wow, 2010 is here! aaron and i spent our new year and really the first 2 weeks of january abroad in europe. it was a long trip full of sweet times as part of a team from our church in bellevue. we went to italy, austria, and france to support the calvary chapel church plants there by putting on concerts, helping out with the children's ministries, and building relationships. europe is a dark place spiritually, but God is big and He did big things while we were there- it was a true blessing to be a part of it.
another big blessing was being able to see rome and its ancient architectural wonders. we saw ruins from near the time of Christ and definitely during the time the apostle paul was writing his letters! aaron was able to see many of the places he studied in his classes at cal poly, two of his favorites throughout the entire european trip was the pantheon (rebuilt in 110 a.d.) and san carlo alle quattro fontane (which is basically church building that is truly a sculptural piece). this was an important piece in architectural history because it broke away from the flat facades and made what you see in the picture below. we also saw st. peters basilica and the cistene chapel, the trevi fountain, spanish steps, and really so much more.
as mentioned above, we went to salzburg, austria with a 5 hour layover in vienna. we took advantage of that and hopped on the train to go to the center a vienna. now, i didn't think i could see anything more magnificent than the cistene chapel, but as we entered st. stephens cathedral in vienna i was wrong. this gothic cathedral really took my breath away and i was to find out that that would happen many more times throughout the rest of our trip in austria and france. salzburg was cold! but it was picturesque. the snow on the hillsides and the castle were beautiful. we just had a few days in this little town and both aaron and i agree that it is somewhere we would definitely want to visit again.
france was our last european country. we flew into nice and stayed in cannes at a cute little hotel. we had some delicious baguettes with wonderful tamponade and spicy mustard. i really liked the calvary chapel in nice. the families that we met there were so nice and hospitable, and the small town venue ended up being my favorite concert. aaron was also able to play a couple of his own songs and i must say that my husband has quite a talent!
after nice/cannes and saying au revior (good bye) to the group we had been traveling with, aaron and i hopped on a high speed train, traveled 5.5 hours north and met mandy in paris! now for those of you who dont know, i have known mandy since kindegarten. it is almost hard to fathom that aside from my blood relatives, mandy is the person in my life i have known the longest- a true friend. mandy and her husband, david, opened there cute little home to us and let us stay for the long weekend. aaron and i quickly got a hang of the metro and took the day exploring many of the major sights of paris- arc de triomph, notre dame, the eiffle tower and hotdogs wrapped in baguettes! we also spent and afternoon with mandy at the gardens of versailles, which was frigid cold but it was beautiful. this last weekend in paris was perfectly timed relaxation overall. after the previous 2 weeks of travel adventures and grabbing food from vendors at the train stations, our time in at mandy's was full of good home cooked food and sleep.
and on january 18th we headed back to the USA. i will say that it was definitely a great feeling to be back in familiar territory, back in our own bed and shower, and reunited with bandit!
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