November 3 - Europe Wrap Up

Two months ago this week I left Sound Youth Counseling, grateful to be finished, so encouraged and excited by the staff and new executive director who will carry on the good work there. Four weeks ago today we flew out of Seattle. We have managed to cram much into the past month, wonderful people and places, more trains than we can count, a smorgasboard of culinary delights (ok – and a lot of bread and cheese in our room!) Cities, countryside, it has all been great. Of course there are times when we are beat and we have discovered that we must build in down days. Doing an ongoing trip is a little different than doing one where you know you will be back in your home in three weeks. Andrea mentioned that we had hoped to have another night in Rome but where we were staying was completely booked. We had already decided that we would return to Levanto and L'erba Persa so we showed up a day early and Grazia had a room ready for us. So three more nights at this wonderful place gave us time to rest and gear up for the next few days of travel. It had been quite rainy since Rome but Saturday we woke to bright blue skies again and while not quite warm, it was warm and sunny enough to walk down to the beach for me to get my first Mediterranean swim in along with a horde of surfers who had shown up in their wet suits to ride the waves.

We were able to catch up with the blog a little (and again a huge thank you to Damien in Rome for getting our pictures to us!) We haven't been able to download the Picasa program that allows easy uploads but at some point we will have some slide shows ready to go as well. We also were able to have more conversations about politics both in this country (relating to the education demonstrations going on) as well as in the US with the election. And I picked a few more olives with Claudio who true to his word has given me a liter of fresh oil which will be ready for consumption in two months! We've wrapped and padded it well. Hope it will make it!

I'm writing this on the train from Milan to Paris. We hadn't planned on spending the night there last night, but it was the only way to get back to Paris to catch our flight to South Africa. When I went to get reservations for the train at the station a few days ago, there weren't any! Nothing. The station agent told me to go into Levanto and ask a travel agent as sometimes they can access a few seats that the rail agents can't. Huh?! This I did, without much luck. Finally the travel agent who had looked and looked for seats from all sorts of cities and connections found a couple, but when she printed them out she noticed they weren't Eurail Pass tickets but the pass that rail employees would use if they were traveling. We talked about options and to cut a long story short, took a chance today and hoped that no one would notice. And it seems that is the case as our tickets have been checked by Italian and Swiss conductors and no huge fine has been thrown at us. This is really another huge thank you Jesus for us. We have had so many things on this trip work out whether finding renters for the house or getting Andrea a new pump, we are very aware of God's kindness to us and care for us. We think we are supposed to be learning a lesson about trust – which really has been a theme for me this whole past year. 'Will you trust me with everything?' seems to be the question. So we are very grateful and we are learning to trust more and not freak out when each new thing comes up.

Briefly on Milan...we had to spend the night so we could get the early train out this morning. Since we had a few hours in the evening, we walked down the main avenue to the Duomo, Christendom's fourth largest church after St. Peters in Rome, St. Paul's in London and Sevilla's in Spain. Really glad we went as we were able to sneak inside as mass was going on and see another beautiful church. While other churches in Italy went with Renaissance domes, Milan went with an incredibly ornate gothic style. It can hold 12,000 people. (St Peter's – 60,000 inside! Not in the square!)

The other note from last night concerns my super model wife. So going to the Duomo we walked through the fashion center of this major fashion capital of the world and it was unbelievable the looks Andrea got especially by the girls passing by who thought she was someone they should know. It was quite fun for me to walk behind her and watch people do double takes at this tall beauty walking down the street. What gave her away though is the dude walking next to her in his green fleece. No fashionista would be seen with this guy!

Ok, so we just passed Turin and are entering France now. A couple just got on the train with two cats in backpacks which they have now taken out and are sitting with leashes on their seats! OK seriously, we have been going for a couple hours and the cats just sit there. One is up on the back of the seat. We have actually seen more well trained pets (mainly dogs) like this on this trip. Dogs walking into stores with their owners – no leash. Evidently dog training is a little more successful here. We spend the night in Paris tonight and then the following night at the Paris airport (not so much fun, but you do what you have to do – hopefully we can find a tv and watch election results!) before catching an early flight to Amsterdam and then down to Johannesburg.

PS – quick update – November 4 – Election Day in the US and the world is watching. As big a day as it is in the US, it might just be bigger around the world.
We stayed at an All Seasons Hotel last night. Found it for half off – and can I say how great it was. All the places we have stayed have been great and you can't really compare, but this I think was wonderful icing on the cake. Slept well and great great breakfast. It's the little perks...
If you are counting we have slept in 14 beds in the last month. It's a beautiful warm fall day in Paris. The sky is blue, but fall is beginning to move in and so we head south for a couple more months of our endless summer!

Duncan