Florence

In Rome and Pompeii we got to see the world as the Roman Empire had lived, but as we traveled north, to Florence, the days of the empire were behind us. Florence, the birthplace of the Renaissance, was full of architecture, art, and discovery harkening back to the height of Rome’s power. These were the same streets that Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo would work, walk, and leave their mark on the world.

Our trip to Florence, or Firenze, began with the Florence Cathedral. The church is an incredible sight to see. Every time that I looked at the structure I saw some new detail I had never seen before. We even climbed the great dome to overlook all of Florence, a once in a lifetime view. Almost 500 steep steps through narrow passageways to the very tip of the dome. This building was built with plans for a dome that at the time nobody knew how to build. It took decades for the people of Florence to find someone who could figure out how to build a dome that size.

We also saw so much amazing Renaissance art and sculpture. Two moments stood out in particular. There was a painting by Leonardo Da Vinci that was never finished. You can see several layers to his sketches describing his process. As an artist, it was inspiring to see how he planned and laid out his paintings. Second, was Michelangelo’s David. I have seen this sculpture in school, and in many photographs, and to be honest wasn’t sure what the big deal was. But no photo can do justice to this piece. He stands at the end of a hallway lined with unfinished pieces of Michelangelo’s that you can see chisel marks cut into. By the time you get to the end of the hall and stand under the open skylight you can’t help but be amazed.

Finally, we took a day trip to a vineyard. The scenery was unbelievable, and it was very interesting to learn about the art and passion that goes into making wine. All in all, Florence was a wonderful city. It was a great chance for us to recharge after all that Rome and Pompeii had to offer. We enjoyed walking the streets with a gelato in hand, looking at all the beautiful buildings, and imagining all those who had come before.

Pompeii

I stood on the empty platform, in Naples, looking for Victoria as our train pulled up. She had run to the bathroom while I got our Eurail tickets stamped. There just wasn’t enough time in our 25 minute lay-over for us to do both together. So we briefly split up and agreed to meet at the train platform to Pompeii. The train unloaded. The crowd moved past. She was nowhere in sight. I turned on my phone and began to return to the last place we had been together, as is protocol. She picked up my phone call immediately saying “Where are you? Our train is about to leave!”. I replied, “What are you talking about. I just watched our train leave.” Turns out there were two different trains on two different platforms both leaving for Pompeii minutes apart, and asking somebody who doesn’t speak your language for directions is full of pitfalls. I hurried across the station and we barely made it onto our train in time. Lesson learned. When we arrived in Pompeii we realized our new train had taken us much farther outside the city than our original train would have, so we had the tourist office at the station call us a taxi. We flew through the tiny streets of modern Pompeii, were dropped off at a small bicycle shop, and met by a smiling Italian named Francesco.

Francesco owned the AirBnb above his bicycle shop, and was excited to practice his English. He took us next door to a cafe, treated us to a drink, and waved bye to the barista as if he does this every day. After dropping off our bags and being introduced to several members of his family, Francesco rolled out two bicycles and pointed us down the road to the main Piazza.

Traffic in Italy seems to have no rules. Everyone is aggressive: the cars, the cyclists, the pedestrians; and right of way is determined by whoever got there first. So we hoped on our bikes and began riding through town: over a bridge, across a railroad, through a roundabout, u-turn on a highway and finally into town square. It was a little frightening for both of us, but will definitely be one of my favorite memories. Riding a bicycle with my wife through small Italian roads and alleyways.

From the square we walked to Ancient Pompeii. Nothing can prepare you for walking the streets of this ancient city. No other place has ever spoken to me about the truth of history. It really changed my perspective on looking at history, and seeing it as the story of real people. People with families and jobs. People with favorite plays and foods. People with dreams and entire lives all of their own. These people have been preserved and a few of them are able to be seen around the ruins. When the archeologists would come across a space in the ash and debris they would fill it with plaster. This allows us to see people huddled up covering their mouths and faces. It is definitely powerful in capturing their last tragic moments.

Pompeii is a complete city. We walked through the town square where we saw temples, government buildings, shops, and the baths. Traveled over to the theatre district, and beyond to the gladiator arena. Then doubled back to go out to the outskirts of town where a wealthy family lived. Many of the floors and walls have been preserved so you can see the frescos that adorned the people’s homes. There’s only so much I can say to describe this city – and pictures are only slightly better in helping to capture Pompeii, but I’ll try.

Caravaggio

Earlier in the week we had been walking by a church, and found out that inside they had a few of Caravaggio’s works. The church was locked up, and the Pantheon was around the corner so we hurried on to see the ancient building. Later that evening when we had wifi at our hostel I looked online to see what paintings where in that church, and found out “The Calling Of St Matthew” was inside! This is one of my favorite paintings from school. Little did we know what was in store for us inside of this little church.

We were so surprised by how amazing everything inside was. Rome was so chock full of architecture and art that it is easy for a church like this to feel small or insignificant, but it felt like a secret place that only we knew about.

But, like I said we came for Caravaggio’s “The Calling Of St Matthew”. This painting has stuck with me from college and into adult-hood. The command of light and shadow tells the story so powerfully. The paintings were set in the dark, and you had to pay to illuminate them. We dropped our 1 Euro in for a few minutes of light, and as with most photos of things like this, they do not do the moment justice.

Rome

Currently Ryan and I are sitting on a train leaving the eternal city heading to Naples to see Pompeii. Rome was so exciting, and we definitely could have stayed four more days just to enjoy the Roman culture and cuisine! I love me some pizza & pasta! Friday morning our flight landed at 9:30 am. We were extremely tired, but headed the short five minute walk to our hostel. This was my first experience with hostels. Ryan has used some before. It was a very interesting time. I really saw the value of them and enjoyed our stay. However, sleeping in a private room tonight sounds a little bit like heaven. Bonus points for the hostel though – free AWESOME pastry and coffee breakfast every morning and free wine in the evenings. Our hostel was conveniently located near the train station, as I mentioned. However, we lucked out with the train station near us being Roma Termini – the hub for the city metro and direct line to airport and other cities.

It’s always a challenge figuring out another country’s transportation system. But it hasn’t been too bad just yet. (Fingers crossed). On Friday after freshening up a bit, Ryan and I headed out to the Sistine Chapel. We had bought our tickets ahead of time, so fortunately we got to skip a pretty darn long line. There really are no words. It was just beautiful. Our pictures of the museum didn’t even really do it justice. We sat in the chapel just looking at Michaelangelo’s painting for awhile. We listened to an explanation of all the murals and how Michaelangelo approached his work. It was awe-inspiring. You could definitely feel that it was a holy place. No photography or talking was allowed. So people were just everywhere staring at the walls and ceiling and taking it all in.

We went to bed pretty early that night, but woke up Saturday ready to get going! We headed to the Colosseum first thing. It’s huge, guys! I can’t wrap my head around the fact that humans built that with little to no construction tools. Standing amongst thousands of years of history – it made me feel very small. There are very few things that are still around from 80 AD. And we got to see it, touch it, and learn about it in person. We also walked through the Roman Forum, which is across the way from the Colosseum and where Rome did most of its business back around that time. Most of the landmarks and monuments are wearing down, but you can still imagine their grandeur. Also, let me take a moment and shout out to ole Rick Steves and his “Audio Europe” app. Ryan and I have it on our phones and when on wifi, we can download certain audio guides and use them the next day without data. We learned SO MUCH with his app – and it’s so easy and free and has maps and everything! We will be using it the rest of our trip and I can’t recommend it enough if you’re going somewhere in Europe too.

Speaking of Rick Steves, Sunday we went on a “Heart of Rome walking tour” which Rick had created himself. He provided a map and starting point, and talked to us about interesting parts of the city as we went along. We started the tour at Campo de Fiori which was this outdoor market. After grabbing some fresh strawberries, Ryan and I continued on. This “Heart of Rome” tour took us to Piazza Novona – an old race ground with 3 gorgeous fountains and lots of outdoor restaurants. We went to the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish steps. Rick also pointed out cool things along the way. Such as the coffee shop that Starbucks founder credits as inspiration to go back to Seattle and start a coffee shop. Each evening we usually spent exploring and walking around until we found a little spot to eat dinner. I love Italy in the evenings.

One thing I noticed that I really thought was smart and unique – while Ryan and I were sitting on a bench under a tree eating gelato, we looked up and there were TONS of oranges. As our eye went down the street, we saw that the entire block was lined with orange trees. The low hanging fruit was picked. It seems like the city allowed the homeless, or others to grab fruit off those trees to eat when needed or wanted. Genius! The city may actually come and pick it up themselves, we weren’t quite sure. But we thought it was really cool that they used orange trees to landscape the streets.

Yesterday was a rest day. We went to the oldest (and fanciest) coffee shop in the city and made some plans for the next couple of days. Ryan found out there were some Caravaggio paintings in this old church we had passed by the other day on our walking tour. So we went back to see the paintings. Sometimes I forget how much art speaks to Ryan. He’s a designer, but definitely a painter and artist at heart. As Ryan explained how Caravaggio used light in his painting to draw your eye and give depth and dimension and feeling to the painting – he was like a little kid in that church. So excited to see one of this guy I’ve never heard of’s paintings. I love watching him when he’s like that.

So here we are on the train, we got first class tickets thanks to our Eurail Passes. Ryan is asleep across from me with his sunglasses on and earphones in. I’m typing this up next to a massive window overlooking beautiful Italian scenery, listening to Hillsong Worship and thanking God for our safe travels and health through the first city on our Europe Journey.

Houston

For as long as I can remember I have talked about going to see Europe with just a backpack and a camera. About a year ago I pitched the idea to Victoria as I had to so many people before. I expected the typical “YES! That would be awesome!” conversation. The one that ends with the harsh realizations of school, work, and rent. Instead she said, “Don’t joke with me. I don’t want to have that conversation unless it is serious.”

So we set off to planning the ultimate backpack trip. We would start in England and go west through Amsterdam and Germany on our way to Auschwitz. Then we would travel south from there seeing Eastern Europe; Prague, Vienna, Budapest, places like that. We’d check out Italy and Paris to see all the amazing art and architecture. Finally we would go through Spain to enjoy the exciting culture and bright colors of Madrid and Barcelona. We ran the numbers and quickly realized how impossible this all seemed, but still hoped and believed it could be real one day.

Less than a month later Victoria was suddenly hired to teach Accounting at LIT and Lamar. We were able to reduce our trip down to something just mostly impossible, and purchased our tickets online.

Tomorrow, I will be on a plane to fly to Rome with my beautiful wife. She has planned a ton, we have worked very hard, and through our family and friends God has provided us with so much. Thank you for joining us on our adventure across Europe. We can’t wait to see you all again.