Be More With Less

Ok guys, I’m going to try and do all of our two weeks in Italy in one blog, so bear with me. I’ve got lots to cover, but I think it’ll be easier just to put it all together. And of course, that means LOTS of pictures. Here we go!

Our first stop in Italy was Venice. The original plan was to just sleep in the train station when we got there since we were pulling in after midnight. However, a couple things changed our plans. First, the Italian train system is less than ideal. We’ve been traveling by trains for a while now, spanning many different countries. We’ve gotten to the point where we don’t have to think about it anymore when we have an upcoming train departure. We’re pros. Italy quickly knocked us back to amateur status, though. We found that we just couldn’t rely on the trains like we could in other countries. They were usually 10-45 minutes late and the ticket-checkers on the train didn’t have the time to answer your questions unless you asked them in Italian. So this made our arrival in Venice extremely stressful, trying to figure out what train we needed to get on to get to our destination. Second, once we finally got there we found the train station to be pretty sketchy. As tired and stressed as we were we decided to just splurge and book a hotel room for the night. An air-conditioned private room that even included breakfast– what a luxury! The next day we stuffed ourselves with that free breakfast (you’ll never know how great free food is until you live on a backpacker’s budget for 7 weeks) and headed out to explore Venice.

Venice is a city best explored by wandering. Maps do you no good, and most street names are non-existent. The city is a grid of canal channels, squares, little alleys, and narrow streets, and you never really know where one of them will take you. We ended up trying to follow signs to St. Mark’s Basilica, which is actually in a huge plaza with statues, fountains, government buildings, and access to the sea. St. Mark’s was beautiful, if only from the outside…we forgot about the “no shorts and no tank tops” rule for the churches in Italy, and since it was 90 degrees outside, of course that’s what we were wearing. And we didn’t feel like paying 3 euros for 3 pieces of tissue paper to cover ourselves, so we passed on going inside. We enjoyed lunch in the shade near a canal and decided we’d seen most of what Venice had to offer, so we made our way back to the train station to catch a train to Florence.

Our first glimpse of the Grand Canal

Classic gondoliers...it's much less romantic when it's a billion degrees and 2 in the afternoon.

I was impressed by the largeness of this pizza.

St. Mark's

Even the outside of the church was decorated with murals

We decided because it was so beautiful on the outside, we didn't need to see the inside to enjoy it

Our lovely lunch spot

Florence is a beautiful city. We stayed at a campground of sorts, “tents to rent,” up by Piazza Michelangelo. It had the most incredible view of the city, and there was a market and reasonably-priced restaurant on site. As for our accommodation, we were in a small, 3-person canvas tent (luckily we didn’t have to share with someone else) that was perfect for sleeping, but it was an oven during the day. Thankfully, Florence had a lot to offer that kept us busy the two days we were there. We got a real taste of Italian culture simply by roaming the streets of the city. The river itself is beautiful, but there were a number of historic churches, cathedrals, palaces, and museums to explore, not to mention all the little shops, cafes, and bakeries.

The tents where we stayed

Small, but cozy

The pizzeria

The view from the restaurant's terrace

View from Piazza Michelangelo

I cannot for the life of me remember the name of this church. But it was cool.

Across the river

The Medici Chapel

Our next main destination after Florence was the Cinque Terre, but we made a pit-stop in Pisa on the way there from Florence (who can go to Italy, pass right through Pisa, and not go see the leaning tower?). It was very similar to our Bratislava outing: a couple of hours, no reason to pay for luggage storage, so why not carry the bags with us? It didn’t prove to be too difficult since the tower was only about a mile and a half from the train station, but it was incredibly hot. The tower was very picturesque; it almost didn’t look real as we were approaching it. But we had lunch in the shade and headed back to the train station to get on to the Cinque Terre.

Our first glimpse of the tower

Trying to push it over...I think I needed a little more leverage. P.S. When you're strapped into two backpacks, it really seals in all the heat. And sweat.

Our view of the tower from our lunch spot

Sandwiches are just better in Italy. I don't know what it is. They just are.

It was really leaning!

This is the Cathedral of Pisa, but it kind of gets overshadowed by it's famous neighbor. Actually, the leaning tower is part of the cathedral complex.

Literally translated as “Five Lands,” the Cinque Terre is a national park on the Italian Riviera that consists of five colorful villages dotted along the coast and interconnected via hiking trails. This was another place on my bucket list, so I was incredibly happy to be able to include this in our trip. Tyler seemed to be happy that we were there too, although it was mainly just because I was happy. Once again, how lucky am I to have such a wonderful husband? I know he kind of gave a shout-out to me in an earlier blog, so I think it’s my turn to embarrass him with compliments. He has been such a rock for me on this trip, and I know I would be lost without him. I may be more of the planner for getting us from A to B, but traveling is incredibly stressful. It’s exhausting, and when you’re with someone else, the only alone time you have is when the other person is in the bathroom. Combine stress, exhaustion, and 24 hours a day of constant contact, and you are bound to have tension. I will be honest with you all, there have been some pretty tense moments: either between us or in personal struggles for one or the other. Tyler has been the voice of reason in times of stress, he’s been comfort in times of anger or sadness, and he’s above all been wisdom in all situations, especially when I’m battling something spiritually. Plus, we’re still trying find the balance between selfish enjoyment of this trip and looking for God’s purpose in it all and ways we can continue to serve Him, so Tyler’s been a good leader there as well. Just wanted to brag on him for a minute ;)

Anyway, we had three nights in the Cinque Terre, and we actually stayed a few towns north of Monterosso (the northern-most village of the five) in another camping village like we stayed at in Florence. With a tiny tent that got up to 120 degrees in the day, there was a lot of incentive to be out exploring in the heat of the day. Since we had several days there, we felt like we had the liberty to take our time exploring each of the villages and the hiking trails in between. It was incredibly hot, which can make hiking around ten times more tiring, but a swim in the crystal clear deep blue water was pretty refreshing. 

Our little tent

Not a lot of room, but it was cozy!

Riomaggiore:

Village #1: Riomaggiore

The harbor

The beach

The water was much colder than you'd expect.

Lots of shops and apartments

From the coastal trail

Too bad construction was being done on that front building on the left...it kind of ruins the picture.

 Manarola:

Village #2: Manarola

So. Stinking. Beautiful.

More colorful houses

Once again, pretty cold water, but it was so crystal clear and refreshing!

Corniglia:

Village #3: Corniglia

Corniglia is  probably the most elevated of the five villages...it was quite a steep hike to get up to it.

I've never seen such deep blue clear water like this.

A view of Manarola from the train station in Corniglia

 Vernazza:

Village #4: Vernazza

The harbor

So picturesque!

A view of Corniglia from the coastal trail from Vernazza

 Monterosso:

Village #5: Monterosso

Much more of a resort town because it's right on the water, so it was a little too crowded for our taste, but there's a bakery here that hands down makes the best focaccia I've ever tasted.

After the Cinque Terre, we headed south to Rome. We found a room to rent through airbnb.com, and it worked out well because we had a kitchen to use and a room with a big bed, couch, balcony, and a couple tables all to ourselves. Combine this little gem with the fact that a) we were pretty exhausted by this point, and b) we had six whole days in Rome, and we found ourselves getting a little lazy. We even took a couple whole days off. But Rome was a cool city with some of the oldest history we’ve seen so far on this trip, and it was pretty fascinating to explore it all. Plus, what’s not to love when you get to hang out with the one and only Kyle Swetlishnoff? For those of you who don’t know him, Kyle is a junior at Truman whom we know through CCF, and he’s studying abroad in Rome this summer. It was encouraging and refreshing to catch up with Kyle, as it gave Tyler and me both a taste of home and a hint of the fellowship and Christian community we’ve been away from for so long. 

Our room in the apartment

It was so good to be able to cook again!

At the Trevi Fountain

As hot as it was, it was tough not to just jump in and swim around

At the Piazza Venezia

Vittorio Emanuele II Monument

Some Roman ruins. They are literally all over the city!

Part of the Roman Forum

This thing is huge. Like, huge.

Inside the Colosseum

Gladiator returning home. What a champ!

Roman Forum

The Pantheon

What are the odds of accidentally running into someone you know? This little run-in was before we'd even tried to make plans to get together with Kyle. We were wandering around after we'd been sight-seeing all day and just happened to see him. So cool!

I made pesto chicken pasta for dinner one night. Best compliment I've heard in a while? "I just don't understand why you would ever pay to eat at an Olive Garden when you can make something like this at home." -Tyler

At the Vatican

Front wall of the Sistine Chapel

Funny story...you're not really supposed to take pictures in the Sistine Chapel, so I guess this is technically illegal. I was super sneaky, but the Italian guards were a little bit ridiculous. They would "shh!" every few seconds and then yell (or at least talk very loudly) to keep quiet and not take any pictures. One caught me taking a picture and yelled to stop (what happened to the quiet rule?), so Tyler shushed him. It was pretty funny. The guard was not happy.

The back of St. Peter's Basilica

St. Peter's Square

Lunch in Villa Doria Pamphili with this cool cat.

The villa in the park where we had lunch.

Arch of the Four Winds, at the entrance to the park

Another beautiful fountain we happened upon on our way back from lunch with Kyle

As I was trying to decide on a title for this post, I thought about several different Italian phrases, and the one that came to mind was "il dolce far niente," the sweetness of doing nothing. Some of you may recognize it from the book/movie Eat, Pray, Love, but it's actually a deeply rooted part of the Italian way of life. It is an attitude. It is a mindset. It is the opportunity to live freely and enjoy the simple things life has to offer. While I wouldn't necessarily call our time in Italy sweet with doing nothing, I would say that I kind of wanted it to be. I don't regret the sight-seeing we did (come on, we had two weeks of our lives to spend in Italy), and I also think we took much-needed rest and time off. But on days where we did do nothing, I felt guilty somehow, like I should be doing something. I crave the attitude behind "il dolce far niente." There is something so beautiful about the simple life, the life free from stress about appointments, errands, and demands to be met, that I can't help but want to strive to be more with less. To live life more fully, to give more freely, to chase after dreams more determinedly, to love more deeply, to follow God more faithfully, all with less "stuff," less worry, less stress, less fear. I challenge you to see what "stuff" you can cut out of your life to make room for more "life." Disconnect from the hustle and bustle of the American dream, if only for an afternoon. Take time to cook a gourmet meal, and leave the dinner dishes for a while (who says you have to clean up the minute you're finished eating?). Sit still and let God's presence fill the spaces in and around you. Turn off the TV, and find a way to fully enjoy the people around you. May you find true sweetness in your day today!

Look out for an update from Greece next! Love you all, thanks again for reading and thinking of us!