and it was completely quiet, every group we walked by was dead silent. It kind of got a little bit scary after a bit.
     On our way back down the trail with about a mile left my grandma met up with us, she was worried that we had been eaten by sheep dogs. It turns out that there are sheep in the mountains and, if you try to photograph them the guard dogs will take it as a threat and attack you.
     After getting back to our site we went up to a little lake by the camp office. We could kayak and canoe all we wanted so we took advantage of that offer quickly.

Day 2

Katy underground in the Citadel

The city of Entreveux from the trail.

Way up on top of that mountain is the Citadel

A STONE BED! in the Citadel

To the Left, a drawbridge into the Citadel, to the Right me sitting on a stone bed

     Our second day in Entreveux we went into the town to actually site see. The town had a citadel that we could go up to. I really enjoyed the Citadel, it was once used when the town was very old and people would take refuge there if they were going to be attacked. Probably one of my favorite things about the trip.

To the right, Me Kayaking at the campground.

European Adventure: Italy

June 9th-11, 2010

     On this day we visited Pisa, Italy. We saw the leaning tower and the baptistry. We were only in Pisa for about 20 minutes because it was just a quick stop on our way to Cervo, Italy. 


This is kind of a funny story.. we were not planning on going to Cervo, Italy..first we stopped where we had planned in a place called Partacci. It was a really gross campground to say the least.. there were bugs everywhere and it was kind of sketchy. Katy and I still went to check out the local beach only to see a few rather old and wrinkly men in brightly colored speedos laying on the beach. 

Needless to say, we packed up and left Partacci as early as we could the following morning. We ended up in a better town called Cervo. Cervo had a wonderful campground and a private beach for the people staying there. There was a nice little city on the hill and the weather was very warm. Katy and I spent few days being lazy on the beach. 

Water Changes Everything

European Adventure: Florence, Italy Day 1

     On this day, we packed up our stuff and headed toward Florence, Italy. We followed Tom-Tom to "Campeggio Michaelangelo" (thats the name of the campground we stayed at in Florence).
      On our way to Florence, we stopped in a little town called Padua, Italy to do some grocery shopping, Tom-Tom told us that there was a grocery store there. The grocery store was barely even in the town, it was just on a little side street hidden underneath and apartment complex. We were all getting frustrated looking for this little store. The stores are a lot different in Europe, they have a variety of cheeses, and tons of seafood that still had eyes just laying on ice in coolers. It was a neat experience but I like American grocery stores... where the seafood can't stare at me. We drove through the Apennine Mountain range to get to Florence, I remember seeing a few hills with just rows and rows of grape vines on them. There was tunnel after tunnel going through mountains, it was gorgeous. Finally, we arrived at Campeggio Michaelangelo and Tom-Tom was yelling us to turn around as soon as possible, we unpacked camp and relaxed.

(A tunnel going through a mountain)

      Later that day, we went to Piazza Michelangelo, its a square that looks over the city of Florence, it has the statue of David in it. It was really neat to look over the city, we could see for miles. I bought a sweater at the square and bought my mom a tea towel with Italy on it.

My grandparents and Katy on our way to the square.

Me standing at the square above Florence.

 Little did we know that tomorrow we would be climbing to the top of that cathedral. 

(This was me and Katy's home for a month.)

      At Campeggio Michaelangelo I remember that we were parked at the bottom of one of the steepest hills I have ever gone up, all the utilities were at the top of the hill. It was nice to know that every time that we walked up it we were deffinatly working our butt and calves but it got annoying because just when Katy and I got all settled back at camp we remembered that we had forgotten to brush our teeth, or we had to go to the bathroom, that hill was a killer after awhile. The next day we visited Florence (I'll have a Day 2 post for it).

European Adventure: Venice, Italy

June 6th, 2010

     Venice is an amazing place to see, maybe not an amazing place to smell but that's not the point. Beautiful would be a big understatement when describing Venice. There are so many people, bridges, and almost everywhere you look there is a canal. Katy and I actually made ourselves stop taking pictures of canals because there were so many that they began to look the same.

     We left the campground at around 7:30 am to catch the ferry to Venice. From what I have written, it wasn't what I had expected. I had really wanted to see St. Marks Square and Basilica but they were being renovated so they were covered with scaffolding that was covered with very large advertisements. 

     Venice is not really how they show it in the movies, don't get me wrong, its a very beautiful place but St. Marks square has vendors all throughout it selling tourist stuff. We went to McDonalds for lunch but later we stopped at a Jewish Bakery and had Bread Puddings, they were very good. 

     There are a lot of churches in Venice and we went inside a lot of them, we actually walked in on a church that had a service going on, it was an accident.    We walked in and walked right back out. My grandparents bought us each an ice cream, the ice cream in Venice was in my top 5 if not my number 1 favorite ice cream. 

     Throughout our day in Venice we walked around 10 miles, up and down stairs and tiny little alleys, it was sort of like a maze, if we didn't have Garmin (my grandpas GPS) we would have been lost! We took the ferry back to Camping Fusina, took showers had dinner and fell asleep. Venice was a really neat experience. 

European Adventure: Fusina, Italy Malcontenta, Italy

June 4th, 2010
     We arrived in Fusina, Italy completely exhausted. Fusina, Italy is right across the water from Venice. We spent our first day and a half in Fusina recovering from the flight. 

This is my grandparents camper, our home for the month that we stayed. It was tiny but it really did sort of become like home while we were there. Katy and I actually slept in a tent that we pitched just outside the camper at every stop.

 

This is part of the campground that we stayed at. 

Camping Fusina (the campground), had alot of random sculptures through out, this one in particular was called "the seed." (this was our first exposure to European "art." I was a little worried.)

The first day we walked around the campground and just took pictures of the signs and stuff, we knew what this sign said!

This is a picture of Venice from across the water at our campground.

Katy and I in Fusina.

June 5th, 2010

(Katy using the computer)

This was really interesting, the campground offered internet access in the "Cyber Bus." The Cyber bus was an old double decker bus and the upstairs had computers that you could pay and use. Since we had a whole day to hangout at the campground, we used the Cyber Bus quite a bit.

This is me inside the cyber bus.

Katy walking back to the camper.

My grandma was online and found that there was a little town called Malcontenta not far from Fusina. Katy and I went on a bike ride to see Malcontenta. It was a really cool little town, we didn't really know anything about it but we liked what we saw so we snapped some pictures. 

Malcontenta

Malcontenta

Malcontenta

Malcontenta 

European Adventure: Leaving the Nest

    

Katy and I during our layover at the Chicago Airport.

The Chicago airport is HUGE!

A picture from the plane, it was a really boring flight, and I couldn't sit still or focus on the movie, I was really apprehensive and excited about what the next month had in store.

  

This is the sunset from 36000 feet, it looks pretty much the same. As the sun set on the way there, the sun actually rose from the other direction not very long afterwards. It was kind of cool. 

This is the Picture I took right when the plane landed in Germany, this was really exciting, not only because we were in Europe finally, but because we were in Europe and we were in charge of ourselves. 

I am doing these posts about Europe in the order of our trip, keep checking as I will have more daily.

Gift?

     Everyday at school I see people, people having good days and people having bad days... but I don't just watch them be sad, I talk to them, I cannot get myself to stay away from them, if I see someone having a bad day, I talk to them. I let them know that there will be better days.
     The thing that hurts me the most is to see people that are hurt, I can't just watch it all happen and not DO anything about it.
     I had a chance to talk to a few people today and, one made me realize that not everyone is like me, not everyone can approach someone they don't know to let them know that it's gonna be okay. I don't blame people for just watching, it really is a scary thing to do when you don't know what kind of reaction your going to get.
     Talking to these people and watching them cry hurts so bad, but after awhile and I see them smile, it's worth it to me.
     We talked about gifts from the Holy Spirit at youth group, I feel like maybe this is mine, maybe God gave me this and, as long as I believe He gave this to me, I'll use it.

...

      This doesn't have much to do with what I was talking about above but, I was in chemistry class and I saw this quote: 

"Accept that some days you are the pigeon and some days you are the statue."

     It's so true and I was wondering all day, what kind of person has that much creativity to make an analogy like that, thats crazy, and its really funny. 

By Your Side

This song gives me goosebumps, its so true. 

(its called "By Your Side" by Tenth Avenue North)

I heard this story tonight

     I went to a Tenth Avenue North concert tonight, they told us a story that was really interested me so I'll tell you.
     The story is about how the Jewish people engagements took place, the groom would "purchase" his bride from her father. After all the arrangements were made with the brides father, the groom would then give her a cup of wine saying "this is the cup of my Covenant" (I don't know if thats the right wording because I don't remember that well.). If the Bride drank from the cup that means she is saying yes.
     After the bride drank from the cup they would both go their separate ways and not see each other throughout the entire engagement. The only contact that can be made is through the best man.
     As the bride is waiting, the groom is working on a "Mansion" (Mansion literally translates to "apartment") that is being built off of the grooms families home. When the grooms father checks the mansion and says its complete he can then go and call upon his bride and they can be married.
      The point of this story is that Jesus did this exact same thing to His disciples. Before Jesus was crucified, He said to His disciples, "This is the cup of My Covenant," of course He wasn't asking His disciples to marry Him but they drank from the cup because they were going to wait for Him. Jesus left and the only contact we have with Him is through His "best man" A.K.A. the Holy Spirit. He is building us "Mansions" and when His Father says they are finished, He will come back for us.
     I really thought that this was a neat tradition.. although I think that staying away from your future husband until he has finished building and entire apartment is a bit out there but its still a pretty neat tradition.

     -Emily

This Band Changed my Life...

Surrender

     A couple nights ago at youth group, the lesson really caught my attention. The topic was "Surrender." We talked about surrendering to the Lord and letting Him take control of our lives.
     When I think about it, it's one of the hardest things for me to actually do. It doesn't seem like a thing that should be hard.. to let God take control and lead us when we're having trouble with something? It seems like I always think about me, what I want to do and when I want to do it.. what I want to  happen and when I want it to happen....
      This week I've really been working on surrendering things to God and letting Him take control and guide me on things.
      I guess this post is pretty boring but it's what has been going through my mind and I thought I would share it.


     -Emily

This really made me think...

1 Step

   Today wasn't the greatest to begin with...but then it got amazing.

   I really feel like I slipped up on Friday night, I felt like I was about to cross that line into the person I used to be.

    For the passed few days I felt almost worthless kind of like, maybe I wasn't supposed to change or something. I hated the feeling, I worked so hard and gave up so much to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and have it all dished back to me?

   I didn't let that happen.

    We were on our way to school today and the radio said "Nobody can go back and make a new beginning...but anybody can start today and make a new ending," that was just sort of the pick me up that I needed. I really feel like that was Gods way of telling me that its going to be okay and that He is there for me. He isn't just there for me, He is there for you to! "You could be 1000 steps away from God and He will take 999 steps towards you just for you to take the one last step," -Baron Batch (in his I Am Second testimony.) You have to be the one to take that step.