I have met some amazing people here and some that definitely have a great perspective on life. One of my favorite persons that I have met thus far is a patient turned friend He is a retired soldier that was here when the wall went up and he was here when the wall came down. He became a blog follower because my sister disclosed the website to him. He spent some time reading my blog and had a few questions for me. One of them was, "Am I okay?" because I seemed to be really reflective in my writing and he wanted to make sure that I was content with where I was in life. I informed him that I definitely was happy with my life, but that I do now realize I haven't been blogging about my fun trips and excursions as of late. So I realized that I needed to update my blog and catch everyone up with the adventures that I have been on this year. And to inform everyone else, if my blog comes across as intense or sad sometimes, it is not meant to be that way. I am just a reflective journal writer that has turned blogger.
I have definitely realized over the last couple of months how nice it is to travel with friends. I have made memories that will stay with me for the rest of my life and deepened friendships that I hope last through the test of time.
In early May, I was given a little slice of homepie when my friend, Emily, and her mother came to visit me. We spent a day on the Rhine River seeing castles, Mother's Day hiking up to a castle and having a picnic, and a few days in Florence, Italy. Emily is the kind of friend that just gets me. I laugh a lot when I am around her and enjoy her sassy personality and easy going demeanor. We haven't really seen each other for over a year so I thought it would be odd, but alas, it was not at all. I truly felt that no time had elapsed since our last friendship outing. And I found out the beauty of facebook because we had stayed abreast on eachother's lives through facebook, so we didn't have to spend that much time filling each other in on what we have been up to. Now I had not spent much time with her mother, Angie, but I sure hope that I get to spend a lot of time with her in the future because the three of us had such a great time. Florence was definitely the high point.
Both of these pictures are quotes that I got from Emily and I thought they summed up our friendship and our time together.
While in Florence, we saw the sculpture of David. This is the best thing that I have seen while in Europe. It is truly amazing to me that someone could sculpt something so huge, with so many details, and to scale. And then you realize that there are no great sculptors that you hear about anymore... will there be pieces of history and art that stand the test to time from our generation? We also went to the Renaissance paintings museum called the Uffizzi. Now this museum was okay but after awhile it seemed to me to be the same picture done with a slight variation, so I was ready to move on to enjoying the beauty of Italian wine and Florence scenery. And we did just that by going up to the Michealangelo Piazza where we drank some wine, ate some cheese, and watched the sun go down over the city of Florence. I was not only taken back by the view but also the amount of American students that are in the city of Florence. And as we walked back to the hotel that night, I used my camera to capture the beauty of Florence in the moonlight. Florence was a great city and truly enjoyable. Besides great food, amazing company, beautiful views, and art history, there was also unbelievable shopping that was to be done. Em, Ang, and I actually got out of the city without too much money spent. We bought some jewelry, a purse, and some scarves... and then said goodbye to Italy.
My sister, Gretchen, our friend, Kelly, and I went back to Florence two weeks later. We may or may not have spent more money that time around. I realized the second time around that friends should not let friends go to Florence without a budget. We purchased many fine Italian leather items and had many great laughs. We spent so much money that we had to spend the last few hours in Florence drinking Lambrusco on a park bench because we didn't have the funds to splurge at an outdoor cafe :) But needless to say, we enjoyed "our homeless moment" on the park bench.
Over the past few months, I have realized that I have made some great friends in my life that are really an amazing support system no matter what I am going through, including making some great friends here that I hope stay in my life for the long haul. I have always known, too, that I have been blessed with an amazing family. And then there is always the solid sister friend that I have been blessed with throughout my life and that I get to enjoy this Europe adventure with.
I will post more pictures and tell more traveling tales in upcoming blogs. And thanks everyone that gives me feedback on my blog both by posting here and by sending emails... I love the feedback... a. lot!
Lots of love!
