Gabe Smith

The day after Christmas!  We woke up late this morning, but got ready pretty quickly.  Breakfast again in the hotel.  Very good.  I heard later today that this breakfast would have cost 18 Euros per person had it not been included in our room.

We missed the shuttle – actually it was full and left five minutes early.  So, once again, we took the cab.  This time, we headed to St. Peter’s Square to catch one of the tour buses.  We boarded the yellow Roma Christiana bus, and it is not much different than a city bus.  Just a way to get around… and you can sit on top.  It rained all day today, and it was a bit colder (maybe 50 degrees F).  It was hard to see anything from the bus.  We sat on top, and I think the kids enjoyed that.  They both wanted to listen to the tour voice… you have to plug in these ear-sets and chose a language to hear what you are passing.  It was a very computer-sounding voice.  Poor guy probably never gets a date.

We got off at the Roman Coliseum.  Gabriel was asking a lot of good questions about the early Christians and how they were persecuted there.  We bought a tour that was worth it.  This tour took us through the Coliseum, and then it took us up the hill and we toured through the ancient city and the Roman Forum – the oldest part of Rome.  For the second part of our tour we got a very good tour guide.  Her name was Jill, and she was studying for her PhD in theology.  Sounds like she knew the pope.  Catholic.  She was extremely knowledgeable and obviously had a passion for Roman / Christian history.  This might have been the highlight of our day today, as we got to stick around after the tour and talk with her about Christian history in Rome.  She told us where they found the apostle Paul’s body, and also the house where he was under house arrest and wrote the letters to the churches.  Sounds like we have a plan tomorrow.  Anyway, the constant rain was memorable today… especially as we were out in it all day.  There are still many sights to see and one day left!

Random:  They really to drive aggressively in Rome.  Parts remind me of certain cities in the states.

Bus Ride

Coliseum

Inside Coliseum

Inside Coliseum

Arce di Tito / Palatino

Arce di Tito / Palatino

I was up before everyone else this morning… hurray!  Katie joined me around 7:45; then the kids.  We had a huge breakfast at the hotel – back to the big, grand breakfasts again!  After breakfast, we used the potty and then hopped in a taxi for the Vatican.  We arrived around 11:00 am, and entered St. Peter’s Square.  The crowd was beginning to grow, it was a festive atmosphere.  We found four seats together in the front section.  Events started around 11:30 with a procession involving several types of guards.  The pope made his appearance at 12:00 pm sharp, and gave what seemed to be a lovely benediction.  Seeing the pope on Christmas day in Rome… this was the highlight of our day today. 

After this, we waited in line and toured the Basilica… impressive!  We stopped for a bite to eat at a place near the square.  It was nice looking on the outside and I knew it would be expensive and bad.  It exceeded my expectations on both fronts.  So, after that, we walked through Rome trying to find our shuttle but to no success.  As we walked, I noted the traffic in Rome.  Most of our walk was along a busy street and it has a busy feel like any other major city.  Rome also seems to be more spread out than I expected… certainly more so that Venice!

We grabbed a taxi and then headed back to our hotel.  We showered, opened some Christmas gifts, then went down for dinner at the hotel restaurant.  We stayed up late again tonight, talking and skyping with family.

Thank you, Jesus, for your blessings and for loving us… for loving ME… even though I don’t deserve it!  Thank you for being REAL to me… not just a religion or an ornate ceremony, but a personal Savior.  Thank you for being my Master and the Lord of my life.  Thank you for being born 2,000 years ago in a manger, and taking my sins to the cross with you.  I rejoice in the truth that You came, died, and then rose again!

Random:  Gabriel must have asked a hundred times today, “can we go see the pope”?  “Can we see where he sleeps?”  “What is the pope doing now”?  It was great.

Our Breakfast Spot

St. Peter's Square

St. Peter's Square

Basilica

Basilica

Vatican Soldiers

Pope Benedict

Pope

St. Peter's Square

Basilica

Nativity

St. Peter's Square

St. Peter's Square

Basilica

Future (Evangelical) Pope?

Inside Basilica

Nativity inside Basilica

Mommy and Kallie

Presents

Ok, last night I actually got up twice to check out the high-tide thing.  We heard the sirens again last night.  I went down around 12:30 am; and it was still raining, the streets were wet, but no standing water.  I went down again around 4:00 am; and guess what; the water was up about 130 cm.  This is like to my knees.  The entire street was flooded, and the water was to the very top of the hotel’s “water gate”.  If I owned some water boots, I would have trecked over to San Marco’s square and taken a picture of it under water!  They said this happens maybe five times per year during the winter.  This happened two nights during out stay.  Amazing.  They say this water thing is a real problem.  I got different opinions from different folks I spoke with about this.  Some say Venice is still sinking; others say it has stopped.  Everyone admits that the water is a real problem.  In any case, it’s good we are here now to see it.

We got up this morning a bit late.  This was our “driving day” to Rome.  Our drive was scheduled to take five hours, and Katie prophesied that it would take eight.  We had our breakfast again… I am thankful for the yumminess that this entails, but I must say that I am glad this is our last breakfast of this kind (think Venetian meets British Colonial).

It took a while to check out.  We said our goodbyes and then departed.  We took the number 2 water bus line through the grand canal again.  Our last goodbye to a really neat city on water.  Boy is it an ordeal to get in and out of this place.  And, parking, by golly; 62 Euros for the three days!  For those doing the math, that’s like $100.  More and more, we realize why Europeans travel by train (when you don’t pack deodorant, your bags are lighter).

We finally hit the road about 1:30pm.  By my calculations, that should have put us in Rome by around 6:30; just in time for dinner (eternal optimist).  Once again, adverse driving conditions.  Intense fog welcomed us on our journey.  This turned into rain, which then turned into heavy rain.  We stopped for gas; they were on Italian time (seven people doing who knows what) and after ten minutes with no gas flow I left.  We ended up filling up at another station and grabbed a road lunch.  This was definitely not a tourist place.  I was surprised when they called my bluff and said “Merry Christmas” as I walked out.  I thought my Italian had fooled them.

We hit Florence right around 5:00 pm.  We sat for two hours in stand-still traffic.  More rain.  I am sure that this drive from Florence to Rome was a knock-your-socks-off kind of scene.  From what I saw in the dark/rain, it was beautiful, and you start to catch some glimpses of the old Roman world.  We had some difficulty finding our hotel (remember those stellar directions?), but Katie and I worked well as a team and we found it on our second try.

Our route from Venice to Rome

I tell you… we pulled up to the hotel and it was like “resort” ahoy!  Cool!  I pulled up like I owned the place, parked by the front door and sauntered in.  I walked through those doors and was greeted by a classical piano player, and a beautiful, relaxing lounge with people in it and what looked like food (we had to stop for “dinner” at a similar road-kill stop and basically got the same thing as lunch).  I was thrilled!  I was smiling ear-to-ear at the Italian concierge guy and told him un-ashamedly, “you have a cool place here… I’m glad we made it!!”.  He started to look nervous, and said, “do you have reservations”.  I cleared that up real quick and made friends fast…

We got the family in, enjoyed our cool room, and then went to bed.  I stayed up entirely too late doing research on the web and killing time.  Rome should be cool!

Random:

Kallie on the drive as we passed through another tunnel: “Mommy, get out of here so we can see what we are doing!”.

Well, we had a beautiful day in Venice!  It really is a cool city.  It doesn’t smell.  It IS expensive.  The food isn’t the best (but not bad if you get some tips on where to go).  It is romantic… especially when I get to see it with the love of my life.

Katie, up again, early, wow.  Kids and I joined shortly after 8 am.  Breakfast – same thing – I love that meal.  I found out from the guy in the lobby (does he work here?) that the water was up to the third step last night!  It peaks at about 4 am.  I’ll have to try and get a picture of that tomorrow morning.  We headed off for our adventure after that – around 11 am.  We went down to San Marcos water bus stop and took the line two through the Grand Canal.  This was one of the best things we did while we were here; other than just walking around!   We went to our parked car (in Troncheto) to drop off one of our large suitcases, so that we don’t have to carry as much tomorrow.  Later I find out that I didn’t save any pajamas for the night… oh well, I’ve slept naked before…

We took the water bus back again (and at last I find out that you really do need to buy a ticket; only no one ever asked, and it took me asking to get this information).  We made a brief stop at Redentore; then on to san Marcos Piazza again.  We headed home for a bathroom break, a couple of business calls, and then a snack for lunch; then we headed out around 3:30 pm.  The tower was closed (bummer) so we couldn’t go up there.  We meandered through the streets, heading towards this restaurant that we found out about through the hotel.  The streets near the Rialto are shopping center here in Venice.  Katie bought a cute red hat.  We stopped in a café for about an hour to have hot chocolates and make a couple phone calls to family.  21 Euros for four hot chocolates (that’s 30 dollars for you math wizzes out there).  Good thing they are paying me a bunch of money at Summit… wait, I need to sell something!!

After that, we found our restaurant after getting lost again in Venice for about 40 minutes in the dark.  Interesting place.  Wonder if there is a family connection to the Torrino’s (our hotel).  Not bad food, and “authentic” experience so we are grateful.  Walked back quickly.  Nearly beat the rain home.  To bed. Sirens are going off again, which means there will be water!!  J

The Grand Canal

The Grand Canal

Our Breakfast Spot

Katie was up early again this morning.  I think she continues to be excited about Venice!  The kids and I joined her around 8:15 am.  We had a lovely breakfast here at the hotel… although not quite as nice as Salzburg!  After breakfast, we headed out to Piazza San Marco (St. Mark’s Square) and saw the sights.  We visited the Basilica San Marco (St. Mark’s Church) which is beautiful.  After that, we had to go back to the hotel to change Kallie’s pants. No problem, as our hotel is a five minute walk from the square. We are staying at the Hotel Torino; it is one of the oldest families in Venice.  After the new drawers, we went to a very special restaurant for lunch, called the Hosteria ai Coristi, owned by Armando and Adriano.  Adriano was there today, and it was worth every euro cent.  This became our fancy meal for the day.  After lunch, we walked back to the square, and then toured the Doge’s Palace.  This is where the “Bridge of Sighs” is located.  After that, the rain was picking up a bit.  We decided to walk to the Ponte di Rialto and walked along that bridge.  The walk home from there was wet and cold.  We headed in the general direction of our hotel and finally found it.  I ran out again and picked up four ham and cheese (hisp and cass in dutch) sandwiches again from my friend at the Best Western.  We ate dinner in the breakfast room of our hotel.  It was really fun today walking through the streets of Venice.  To me, so far, that is the best thing to do while here.

Random:

Kallie, “I need a barrett”.  Notice that she didn’t state the problem (my hair is in my face), nor did she ask someone else to fix the problem (mommy, can you get my hair out of my face); but rather, she knew what the problem was and knew what SHE needed to do to fix it. So, she cuts to the chase and says, “I need a barrett” (this is my problem and I am going to fix it).  One of those random things that very well describes my little Smith girl.

Gabriel, on the other hand, likes to be served.  For example, he is happy for me to brush his teeth for him, while every night Kallie asks if she can do it.  Gabriel is smart and kind of takes after me in this regard.  They both have a knack for ordering the most expensive things on the menu… especially the boy (just like daddy).

I love them both!!

The entrance to our hotel

Piazza San Marco

Gabriel at the Basilica San Marcos

Family on top of the Basilica San Marcos

Family in Venetia

Venetian Canal

Venetian Angel Doves

The Dogge's Palace (a.k.a. Snoop Dogge)

Katie woke up early – good girl!  Daddy was tired.  Kids were up around 8:00 am, and daddy shortly after.  We all got ready, and then we had a wonderful breakfast in the hotel – they serve great breakfasts.  This was really wonderful and we took our time.  We were sitting next to a glass window and we watched the snow falling on the already-covered ground.  Looks like they had about one foot of snow.  It was really beautiful.  Like a winter wonderland!

After breakfast, we finished packing our things and then we checked out right before 12:00 pm and we hit the road.  The drive through the Alps… pretty awe inspiring. The road was easy; and it makes a big difference when you travel during the day.  It wasn’t really snowing when we drove (during the day), and we enjoyed looking at the snow-covered Alps!  We saw several slopes where people were skiing.  Even Katie (non-skiir) remarked that it looked like fun, given the beauty of the surroundings.

Night fell.  Katie finished the drive to Venice while I made some phone calls (work-related). Adverse conditions during the night drive.  Snow falling and typical European highways; although Italy was better than Germany in terms of lights on the road and reflectors…

Our route from Salzburg to Venice

We got to Venice, and we faced the reality that you really do have to park outside of the city and then haul all of your stuff with you to the hotel.  Nothing is built to be easy (like in the U.S.).  We realized the task ahead of us as soon as we left the parking garage.  No clear signs regarding which way to go.  After about 20 minutes, we found the water-taxi station.  Oh yea, and it was snowing the whole time… in Venice!  We boarded the water bus, which is basically the public bus / subway system for Venice.  It seemed like we were the only tourists on board.  We had a ton of luggage.  I’m sure that people thought we were crazy (Americans), or a royal family or something (but why would we be taking the water taxi).  To my knowledge, nothing was stolen today.  We felt safe; the people seem relatively nice.  There are places to sit inside of the water taxi.  We had to leave some of our luggage outside on the deck… it got crowded a couple of times, so I stayed outside on the deck (cold… snow…) to watch the two bags that were out there.  Katie and the kids stayed inside with the other bags.  Pretty cool though.  You see all these famous places and it feels like an everyday thing…

We got off at the wrong stop.  We didn’t really have a good idea of where we were going (famous last words).  We had to walk about 500 meters, over a canal, to another water-taxi stop and board again.   This took us to the right stop.  We got off and then walked through this very narrow passage… tough with all that luggage.  After a while, we found our hotel.  It really is a 16^th century place… I’m not sure really how much updates they have done since then, but, it does have an ancient elegance to it.  We have so much to be thankful for!!  We really do.  We have each other; we are all in the same room; and we have the  love of Christ in our hearts!  They actually put us in the handicap room, I think b/c it has more space.  Definitely a different feel from the Austria hotel, but that is a good thing (diverse experiences).  I dis-assembled the bunk bed and put one of the mattresses on the floor.  It was about 9:00 pm when we arrived at the hotel (we got to the parking garage around 5:30… on the boat around 6:00 pm… so we were “searching” for three hours.  Time flies when you are in Venice and looking around like crazy Americans!  So, we hadn’t eaten yet; and the reception guy at the hotel wasn’t a huge help (he’s not bad after you get to know him), so I ventured out and found the “bar” at the Best Western.  I convinced the bar-tender / chef to let me take the very nice china and silver tray back to our room at a different hotel.  He was very nervous but I gave him no choice; and I said that I would return it.  He had one ham & cheese left and I ordered two tomatoe and “brucheta” salads.  Both delicious.  He was kind of like a chef – presented very nice.  He was very appreciative when I brought it all back to him – I made a new friend today!

To bed. Tomorrow should be fun.  I learned a little about the tide flow here in the city.  It actually floods occasionally (I heard the siren tonight for high-tide).  They even get some water in the lobby of the hotel in the early morning hours occasionally (like right now – raining/snowing, lots of water).

After the tour, we walked through the city, then found a nice little spot for lunch. After the late lunch, we rode up the “mountain trolley” to the fortress that overlooks the town. Very spectacular! We spent time up in that fortress and saw four men playing horns, great views, a Christmas market up there!  We saw where they hid the cannons, and also a puppet museum. It was cold up there. We rode the “Waggon Train” back down the hill and then walked back to the hotel (probably about 1.5 km).  Ordered a pizza and had it delivered (not as common as in the U.S. but we found a place). I think it was the owner who brought us a pizza. In bed; legs are tired. We loved Salzburg – it is beautiful – like who-ville without the weird who’s…

Random: In addition to Mozart and Doppler, we also saw the building where Einstein delivered his speech about the theory of relativity.

Frozen Lake

Christmas Market

Christmas Market

Mozart's Apartment / Office

Mozart's Childhood Home

Doppler's Office

The Mountain Lift

The Mountain Lift

Salzburg from Fortress

View of the Alps from Fortress

The Horn Blowers

Dreamin' of a white breakfast

We are scheduled to depart today for the nine hour drive to Salzburg, Austria.  We desired to leave the house by 8:00 am.  Of course, we get on the road by noon.  We get a good five hours in, although we took an alternate course.  Unfortunately, the maps that we had in hand for this trip were difficult to understand.

Google Maps Recommended Path  (1020 km; 9 hours 1 minute)

Smith Family Path  (1034 km; 9 hours 20 minutes)

Our path seems more direct. We win, google maps!  We win.

The temperature quickly dropped to -16 degrees Celsius (3 degrees F).  We passed some beautiful vineyards near Schwitzengen.

We saw many “Alsfahrts” signs and shared many laughs. The temperature made this a difficult trip. Even the antifreeze was freezing on the windshield, which made visibility tough. The Germans really like to work on their highways, and they don’t like street lights, or using reflective paint on the roads. We arrived safely at the hotel at midnight. Great day of traveling. Wonderful fun had by all.  Katie thinks that it is one of the hardest drives we have ever done. I didn’t mind it (other than the adverse driving conditions) because everything was new, so I didn’t feel bored.

We also saw many wind-mills. Good thing the government is subsidizing all of this with the taxes they are bringing in from the people!  The kids did great.  We stopped at gas stations; and we also saw bathrooms that you had to pay for to go in and use.  50 EU cents… and it was worth every penny.  We did later find out that we can turn those “vouchers” in if we buy something and receive the credit.  Pretty cool.  Toilets were self cleaning.  At first, I thought it was conforming to fit a large person’s rear.  They weren’t quite that cool… Katie says that she wants one of these self-cleaning toilets in our addition.