Traveling, traveling, a'traveling we go!!!

Let me begin by saying, that we are so incredibly blessed. I don't even think that in the here and now, we realize the opportunity we have nor the experiences we're having. It won't be until years down the road, when we've been married for years, we're watching our own children grow up and get married, and we're sitting together on our front porch swing, when we'll turn to one another, and finally realize how blessed we truly were to have had this amazing life experience. To have seen the things that we are seeing. To have met the people we are meeting and connecting with.
I don't think until then, many years from now, will we truly know and understand.

With that being said, let me say that I am tired. Not sleepy tired, but just tired. I don't really know how to explain it. I'm not tired of traveling, I think I'm tired from traveling. We have been going, going, going since last Tuesday and I don't feel like I have had the chance to truly rest. I LOVE all of this traveling, but I just want a weekend to kind of take it easy; or a bit slower I guess. But our travels are not letting up anytime soon...here's what's been happening or is about to be underway:

1. We of course had our 1s day trip last week and I told you all about that. Fun, fun!!!

2. Then this past weekend we traveled to Torino and the Alps. Let me catch you up on that:
Oh boy....Sunday probably goes down as one of the most memorable days of my life (among many other things that have already come before it of course). I have never seen such natural beauty. It's amazing to me, that someone can see the things that I have seen and witness such beauty, and not believe in one divine creator. Only God could create such landscape with His own two hands. It is mesmerizing. Seeing such things has a way of not only redifining your faith, reassuring your faith. It was hard not to just stand there, in the open air of snow and mountains and blue skies, and just take it all in for hours.

First sights of the Alps

We were going to originally leave Friday afternoon, but chose to leave EARLY Saturday morning instead so that we only had to pay for one night of lodging (much cheaper). So Friday night was very low-key (with a trip that last the whole afternoon to prepare for our weekend adventures...if you want the skinny, you can Real Quick like read about it) with packing, pizza, and a movie.
Saturday morning, it was up early and off to the bus which took us to the train, where we rode about 2 hours to Torino. We spent all day Saturday in the quiet city sightseeing, ice dancing (if that's what you want to call it, haha!! some of the best times we've had together as a group so far....hilarious!!), playing in the snow, playing on a playground, and just all in all having a great time. We took the time to see where the Winter Olympics were held and warmed up with some lattes in a cute little café (it was FREEZING walking around in the snow all day) and finally headed to do some evening exploring. We ended up having Chinese for dinner (I know...in Italy!!), which turned out to be REALLY good. Afterwards we finally headed back to the hostel around 9:30 PM for bed. We had an EARLY morning ahead of us in order to make our train for skiing.

This was my very first hostel, ever, and it was not too shabby. I think that we were actually very lucky in that ours was pretty nice, well kept, safe, and all around a pleasant stay. No complaints here.

My first hostel

So Sunday morning we wake up at 6AM to meet downstairs at 6:30 AM and off we start the 4 mile trek to the train station. We get there, our train is delayed 25 minutes, so we wait and finally bored around 7:30-8 AM. And off we are for skiing in the ALPS!!!

Waiting for our train

We arrived about 2 hours later, and had a bit of a time trying to figure out where to get passes, ski rentals, etc.; all that necessary stuff. We finally got it all figured out and hopped a bus to the top of the mountain.
Once at the top, we went to get our rentals, which took some time because there were 13 of us, but eventually we were all suited up. A quick bite of lunch and then we were ready to hit the slopes!!

Me and the hubby geared up, ready to go

Most everyone skied...myself and Leslee were snow tubing buddies for the day!! HA!! No, no, we did try the bunny slopes once, and then the beginner's slope (yeah right...more like the equivalent of an intermediate slope back home) once before turning in the skis and heading for the snow tubes!! :) We had an AMAZING time though...it was her first time and only my second so BIG props to Jonathan and Harrison for being so patient with us on the slopes!! ;)

Me and my ski buddy :) 

We all finished up around 5 PM and turned our skis in to head back down to the bottom for a quick dinner because our train was leaving at 7:20 PM. We actually had to try a couple of places before finding one that was open because of the whole European funny hours opened deal. We finally found something open and I was risky and ordered a cheeseburger...but it ended up being REALLY good. Good risk I took. 
So we hit the train (which was also delayed) and 2 hours back to Torino, then switching in Torino to another train, 2 more hours later we were back in Genoa at about 11 PM Sunday night.

Fun weekend :) Definitely in my Top 5.

The whole group

3. Then we had our 2nd Day Trip on Tuesday of this week.
Another great one, but man oh man, those day trips wear you out. We ususally go from sun up to sun down. For this particular day trip, we had to be ready to go at the bus stop, by 7:15 AM. We had a bus chartered for all 19 of us (well 20 if you count Judy...not sure who Judy is?? Read about our fabulous day trip tour guide!!) to our destinations throughout the day. But never fear....there was still miles and miles and miles of walking included. Always. :)

We first went to Pavia, Italy where we toured Certosa Di Pavia, a mausoleum from the 14th century. Also, a true to the core monk was our tour guide. Unbelievable. Both the building and the monk. So much history and so much to learn about 1 structure.

It was so old, but so ornate. Wow.

One of the many beautiful ceilings of Certosa Di Pavia

Then we headed to another part of Pavia to see Collegio Borromeo circa 16th century. It is part of the University of Pavia and it's original purpose was for entertaining students. It overlooks the River Ticino and has some beautiful gardens within. We were running late all day, so we didn't get to spend much time here.
Next, we visited Palazzo Dell'Universita' which was founded in 1361. This, like the previous, had many courtyards and was 2 levels with many adoring statues. It was quite beautiful. Mostly though, as all of these buildings did, it held so much history.
We then had a quick lunch on the main street of town, and we hopped back on the bus for a 30 minute drive to the town of Vigevano, Italy.

The boys grabbing a bite

While there we saw Piazza Ducale, which is know to be one of Italy's most beautiful piazza's. It is a perfect square, closed off by the original Castello structure. It is a common gathering space for the locals and even had an adorable ice skating rink. It was really awesome!!!
After spending some time in the square, we were able to actually go into and see the Castello. It was very old and again.....very beautiful.

Part of the Castello

Of course, you're probably going to get tired of me saying "so old; so beautiful; amazing; wonderful; gorgeous...etc." but I don't know any other words that would even come close to describing the places and structures that I am seeing and learning about. So, I'm sorry if my use of adjectives is lacking. I can add pictures, but really, nothing I could ever show you or say to you will be justifiable.

4. And finally, we leave on Friday of this week (January 30th) for our very 1st 10 day trip of the semester (there will be 2 of these this semester including this one). We're off to Florence first and then a little over halfway through, we'll take a train and spend the rest of the trip in Rome.

The Pantheon.
The Colosseum.
The Arch of Constantine.
The Catacombs.
Michaelangelo's David.
Vatican City.
St. Peter's Basilica.
The Sistine Chapel.
St. Peter's Square.
Brunelleschi's Dome.

Yeah. I'm going to see those things. This week. And stand just feet away. And possibly touch them. And possibly photograph them.
Life is unreal sometimes. :)

So, if you don't hear from me anymore this week it's because I'm running around trying to pack and get things done before we leve on Friday. And if you don't hear from me in the next 10 days, it's because I'm traveling throughout Rome and Florence and much too busy to blog!! So, until I get back home to Genoa, arrivederci mi amici!!!