Europe - Rome's Ostia Antica

On Friday of our week in Rome, we decided to spring for our other ticketed entry site: Ostia Antica (€8/each).

Ostia Antica is the ancient port of Rome. Although Rome embraces the Tiber/Tevere River as it winds through the heart of the city, the major warehouses and docks were located a few miles closer to the coast at Ostia. The ancient city of Ostia is now a partially conserved and refurbished archeological site.

It's compared to Pompeii in terms of being a unique glimpse into Ancient Roman life. You can walk down the streets of the city, climb the stairs into apartment buildings, sit in the seats of the amphitheater, pretend to order a drink at the local bar, stand on the marble floors and mosaics of the bath house, and duck into warehouses and buildings where the residents lived.

So, we downloaded Rick Steve's audio guide (FREE as a podcast on iTunes!) and set off.

From Laura and Jason's on the north side of Rome, we could take the metro to the end of the line, hop on a commuter train, and be out at Ostia in an hour and 20 minutes.

We spent several hours wandering around the site - there were a couple groups of school children there, and some other independent tourists, but by and large, there was a very spacious, uncrowded feel, which was a nice change from elbowing our way through the throngs of downtown Rome!

I've always been a fan of "experiences" when it comes to studying history. When I was a kid, my family went to a museum in Wyoming where there were costumes and various indigenous houses set up that my sisters and I could climb into, around and, and play make-believe with. When I was in high school my favorite history event was a medieval feast that we put on, complete with costumes that we made (I sewed a dress and made one of those cone-hats with the netting streaming out of the top... Yeah, pretty cool!). The trend has continued into my adulthood - if I'm going to do something "history" related, I will choose an interactive experience of some kind like walking on actual streets and climbing into 2,000 year old buildings any day over walking through a museum and looking at objects in a glass display case.

As a result, Ostia Antica was definitely one of our favorite tourism undertakings in Rome. It was expensive, but for a fun splurge, we felt it was well worth the investment.


- Dani

Europe - Rome

Rome is busy. The heart of Rome (the triangle between the Spanish steps, Vatican City, and the Colosseum) always seems to be fluttering with tourists. Which then slows down the locals, irritates the cars, clogs the buses, attracts the street venders and beggars, and generally causes some mayhem.

But we didn't stay in the heart of Rome. My generous friend Laura opened her home and gave us a set of keys to their family's flat despite a rather chaotic week for them. They fed us every morning and evening, and provided an English-speaking, family-oriented retreat in the midst of our touring. It was awesome!

So what did we do in Rome? We followed a wish-list of sorts that I'd created and approved with Gabe. It included my favorite sites/significant places for me after my study abroad year here in Roma.

Here's the list:
- Wander around Rome. The buses are a fun way to experience this city, and the metro is a great shoe-watching spot (one of our favorite activities!), but walking allows you to really experience the charm of the city. Laura and Jason's place is on the north side of the city, but not so far away that walking to the center isn't possible, so we did. And we found a Narnia-esque spot in a park along the way (so magical! Other than the smell of dog poo), managed to buy two very large and delicious melons for snacking on, stopped in for coffee at a bar (standing at the bar, it's only €0.90 for an espresso!), and got lost in the cobblestone and marble maze.

- Climb the steps to my favorite church, Santa Maria in Arecoli, located just behind the right side of the Vittorio Emmanuelle II monument when facing it from Corso. It has the most beautiful chandeliers hanging from the ornate ceiling. And because it's at the top of a very long stair case, it doesn't get as many visitors as some churches! Bonus: your quads get a good workout on the way, which is handy if you're trying to maintain Burma-mountains muscle tone!)

- See the Colosseum. It's such an icon of Rome, and although it is very tourist-clogged, it's always been one of my favorite sites. The day we went, there was a huge line, so we wandered away and decided to come back later in the afternoon. When we returned at 16:00, the line was much shorter. I sat outside (with Gabe's pocket knife - there's a metal detector to get into the site) and saved us the €10 entry ticket for me while Gabe was able to go inside and experience the movie-like history-brought-to-life feeling. Unfortunately, by the time he came out, he didn't have enough time to go wander through the Forum, which is also included in the cost of the ticket, but I think he was happy having just seen the Colosseum.

- Go to Camp di Fiori and find door 37, which is where I lived for a semester. The square is a fun mixing place of local fruit and veggie venders and bright-eyed tourists. There are some fun shops along the way to the Campo, including a beautiful leather shop. We were initially attracted by the shoes in the window display, but when we wandered in, the clever sales lady said, "Come, try things on. To look and try on is free!" Gabe put on several gorgeous leather jackets, but don't worry, we walked away without paying the €1,000.00 price on any of them!

- Visit another cool church: San Clemente, which has the current basilica, and then a basilica from the Middle Ages built underneath the current one, and then Roman street ruins underneath that basilica. It's one of the most experiential spots to visit that put into perspective the literal depth of the historic Rome. Unfortunately, although the top basilica is free, to go down into the lower depths costs €10. I sent Gabe again while I waited in the courtyard of the ground level of the church. He ended up being about the only person down there in the lowest level and got a real feel for the creepiness of the deep ruins!

- Get gelato at the gelataria in Trestevere that sealed the deal of canella (cinnamon) being the best flavor of gelato. It was worth it to break the dairy-free gelato rule I tried to apply for the sake of my skin! It's a popular spot with local students, and since it's located just around the corner and down the street from John Cabot University, it gets a lot of college student food traffic along with high school students and, of course, tourists. This stop included a wander through Trestevere, the picturesque cobblestone streets of Rome "village" life.

- Show Gabe John Cabot University, where I studied for my year in Rome. It's a small campus (although they have expanded to a second campus just doesn't the road now), but a lovely little look into everyday life for students. I was able to give my name, confirm my address, and take Gabe inside to wander around. It's finals week for the current students, so many students were sitting around studying.

- Walk through the Circo Massimo, which is the old chariot racing site of Ancient Rome. It's a huge, oval grassy spot in the middle of some busy intersections, but there's rarely a lot of people there. We sat and ate melons in the sunshine and gave our feet a rest!

- Toss a coin over our shoulders into the Trevi Fountain and marvel at the glorious carvings. This is also a tourist thronged spot! And actually, it was on my "B" list, but since we went to church on Sunday at Rome Baptist Church, the place I worshiped while I lived in Rome, we were only a few blocks away from the Trevi Fountain, so we went to participate in the Roman ritual. If I remember correctly, this is supposed to guarantee your return to Rome someday.

- Walk into St. Peter's and gape at the massiveness of the church. We decided to not swing for the €26.00 entry ticket (EACH!) to the Vatican museum, and therefore we knew we wouldn't see the Sistine Chapel, but since the church itself is free, I definitely wanted to show that to Gabe (he left his pocket knife home that day, since there's a metal detector before you can go in). As it turned out, the church was closed when we initially went by, so we wandered over to do our Trestevere to-do list before coming back about 15:45. There was a small line forming, so we queued up, passed through security, and walked into the basilica.... To find the whole thing filled with chairs, a lot of security, and someone handing out a booklet with an order of service. We sat down, browsed through the booklet, and deciphered the Italian enough to realize it was a special service commemorating Christ's suffering and tears "con il Santos Padre, Francesco" - with the holy father, Pope Frances! We decided it was worth it to head home a little later than planned, and we waited the hour and a half until the service started to see Pope Frances and be in St. Peter's during the service.

- Peruse the options of flavors (150 in total!) at Della Palma Gelateria and pick something unusual (Gabe got Basil flavored gelato and mixed fruit - both were prettying good! I got soy chocolate - which was decent - and soy coconut - which was kind of gross... However, the next day we stopped at a little shop that offered soy gelato as well, and I got an excellent coffee flavor and hazelnut flavor - it made up for Della Palma's disappointment!).

- Elbow our way into the Pantheon, which I like just for it's wide-open "Here I am!" sort of feel. Gabe found the marble work mesmerizing.

Along with all these awesome things, we munched on pizza of various types as we walked the streets (I found some fun cheese-free options I'd never branched out to explore in the past!), stopped in to a bar about once a day to get a mid-day caffeine boost of espresso at the counter (Gabe discovered he likes macchiatos for when it's past cappuccino time), chatted with fun Italians along the way (including this sweet old guy on the bus that didn't speak a lick of English, but we still learned that he'd smoked for a long time, he was a 7th generation Roman on his mother's side, his father had lived in Germany until the Second World War, and he was only going a few stops on the bus. This was pieced together by my rusty, minimal Italian and Gabe's assistance of Spanish!), and of course, enjoyed hanging out with the Smiths when our schedules aligned!

It was fun to come back and see the now-expanded Smith family. Everett, the little guy I used to babysit, is now a tall, composed conversationalist in 7th grade. Keaton, who was born after I left Rome, is a spunky, witty, board-game loving 1st grader. And Briella, who joined the family in Rome in February when her adoption was all completed, is a lively, adorable, tall 16-month old. And, of course, the cat is still around, quietly observing the doings of the family!

On Saturday, Laura and the boys took us to the catacombs (something I actually never did when I was in Rome!) near their house and then we stopped at a gelato shop on the way home. They also tremendously added to our Roman experience by cooking fabulous Italian dinners each night. Laura is an excellent cook and we will miss the fabulous smells that greeted us at the door when we came home each evening!

- Dani

Europe - Maniago

God is kind to his children.

He is the kind of Father who keeps track of details. The kind of Father who crafts gifts that speak individually to the hearts of his kids. When he blesses you, it reveals a love that is personal, a love from a person that knows who you are.

This is Gabe, and to tell the story of Maniago, I'll need to rewind a couple decades to tell you a little about my Grandpa Duane:

My Grandpa is a hero. He has jumped from a Coast Guard ships in an absolute gale and swam through 20+ foot swells to save people's lives, but he would rarely tell you so. He'd prefer to serve YOU - stuff your face with ice cream and cookies, pour you a tall glass of milk, and sit you down to hear about how you are doing and what's going on in your life.

About 2 decades ago Grandpa gave me my first knife, and he took great care to show me how to take care and maintain it, avoid hurting myself with it, and somewhere along the way he conveyed to me a little truth about being a man; about having power to do damage or do good, about choosing to use your ability to serve, help, and protect others.

In spite of the fact that I went home from that noble lesson and promptly sliced my finger open trying to chop leaves off of a tree, both the principles he taught me and an appreciation for pocket knives have never left me.

Through the years, I've bought and sold countless blades, and endeavored to pass on the lessons he taught me to other young men. Most recently in my pursuit of that passion, I ran a small business to repair, sharpen, and customize pocket knives.

Coming to Thailand last year to teach, I needed to put that hobby on hold, and while I was ok with that, I have also missed it very often.

My absolute favorite brand of knives is called LionSteel. They are based in Italy and when I found out we were coming to Venice, I thought I'd see how far away their factory would be.

The factory was an hour and forty minutes from where we were staying and despite my constant comments of "Well... We don't have to go...", my wonderful wife saw through it all and said "But honey, this would really bless your heart wouldn't it? Come on, let's try!"

In her determination, she pressed on, even through a series of mishaps as we rescheduled our trip to fit around Burma, missed our flight due to strikes in Germany, arrived in Venice too late to make it to the factory, and had to delay going to Rome until after the weekend just to make it work!

After delays upon delays, a train ride, a bus ride, and a short walk through town with our monstrous backpacks, we found ourselves in the beautiful town of Maniago. Weaving our way past ancient abandoned forges and factories, we walked the almost completely unmarked path to LionSteel, sitting right at the edge of the Dolomites (beautiful green and gray mountains, the Alps of Northern Italy).

In the chaos of the last few days we'd not been able to contact Gianni, the owner and make sure our rescheduled visit would work out, so at the front door we had a moment of "Well, I hope we didn't come all this way for nothing!" but before we knew it we had been ushered in, given real Italian Cappucinos and been told to wait a moment. In about 15 minutes Gianni came out and said "Wow, it looks like you've come a long way, I have 2 hours for you - what do you want to see?"

He proceeded to literally give us the knife-factory tour of my dreams, starting with inviting us into his office to tell us the history of how he and his father built the company, the changes that have taken place over the years, and his dreams for the future. He let us watch the machines and workers craft metal into beautiful and precise blades and handles, and showed us prototypes of upcoming models (even some that will be featured in Hollywood Action films not yet released!).

He concluded the tour by letting me ask as many nerdy knife questions as I wanted, and then throwing our backpacks in his car and personally driving us across town to show us their second factory, and then dropping us off at the knife museum in town.

The museum was closed, so Gianni made a few calls, and before long a museum attendant had opened up the locked doors and proceeded to give us a personal tour through the completely empty museum!

Afterward, Dani asked me "How are you doing?"

"I am doing awesome", I replied, "It's kind of like the Lord saved up all the blessing that I gave up by choosing not to run the knife business this year, and then just dumped it all out on me in a concentrated dose in the span of about 3 hours!!!"

And in the legacy of my Grandpa, the determination of my wife to honor my passions, the amazing generosity of Gianni and the folks at LionSteel, and in one beautiful Italian day, I see the Lord's kindness toward me.

So much more than he had to give. So specific to who I am. And I just have to say, "Thanks Dad, that was better than I ever imagined!"

- Gabe

Europe - Venice: The City and The Lagoon

We flew in to Marco Polo airport in Venice (after the unexpected stopover in Cologne, Germany). I'd never flow into Venice, but armed with our handy "mapme" app and the location of our AirBnB, we began our trek into the city.

One thing we had to figure out about Venice was that this city has been in the tourism industry for a very long time - it's been a "grand tour of Europe" stop for some, like, 350 years. And man, does the local economy have making money off of tourist dialed in to a science.

Our first experience was the fact that the bus from Marco Polo Airport to downtown Venice is a whopping €8 per ticket (about a 35 minute ride). Since we REALLY didn't want to spend that kind of money on a bus ticket from the airport to our AirBNB flat, we decided to walk the 3 miles. It was a beautiful day, we weren't at risk of the sun setting on us, so off we went - each with our backpacks. W figured the added bonus was the chance to work off some of our German breakfast feast! The road was narrow and not really designed for pedestrian traffic the whole way, but it was a lovely introduction to Italian countryside for Gabe. We passed little vineyards and very old towers in the middle of wheat fields, and small Italian farm villas and tiny chapels. We found our AirBnB host with no problem outside our rental flat, and got settled.

After a run to the grocery store, we were set for meals, so we went to bed early so we could start touring the next day.

Unfortunately, jet lag caught up with me about 3am and I was wide awake, but I got up, did some laundry, made our packed lunches, made our breakfast, and woke Gabe.

That was our Venice day - we wandered through the streets, sometimes in back alleys and sometimes on the tourist drag. When we got thirsty, we stopped at public fountains and drank. When we got tired, we slipped into a church to sit down on the pews and try to decipher the artwork. When we got hungry, we sat on the steps of some building to eat our fried egg sandwiches we'd packed for lunch. We stopped into coffee bars to buy an espresso (€1!) as an excuse to use the shop's toilet, since Venice charges €1.50 for public toilets.

We basically walked our feet off! And then we headed home to cook up pasta and fresh vegetables and fall asleep early.

The next morning, Sunday, we had planned to catch an early train out of Venice and stop in Siena for 6 hours before continuing on to Rome Sunday evening. However, with our delay in arrival, we'd lost the only chance on our original schedule for Gabe to go to Maniago to see the Lionsteel knife factory. We decided to bite the bullet and
stay at our AirBnB place in Venice Mestre another night (Venice Mestre is on the mainland and is essentially the "modern" city of Venice. What it lacks in canals and romantic charm, it makes up for in price as the AirBnB spots in Mestre we spotted were about half the price to the ones on the islands). Then we could go to Maniago first thing Monday morning when the factory was open, and catch an afternoon train directly to Rome - Siena, obviously, got sacrificed.

So we went to an Anglican Church service (since it was in English AND it was raining anyhow), and after the church service ended, the rain had stopped, so we hopped onto a vaporetto (water bus)to the islands of Murano and Burano. Murano is known for it's fabulous glass-making, and Burano's commercial heritage includes fishing and lace making.

Gabe loved them. He'd enjoyed Venice, but the islands especially tickled his fancy since they were so tourist-free compared to the crowds of Venice. The buildings are paints bright, beautiful colors, and the canals weave through the little island town, and you can see real-life Italy happening around you - Dads taking their kids for an afternoon stroll, and Moms pushing their child on the swing set. By the time we got back to the Venice city, it was time for a final vaporetto ride up the grand canal as the sun set behind a thick layer of clouds, and home to pack up.

The only frustrations we had with Venice was how EXPENSIVE it was there - we'd ordered pizza marguerite (i.e. Cheese pizza) that was listed for €7 and a cup of coffee in order to get wifi at a restaurant one afternoon, and somehow our bill - with various taxes and fees - cost €20! We didn't really bother doing any of the major tourism things with the goal that we could save the money on entrance admittance.
- Dani

Europe - Venice: The Back Story

Ahh, Venice.

I have visited Venice before - in 2006, Venice single handedly determined my "backpack luggage only" rule for traveling internationally - and again in 2008 with my sister when we did a rather whirl-wind trip of Italy after I finished my school year at JCU, and I've always wants to come back. Gabe and I even talked about doing an Italy/Greece trip for our honeymoon, because I wants to show Gabe this land of my college years and see the picturesque beauty of Greece. Obviously, we didn't - too expensive, bad time of year, and we had too little time before my school schedule started again to warrant flying 10 time zones. We shelved the idea.

When we started to see the publicity about the Syrian refugees and began to understand what was going on in Greece last summer, Gabe and I both felt like we wanted to do something about it - it seemed such a massive tragedy, but also such a unique point in the history of our lives and our times to stand up and seek to serve and love the homeless, the hopeless, the children and mothers and fathers and the "least of these." Especially as Christians, we wanted to reach out to people that could potentially be considered our "enemies" perhaps, because that's what Jesus told us to do! We wanted so badly to go DO something - because we could, because someone needed to, because so many people were, and we didn't want to have to say to our children or grandchildren someday, "We knew what was happening, but we decided to ignore it."

But Europe wasn't in our plans. We had budgeted and planned for being in Asia during this whole vision season. An airplane ticket alone to get to Europe, we figured, would put us way off track, not to mention the cost of surviving in Europe for any time. We set aside our desire to go.

Then things got kind of crazy in Thailand - we were discouraged by some of the choices that were being made around us. We took a stand for what we felt was right, at the potential price of our teaching job. We felt like we were in limbo. We began to pray, "Lord, we want to go where you want us, and this situation seems so crazy. Are you leading us away from here soon?" Then my sister and brother-in-law came to visit during our October break and it was so hard to see them leave, because the situation in Thailand and the atmosphere around us was so heavy, and I just wanted to go HOME, or at least someplace that felt more like home!

Before we returned to school, I had a couple hard days - I remember crying and telling Gabe, "I feel like if I knew there was a clear end point to being in this atmosphere and this place, and something to look forward to, I could handle this situation!" I started to look at visiting home over Christmas, just to see what prices were like and if we could swing it. I stumbled across the skyscanner website. It has a feature where you can search by using a map and see the cheapest locations to fly to from a specific departure city during specific months. I checked all over the Pacific Northwest and the west coast for tickets around Christmas - LA, Los Vegas, San Francisco, Vancouver BC, Portland, Seattle - and nothing was cheap enough for us. I started searching other places in the world, just to see what was available. I thought even if we couldn't go home for Christmas, maybe we could go visit other people some place less expensive and have that fellowship time to look forward to!

God has done some funny things for me in the money department over the years, and one of the ways I interpret confirmation from him about something is whether something fits in my ideal money range. After looking at our budget and our savings, I set what seemed like a ridiculously low mental number of $300 for a plane ticket and asked God to provide something for cheaper than that number as a possibility of leaving SE Asia after the school year ended.

Somehow, my search expanded to looking all over Europe, but most of the tickets were $500-$1000 each. But then I zoomed in around Greece and Italy, and a few seconds later, I was staring at one-way tickets from Bangkok to Venice for $247 each. I closed the laptop and walked away - what was I thinking?! This was crazy talk - that was a crazy price!

I held out for about 15 minutes and then told Gabe about the ticket I'd found. He was incredulous, so I showed him. The price was still there. I looked up reviews on the airlines - it was real, the reviews weren't bad. We talked about it some more, prayed about it, and decided to see if the price held for a day.

When we checked the next day, the price was still there. Gabe and I looked at each other in the glow of the laptop screen and I said, "Well? What do you think? Is this confirmation?" Gabe just looked at me and grinned.

Then he said, "Dani, you asked for a ticket for less than $300, just to see if something was possible. Not only is it possible to get to Europe, but this is ITALY - right next door to Greece, the very place that has been receiving refugees fleeing from Syria. And beyond that, it's not just anywhere in Italy, this is VENICE - the very city you've told me time and time again that you want to take me to see. I don't think this is just confirmation - I think this is God's message of love and caring and seeing the challenges here and giving you something wonderful that speaks to your heart to look forward to. He really loves you, Babe. Buy the darn tickets!"

So I did.

And what a joy it has been to anticipate this time in beautiful, elegant Venice.

- Dani