I tried posting this Thursday night, but my internet shut down and I lost the whole thing!! I've got to get the rest of my trip posted or I'll forget things I want to remember.

I'm up to our first Sunday. Early that morning we got up and had breakfast at the hotel. We got on the bus and Maurizio drove us to Trieste. Trieste is a small town right on the coast of the Adriatic Sea about 100 miles from Venice. I believe Lara told us that it used to be part of Slovenia. As we drove into the town the beach was right next to the road. We saw some "interesting" things. I'm always shocked at what people think is OK. Modesty is modesty, no matter where you are!!! We had planned ahead to worship with the saints there. One of the men on our trip, David Thomley, preaches in Italy several times a year. He even keeps an apartment in Trieste. So he knew all the Christians there. It was so neat worshiping with our Italian brethren! We sang songs we knew very well, but hearing the Italian words made it hard to remember the English words. So Logan and I followed along in the book and sang in Italian. That was neat. Also, Mike told us ahead of time that there would be real wine used in the Lord's Supper. I'm so glad he warned us!! That is some nasty stuff!! I have no desire to aquire a taste for expensive vinegar!! YUCK!! Another interesting thing is that they had installed an a/c, but the older people won't let them turn it on. It was rather warm in there. Anyway, the people there were so sweet and friendly!! After worship we went to the mall in town. It was a 3-story mall. The bottom floor had a nice grocery store. Someone in our group found 1.5 liter bottles of water for less than 1 euro. We were flocking in there buying it and some of the kids got really large cokes. (BTW, there's no Dr Pepper in Italy. Logan wasn't too thrilled about that!!) Logan at lunch at McDonalds. After lunch he and I went down to another level to a store called Media World and I bought a new camera. It's slightly better than the one I had. I was so relieved to have a camera to chronicle our trip!!! Here's the first picture I took with it!

He was glad to find it and insisted we go in and look around. After that we went down to the gellato place and had our first gellato. Logan got mint chocolate and I got coconut. It was really good. An interesting thing about gellato is that it is regulated by the government. It's so famous around the world and they want to keep a high standard. I assume that you have to have special license to sell it.

After our stop at the mall we got back on the bus and went to a place called Piazza Unita d'Italia. It's a lovely square with lots of wonderful architecture. Most of our group went up a long steep street to see an old church and the ruins of a Medieval castle. I was already starting to get a blister on my baby toe, so I stayed behind. Logan went with the rest of the group and tooks lots of pictures for me. A few in our group decided to walk around and look at the shops around. I walked around a little bit by myself, but I also rested a little.

A funny story...While the group was in David's apartment Logan asked if he could change into his shorts and t-shirt out of his church clothes (he forgot to do it at the mall). David said it was OK. Logan was in the bathroom changing when David knocked on the door and asked if Logan was in there. He said he thought Logan was kidding. When Logan came out he was talking to David's brother, Mike (The one who got our tour together in the first place) and apologized for the misunderstanding. And in typical brother-speak Mike said, That's OK. David's just stupid sometimes." Brothers are brothers in their childhood or in their 40's!!!!

After everyone got back together most everyone got some more gellato. We got back on the bus and went to a place by the beach. We started walking up to Miramare. A beautiful castle (on the smallish side) that was once owned by Maximillian. He was a botanist. He instructed his military to collect plants wherever they went (he did the same) so there were beautiful plants and gardens around. It was a lovely place to visit. Here's a picture of Logan and me with the castle in the background.

Once that was over we got back on the bus for our ride back to Venice. We just ate at our hotel again that night. Afterward, Logan and I walked down to the little video arcade and paid for some internet time. That was the only time I was able to get on the internet and send an email. It was so neat to realize that we were out just walking around in Italy!!!

That's it for our first Sunday. Maybe I can come back tonight and talk about Monday.

Joel, Kristi, Alton, and Kaden are coming in about an hour. We're going to IKEA then they're going to the Melting Pot for a belated anniversary dinner. They're going to let us keep the boys!!!

More later,

Shama D