This blog entry is a desperate attempt to get back on track with our communication
There are many challenges and hardships being appointed in this part of the world, but on the ‘upside’ is the opportunity to have so many wonderful holiday destinations so nearby. With 6 weeks furlough owing to us this year we followed on our time home in Australia with nearly 3 weeks touring Switzerland and Italy. We planned our own itinerary taking advantage of Salvation Army accommodation in various places, and travelling by rail.
WARNING!!!
WARNING!!!
Holiday snapshots to follow.
Perhaps the best way to do this is include a few snaps from each stopover and you can drool.
Minimum commentary - We’ll let the photos speak for themselves.
INTERLAKEN. Switzerland
We flew to Milan where we stayed overnight before heading off to Interlaken the following day.
Here we stayed in an Army accommodation complex and spent our days at high altitude, gob-smacked by the spectacular mountain scenery.
Grindelwald in the Swiss Alps
Nice place for a picnic lunch!!
Us on top (almost) of Jungfrau, the highest peak in Europe
The weather was perfect with just enough snow on the mountain peaks to pretty it up. At times we hung by a cable over deep mountain ravines, at other times took the opportunity to do some walking in the mountains listening to the beautiful gentle clang of the cowbells in the distance. Such a beautiful country! Words and pictures fail to do justice to it all.
LAKE COMO
After 5 amazing days in Switzerland we boarded the train and headed down to Lake Como in the north of Italy.
Having searched the internet for accommodation we found a beautiful little hotel on the shore of the lake.
Mansions owned by the rich and famous abound, but we didn’t spot any celebrities at the take-away pizza shops we frequented!!! Once again, the scenery was spectacular, and the little villages with the narrow cobbled streets just enchanting, and the food – what can we say!!!
Pizza, gelati, pasta EVERY DAY!!!!. Just as well we also did a lot of walking.
Our 'Room with a View'
View from our 50cm wide balcony
View from a hotel where we had tea one night - stunning!
FLORENCE. Tuscany
After lake Como it was on to Florence for 3 or 4 days. We marvelled at beautiful works of art that are found in every street and in every building it seems.
The 'Beheading of John the Baptist'
Ian and Viv (Ian has his pants on!)
While based in Florence we did day trips to the old town of Sienna and the 5 towns of Cinque Terre – these are 5 old fishing / agricultural towns set miraculously into the sides of the cliffs of the Mediterranean Sea. They are now popular tourist resorts, visited by thousands every year- us included!!. It is possible to walk the track passing connecting each of the towns, but time was limited and we only managed the walk between the last 2 towns before heading back to Florence after a long day. Of course there was the obligatory trip to Pisa which we also did on the same day.
One of the five villages at Cinque Terre
NAPLES
We had ‘ummed and aahed’ as to whether or not we should visit Naples at all as this city often does not get a good reports in the tourist guides. Well we went and stayed for a few nights ‘in the back streets of Naples’ and were glad that we did. We decided that this was a city on steroids!! The traffic is crazy, there are almost as many motor scooters as people and the idea seems to be to get as many people on one scooter as possible!!
Typical Neapolitan streetWhile here, we travelled out to Pompeii for a day. We walked along the streets marvelling at the way in which this town has been preserved, and were intrigued to learn of the way of life back so many years ago.
Whilst in Naples we once again checked out some beautiful works of art – in particular the beautiful sculpture by Giuseppe Sammartino…’The Veiled Christ’'
There is also Via San Gregorio Armeno a street which specialises in nativity scenes – from the sublime to the ridiculous – most to our way of thinking erred on the side of ridiculous!!
AMALFI COAST. Positano
We had promised ourselves a bit of indulgence here and booked into a homely guesthouse perched high on top of a cliff in a little town just out of Positano. The view from our bedroom window was breathtaking, looking out over the Mediterranean Sea and the little town of Positano nestled below. It is a charming town with narrow, cobble-stoned streets, catering very much to tourists, but it was pleasant to wander and browse the shops.
Positano on the Amalfi Coast
One day we caught a boat to the Isle of Capri, lazed on the deck, waked around the towns on the island, then swam in the warm waters of the Mediterranean on the way back – we thought of you all as we did so!!!.
Every night we dined in a little restaurant not far from our guesthouse that must have one of the best views in the world!!
Evening view from our balcony
This was a relaxing few days before our final stop in Rome.
ROME
Once again we stayed in Salvation Army accommodation just a short distance from the centre of Rome. It was the final 4 days of our holiday and we jammed in as much as we could. There were all the usuals like the Coliseum and Trevi Fountain,but highlights of Rome for us were the St Peter’s Basilica, the visit to the catacombs and the Appian way, and of course the Vatican Museums.
Once again words and pictures fail dismally to portray all that one sees in these places. The works of art in the Vatican are truly awesome and inspiring; The Sistene Chapel did not fail to impress, and the stories of the catacombs were intriguing.
Trevi fountain from the side showing the assembled crowd
Ian walking on the ancient 'Appian Way' - the location of several catacomb sites
Catacombs near the Appian Way. Burial places for early Christians - not hiding places as some have thought in the past
St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican
'La Pieta' in St Peter's Basilica
The Map Room in the Vatican. About 150 metres long, every wall has a painting of an ancient area of Italy. 
The Swiss Guard (and a nun!) at the Vatican
Our audience with the Pope (along with about10,000 others)
If you squint you can see him in white in centre stage.
The history, architecture, scenery and culture of Italy are rich, and of course the links with the early church are evident everywhere.
All in all – a wonderful holiday. We returned with suntans, a little fitter because of all the walking and ready again to put our heads down as we returned to Moldova.
So often we have to pinch ourselves as we visit all these wonderful places. We could never have imagined how the world has literally opened up to us. But it truly is our work in Moldova that brings us greatest satisfaction as we continue to work with the Salvationists of that division, endeavouring to make a difference for the sake of God’s kingdom here on earth.
Until next time….
Ian and Viv xoxo
