Lucca

One of the best things we did was to take a half hour train ride to the little town of Lucca. It's famous for its olives, olive oil, and ceramics. The town still has the old Roman wall all the way around. The top of that wall is wide enough for chariots to go around it 3 or 4 wide! It has a wonderful shopping area, a huge shady plaza with Sycamore trees, a carousel, horse drawn buggies and lots of shops to rent bikes. That's what we did, rented a bike and rode around the whole town. We passed lots of walkers, families, other bikers, men playing dominoes, workers, and just people lolling about on work day afternoon. The day was perfect, and the whole way was lined with trees. This had to be one of my most favorite memories of this trip. Everything that I would have pictured ahead of time was all right here!

Pisa

I had to pinch myself when we first walked into the piazza that held that famous leaning tower. It really looked like all the pictures I've ever seen!! Beautiful marble from the 12th or 13th century. Wow! We could have gone to the top of the tower but it would have cost 12 euros and that was waaay to much. So we opted to see the cathedral and the baptistry. There was something I'd never imagined= the most amazing pulpit. It was at least 12 feet high so the preacher would have towered over his congregants. The pulpit itself had these carved marble panels all around that depicted the life of Christ from his birth to his death. Actually they were centered more on his early years and then one panel of his death and one of his resurrection. This whole thing sat on lions. It was really the coolest thing! There was so much detail. How did they do that?

Florence

We spent four days in Florence. Believe me, I can find four days worth of pictures to share with you! It was a wonderful city, and very beautiful. Here is just a sample of some of the things we saw!

Europe part ???

My week here in Europe is almost at an end. I can't believe I actually have time to sit in front of a computer and write this for everyone. No pictures but I'm sure you'll see some of those later. I am in Germany today and will probably have a little time to spend in France and then it will be back to Switzerland and home again. We spent the majority of our time in Florence, (4 days) 1 day in Milan (very expensive) time in Pisa and Lucca. I loved Florence but a real highlight was Lucca! We took the train one day to both Pisa and Lucca. It's an ancient Roman town about an 1 1/2 from Florence, with the old walled city fortifications still there. In fact, we rented bikes and rode around the top of the walls of the whole city. That was amazing!!(in fact I think you'll hear me say that word a lot in the next couple of posts) Lucca is also the place where the best olive trees are and they are world famous for their olive oil and olives! It had the coolest shopping district as well! We were able to navigate the train system with ease. (thanks to Amy...on my own I would have been a bit nervous about that)
The Italian countryside was absolutely lovely. Little Lucca enhanced it all. Wow!

No Parking

Had enough of the tulip pictures? I thought you might like to see this. Our street during tulip festival. It is lined end to end , side to side with cars. for most of the day. The street is busy, the sidewalks are full, there are people everywhere. And tonight there were two scottish gentlemen standing about in their kilts. They looked a bit out of place.
But I am busy mostly finishing up all the last minute details for my leave taking tomorrow. I will be gone 10 days. Perhaps there will be time to post but I doubt it. See you on the other side of the world...maybe!

Simeon Eugene

Now here's some pictures I've been excited to post! Simeon arrived May 8th...the same day we were at Amy's graduation in Lansing. I found it is difficult to be two places at once. But Simeon waited patiently at the hospital for me to arrive home again just so I could see him and hold him for the first time there. What a beautiful baby! He has reddish blonde hair but he sure looks like Phinehas to me.
Welcome Simeon. We are so glad you're here!! And Congratulations Nate and Kristin...Isaiah and Phinehas. Fun times ahead.

Graduation season

I've been in Lansing the last couple of days to enjoy this: Amy's graduation! She looks pretty relaxed and happy, doesn't she?! She has a well deserved degree in hand and time to spend with the family. We've enjoyed spending time together, eating too much, entertaining Jeremiah, seeing Lansing, and meeting her friends. We're headed back home today but it has been a fun weekend.