A Swiss Cheese Lesson

Switzerland has to be one of the most beautiful places on Earth. I actually think I was accidentally born and raised in Missouri when it should have been high in the Alps among the wildflowers, goats, snow-covered peaks, rocky streams, and countless waterfalls. There’s something so quaint, so peaceful about the villages dotted throughout the Lauterbrunnen valley and along the grassy mountainsides that makes you feel right at home and never want to leave. Not to mention the stunning views, charming people, and superb hiking offered at every turn. Go ahead, feast your eyes.

Glorious.

A few from our hostel

The Mountain Hostel in Gimmelwald!

The upper end of a valley we hiked to one day

A rough panorama I tried to accomplish via a random program I found on the internet...this was that same valley

Something else the Swiss Alps offered me on this particular trip was a humbling lesson in my brokenness and God’s holiness. You see, on our second full day in Gimmelwald, Tyler and I opted for a long hike. Although we like to be outdoors and enjoy hiking, we’re not the most experienced when it comes to climbing actual mountains, so this was going to be pretty strenuous for us. Let me also mention that, due to all the walking we’ve been doing with not enough support in my shoes, I’m pretty confident I have a stress fracture. Oh, and half an hour into this hike, I stepped in a small hole and turned my ankle. So at this point, I’ve got a lot going for me. But we were in the Alps! I wanted to hike! I wanted to make the most of this! Four ibuprofen later and we were pushing through. 

Now, I’m a perfectionist. Which is ok, in some aspects, because it means things usually get done right the first time. But it also means I easily get caught up on little flaws and failures in everything I do. Like taking forever to climb a mountain. During our hike, I must have apologized to Tyler 58 times (at least) for going so slow or needing a rest or who knows what else. Even though he was never frustrated, annoyed, or angry with my slow progress and he recognized the hindrance that was causing it, I still felt horrible for slowing us down and let it eat away at my self-confidence until I was no longer enjoying being in the freakin’ Alps with my husband. He kept telling me to stop apologizing, and I would say something like, “I know, I know, but I still feel bad.” We eventually came to a fork in the trail with signs pointing towards different end destinations and time estimates for how much longer it would take to get there. We’d been hiking for about two hours at a steady uphill climb, and the sign told us we were only halfway there! I was so discouraged, so tired, and my foot was hurting so bad that I was ready to turn back. At this point, Tyler decided we needed a “come to Jesus meeting,” so he sat me down and we talked through some things and prayed and cried (well, I cried…Tyler just held my hand), and we decided to keep persevering. We still had a ways to go, but we could finally see the top and at least had something to keep us going. I cannot begin to tell you how incredible it felt to reach the top, to have nowhere but down to go, to take in the view, and celebrate my personal victory. Here are a few pictures of that hike:

A view of the valley on our way up

The mountains on the other side of the summit

A view coming down from our hike

At the top!

The shark's fin just beyond the plateau we climbed to

A view of the Lauterbrunnen Valley from the top

See that teeny tiny red circle way up there? That's where we hiked to. And the building in this picture is where we started.

If I think about my relationship with the Lord like climbing this mountain, I am able to draw some pretty mind-blowing parallels (at least for me—I definitely had a few aha! moments on this hike). In my daily walk, I recognize my imperfections. I even understand that my sinful nature is the unchangeable root of those imperfections. And yet, I still feel the need to make up for them somehow and win back God’s favor. I get bogged down in the daily “climb,” can’t see the top, feel sorry for myself because I can’t do it on my own, feel guilty because I am a sinner and therefore incapable of saving myself, and want to quit. And that’s the stupidest thing ever. Because I know I’m not supposed to be able to do it on my own, and when my actions and emotions show that I am trying to earn God’s love (i.e. saving myself), I am completely depreciating and disregarding Jesus’ work on the cross. Like somehow, he died for everyone except me, so I have to work extra hard to make up for my sins. On the hike up, Tyler led me. He kept encouraging me, pushing me, and asking me to stop apologizing because he was just enjoying being with me. This is where I began to draw the parallels: I saw my bum foot representing my sinful nature, the thing that is naturally hindering me from permanent intimacy with God; I saw the mountain as the life of faith, a tough climb but worth it at the end; I saw Tyler as God gently encouraging me, leading me, only asking for my best and never expecting perfection, and just enjoying our walk together (*side note: I do not worship Tyler, nor does he come before the Lord in my life. It was just a metaphor, so no, Mom, we don’t need to have a talk J); and then there’s me, struggling to keep up, wanting to enjoy it, but becoming discouraged by the fact that I’m not perfect at it and therefore must do something to make up for it. What a lesson! What a hike! 

You see, God is not unlike Swiss cheese: He is holy. And I am not unlike Swiss cheese either: I am riddled with holes, broken and empty (work with me on this…I know it’s cheesy—haha!). If I can’t learn to let go of chasing the dream of perfection, to simply lean on Christ and let Him fill up my holes, then I cheapen grace; I devalue my need for it by instead trying to earn it, which of course is never possible, and thus ensues a long downward spiral from which there is no escape except through Jesus. It’s a lesson that I’ve always struggled with, and it’s one that, unfortunately, God has had to teach me a few different times, so this glorious and humbling hike was probably not the end-all-be-all—I’m sure accepting grace will continue to be a struggle for me. But I know He will never give up on me, never stop loving me, never stop encouraging me up that mountain, and never cease pouring out His undeserved grace.

I hope you guys can really feel grace today. I hope you know how much God loves you, and know that it doesn't at all depend on anything you do. I'll try to post again in the next day or two with more on our time in Switzerland.

The Rain in Spain Falls Mainly on the Plain

It actually didn't rain while we were there, it just seemed like a fitting title. Barcelona is a very interesting city. Parts of it are very dirty, smelly, run-down, and crowded, and then other parts are unique, beautiful, and worth exploring. Unfortunately, after our time in Paris, we just simply didn't have the energy to do much while we were there. We arrived at our first hostel (I say first hostel because we actually stayed two different places on the two nights we were there) around 10 PM only to be greeted by a boar. Seriously, a wild boar and its babies. Not a pleasant site. We were reassured by someone who worked there that it was safe, but it was still slightly unsettling. 

The next morning we headed into the city to do a little site-seeing. Near our hostel was the Montjuic Castle, which was quite a climb from the bottom of the hill. We walked around up there for a while, but I think we had just hit a wall; not a lot of energy, our hostel wasn’t close to much else, and we were in a…err, less nice part of town. One redeeming quality of Barcelona was that everything was cheap. Cheap food, cheap transportation, cheap wine. So we got dinner at the grocery store (pizza, wine, and gelato for under 10 euro), took it back to the hostel, and watched a movie. And it was wonderful. The following day we had a flight leaving for Zurich in the evening, so we walked around the city to see a little more of Barcelona and also La Sagrada Familia, a church famous for its unique architecture by Gaudi. Here are a few pictures:

Montjuic Castle

The gardens in front of Montjuic Castle

More of the castle

A watch tower

Looking down on the coast from the hilltop

Our delicious and cheap dinner!

A random church in downtown Barcelona

Inside of said random church

La Sagrada Familia

Pretty interesting architecture

We are learning. We’re learning how to travel, how to decide when we need rest and when we think we can keep pushing, and how to approach a new city. We’re learning to be flexible, to try and not regret anything, and to make the most of every situation. Which can be tough, and we haven’t always handled it the best. For instance, we wished we would have skipped Barcelona entirely to spend more time with the Hintons in Paris, but we had to get to Barcelona eventually since we’d already booked a flight from there to Zurich. We’ve had other moments where we wished we would’ve done something differently, but you just have to accept that hindsight is 20/20, and there’s nothing you can do to change what you’ve already done. It can be incredibly easy to let that get you down, to be discouraged and dwell on what could’ve been, especially on a trip where you wonder if you’ll ever come back to some of these places. But because you wonder if you’ll ever come back, you have to learn to focus on the positives and make the most of the choices you’ve made, because you will enjoy yourself more, and positivity can truly make or break an experience.

Switzerland is next! Be on the lookout for another update. Love you all!

Two Americans in Paris

I don't really know any other way to say this, but our time in Paris was amazing. And no, it is not solely for the cliché romantic scenery and atmosphere that the city has (which was absolutely incredible by the way, so what if I'm a romantic), but it's also because of the people that we had the opportunity to stay with. We stayed with John and Maribeth Hinton, and their two children Charity and Silas. This is just an all-around outstanding family, and we couldn't have possibly enjoyed our time with them any more than we did! John actually used to live in Rolla and went to church with my family, so that is the connection (in case you were wondering). The Hinton's moved to Paris five months ago to become missionaries in the city. Right now he and his wife are taking a year to devote themselves to language classes, which is strenuous work when you consider that they are also learning how to get used to a brand new city in a brand new country AND raise a two and a four year old in the new environment as well.

Anyway it was easy to see how they would have been too busy or exhausted to have time to let us stay in their home, but God was definitely at work, because they graciously gave us a home for five days and we instantly clicked. We got along well and had so much in common with each other, becoming friends in a matter of days. And they're children are so precious! Charity is four and is the cutest young lady in the world. Silas is two and has one of the sweetest smiles I have ever seen. Here are a few pictures:

Silas with Nutella all over his face. Too cute.

Charity is too precious. She wanted to see the flowers.

Silas again...I couldn't seem to capture him smiling. He was quite shy.

Charity, upon being found by Tyler playing hide-and-seek.

Oh yeah, I suppose we also saw stuff in the city as well. I should probably talk about that a little bit, shouldn't I?  We arrived in Paris in the evening, coming from London by train. Once we arrived we had to figure out how to get to the Hinton's home, which was actually around 15 miles outside of the city. Doing this allowed us to get used to the train system in Paris which we become pros at by the end of our time there. We got to the Hintons at nine or so and talked the night away. We decided to just take the following day entirely off and sleep in and plan out our route for the days to come. It was a great idea, because we had a bit of an adventurous few days ahead.

Ok, side note. Have I mentioned that we are trying to be really frugal on this trip? Because this day sums it up well. First we decided to see everything we wanted to see in Paris in one day to save money on the transportation into and out of the city. Sound like a busy day? Just wait. Then we decided to save a bit more money and simply walk everywhere we wanted to go once we got to the city. This made for roughly 13 hours of walking around Paris. (About 12 miles or so after we checked where all we went online). But it was so worth it!

We started at the cathedral of Notre Dame, which is celebrating its 850th year in 2013. So old! From there we walked along the Seine River until we got to the Eiffel Tower, enjoying all the sites in between. We had lunch in the gardens in front of the tower, then walked north toward the Arc de Triomphe to see that. From there we walked to the Louvre, whose gardens alone are worth the visit. On Friday nights the museum is open later, and people under 26 years old get in free from 6 to 9:45. Huzzah! Free famous art. It is MASSIVE. Unbelievably so. And we definitely got our fill of classical art and sculpture. After that we walked back towards the Eiffel Tower to see it at night, but it wasn't quite dark yet so of course we stopped at a restaurant and got creme brulee. You can't go to Paris and not get creme brulee. (Don't tell the French, but the creme brulee Tyler made me a few weeks ago was WAY better). The Eiffel Tower is an impressive and unique structure; at night it is a thing of beauty. And every hour on the hour for about five minutes, it sparkles with a light show. Pictures just couldn't quite capture it.

The inside of Notre Dame

One of the world's largest stained glass windows is in Notre Dame

I can't believe people built this 850 years ago with their hands.

You have to be impressed by this.

The Arc de Triomphe is so big! It's also a crazy intersection of at least 6 major roads

Classic Louvre pyramid

The Mona Lisa is actually quite underwhelming. But it's pretty cool to see it anyway, behind bullet-proof glass and all.

Not much more romantic than kissing beneath the Eiffel Tower at night :)

Isn't it beautiful??!

The next day we went out to see the Palace of Versailles, but it was way too expensive to go inside, so we just took some pictures. On Sunday, we had a beautiful walk through the Luxembourg Gardens on our way to church with the Hintons. After church we got to celebrate Father's Day with them at a classic English pub (in Paris) that served very delicious (and very manly) burgers and beer.

The King's Gardens in Versailles

The famous golden gate at the Palace of Versailles

Ridiculously ornate. Palace of Versailles.

Luxembourg Gardens. That's the capital building in the back.

Enjoying our beautiful Sunday morning!

There was also a really impressive fireworks show one evening that we could see perfectly from the Hinton's balcony.

We miss you all but are having a wonderful time! Barcelona is next. Thanks again for keeping up with us!

Tea and Crumpets

Greetings from London! Bear with me, this is a long one. As will be the next one from Paris, I'm sure. There was so much to do and see in our couple days here, but we made the most of it and are tired and happy. It feels like we have been gone forever, but London was only 10 days into our trip! Traveling is truly exhausting. But Tyler and I are also kind of made for that sort of lifestyle...we are enjoying the packed-full days and hard-sleeping nights. Without further ado, I give you...London:

We left Manchester at 5:45 AM in the morning and got to London around 11 AM. Since we couldn't check into our hostel until 2, we decided we'd start exploring London. We left our bags at a luggage counter at the train station and set off on a route we'd planned ahead of time. We took a bus to the British Museum (home of the Rosetta Stone and countless other artifacts from just about every culture and every time period ever...and it's free!) and spent a couple of hours just roaming the halls and oohing and ahhing over all the cool pieces of history we were getting to see. We then walked a ways toward the Thames River and saw the Temple Church (origin of the Knights Templar) and on over to St. Paul's Cathedral. Quite impressive. After that we crossed the river on the Millennium Bridge and saw Shakespeare's Globe Theater (a re-creation, of course, modeled after the original and still houses plays today) and the Tate Modern Art Gallery. From there we walked along the river until we got to the Westminster Bridge, which is where we got our first glimpse of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. As impressive as it was, we were pretty tired and ready to check into our hostel, the Phoenix. Here are a few pictures:

Rosetta Stone!

Outside the British Museum

The Royal Courts of Justice. Impressive, no?

The top dome of St. Paul's Cathedral

 

More of St. Paul's

St. Paul's. So beautiful!

Crossing the Millennium Bridge. You can see the Tower Bridge from here!

The Globe Theater

Us at Big Ben! So exciting :)

Words really can't describe this.

The outside of our hostel, the Phoenix

Common room at the hostel

Our sleeping quarters

The next day we decided to buy an all-day unlimited pass for all the metros, buses, and trams throughout the city. We had a lot to see! We started at the monument to the Great Fire of London in 1666 and from there walked to the Tower of London. There's something eerily majestic about old castles...not that I spend a great deal of time around them or anything. A sense of excitement and amazement runs through you when you try to picture it like it used to be, with a moat and drawbridge and cannons and gates and dungeons and grand ballrooms and miles and miles of hallways and servants and everything...anyway. After the Tower we hopped on a metro and went to check out the Natural History Museum (which is free, by the way). I have to hand it to them, their dinosaur exhibit is pretty spectacular. We also spent a bit of time in the Science Museum (also free), but there was just so much to see and we were so hungry that we decided to move on. We ate lunch in the courtyard between Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, and Westminster Abbey. Oh, Westminster Abbey. So ornate, so huge, and a thousand years old. How??! Also, not to mention, the burial place of Geoffrey Chaucer, Isaac Newton, and Charles Darwin, to name a few. After lunch we took a stroll through St. James' Park and happened upon a parade for a 60th celebration of something...it was pretty cool. On the other side of the park was Buckingham Palace, and from there we decided we couldn't be this close and not see Abbey Road. So that's where we finished that day. Here are a few more pictures:

London Fire Monument

The Tower of London

More of the Tower. So cool!

The Tower Bridge

Tyler's favorite thing. Dinos at the Natural History Museum

Half of our view from our lunch spot. Not bad.

Westminster. WOW.

More of Westminster. Double WOW.

The parade thingy...we had no clue why it was happening, but we enjoyed it.

A fountain in St. James' Park

I may have gotten a little carried away with all my bird picture-taking. 

At Buckingham Palace

Classic. Though we just don't quite have the pizazz that the Beatles did...

So. One more half day and still a few things to see. Namely, the Sherlock Holmes Museum, Regent's Park/Queen Mary's Gardens, and King's Cross Station. We got up early and headed to 221B Baker Street, then came back and had breakfast at the hostel. Then we checked out and took a stroll through Regent's Park and Queen Mary's Gardens, which weren't quite in full bloom but beautiful nonetheless. Of course, no trip to London would be complete without at least an attempt at getting onto Platform 9 3/4, so that was our last stop before heading to Paris. Here are just a few more pictures.

Sherlock Holmes Museum!

At 221B Baker Street, of course.

Regent's Park

Queen Mary's Garden

Our little bench

Headed to Hogwarts!

I personally think I'm a natural. Tyler's got some work to do. Maybe he's just overly excited.

I'll leave you with that. Look for a post about Paris soon! Thanks for reading. We love you all!