Defeating Death.

This was an Easter unlike any other.

Fireworks exploding out of a huge oriental-looking cart 

in front of the duomo?

Definitely a celebration.

Christ is risen!!

We went into the duomo saturday night for catholic mass.

I've never actually been to mass before.

There was a man singing what sounded like a song off of the Lord of the Rings soundtrack for about 15 minutes.

It was in Italian, and it was sure beautiful.

The amount of people who turned out for all of these 

Easter traditions was insane.

Tourists and locals.

Kate and I went to an English evangelical service tonight.

Singing worship in english was so incredible.

That is one of the things I miss the most being away from home.

Worship. Singing. Lifting my hands high.

Afterwards Kate and I bought a pizza, some bueno bars, and headed to the bridge across from the Ponte Vecchio to eat our dinner.

Perfect ending to a wonderful day :)

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Finding Holes in the Wall.

My mom found on a blog a workshop where a man in Florence 

makes Euro Bracelets.

We don't even really know what those are, but I've been waiting for the right day to adventure over to San Spirito and try to find this place.

Today was the day. Cara, Kate and I grabbed some gelato and headed out 

looking for Piazza San Spirito 12.

We walk past it the first time because it is a residential door.

We asked a woman in a shop next door and she said to ring his doorbell.

So, we went back, found Ditta Carlo Cecchi di Giuliano Ricchi, and rang that doorbell.

He buzzed us in and met us at the door.

He knows pretty much ZERO english, so we commenced with our game of charades.

He flattened our euros and put them on chains fitted to our wrists.

We were happy campers :)

He toured us around his shop and showed us all his other 

handcrafted, beautiful goods.

He was very proud of his picture with Bill Clinton (below).

I hope to go back soon to get some more euro bracelets.

Falling in love with Paris.

The first night in Paris we went to the Montmartre district,

and got a quick look at Moulin Rouge on our way home.

We found a small piano bar in the Montmartre district where we ate savory crepes for dinner,

and I had an apricot crepe for desert. Crepes on crepes on crepes.

Two french boys were playing Coldplay, Maroon 5, and various french songs.

It was my favorite night of the entire trip.

I just kept looking at my friends mouthing the words "This is so awesome" because the piano was so loud they couldn't hear me haha.

I felt like I was in a dream.

...

The first morning in Paris I started eating a baguette and said,"Gosh this tastes like french bread"

Then all of the sudden the lightbulb in my brain turned on.

I'M IN FRANCE.

The Louvre.

Our tour guide told us to not spend more than 3 hours in this museum.

If we spent longer, we would just want to shoot all of the happy people when we got outside.

I just kept thinking of my dad when she said that and couldn't stop laughing.

The Mona Lisa was....small. Couldn't get close to it 

because of the swarms of people,

but it's cool to be able to say I saw it! haha

There are so many paintings of Christ in these huge museums.

My favorite line was Cara saying,"I wonder what God actually thinks of all these paintings."

But really. I wonder what he thinks.

The Palace and Garden of Versailles were absolutely incredible.

I wanted to relax and stay there all day.

It was so serene and peaceful, 

even though there were a ton of tourists around.

On a heavier note, our train stopped early on the way home.

Halfway between two different stops.

They started filing us all off of the train, and we found out that the train had stopped because someone had committed suicide 

and jumped in front of our train.

That was heavy.

I couldn't stop thinking about it for the next few hours.

Whoever it was, was so unhappy that they ended their life.

I can't imagine being at that point of unhappiness.

All of the locals around us seemed to brush it off 

as if it happens all of the time.

Maybe it does.

We ended our time in Paris with macaroons from McDonalds. 

Classy.

But dang they were good.

Hiding.

Walking off of the bus in Amsterdam was like walking off of a spaceship into a different world.

I guess I didn't know what to expect Amsterdam to be like.

We walked down the first streets early in the morning to get to our hostel and I began to fall in love with this quaint and funky town.

The city is sinking (slowly obviously) so all of the buildings are crooked.

Some of them are leaning not only sideways, but forward.  

Some fun facts about Amsterdam:

- The city's symbol has been "xxx" since the 1500s

- 2000 bikes are pulled out of the canals every year

- The dutch are very tall

- Amsterdam is considered the Venice of Holland because of the canals, which were all hand dug

Traditional Dutch stamppot!

This little red apartment is the smallest one in Amsterdam.

I'm not going to challenge that statement haha.

The Anne Frank house was incredible.

We were able to walk through the hole in the wall behind the original bookcase that leads to where Anne Frank and her family hid.

Imagining what it would be like living there,

and how difficult it would be to be quiet on the creaky floors,

and never going outside in the fresh air.

I would go insane.

Not to mention constantly wondering if you 

were going to get caught by the Nazis.

It is all very hard to wrap my mind around,

but I feel lucky to have been able to experience walking through that house.

One of the walls in our hostel was made completely out of speakers.

Our hole in the wall lunch spot was so adorable.

The ceiling had the most unique teapots hanging from it.

I had a lemon crepe.

So delicious!!

Now to address the two elephants in the room.

Now, for the record, I did not smoke any weed in Amsterdam.

I walked through the red light district during the day,

but my heart couldn't bear to go on the walking tour at night.

I heard it was a very informational tour,

and that it was extremely interesting,

but it breaks my heart to see women selling their bodies.

I don't care if they are registered as self employed by their government,

if there are cops waiting to help them if they press the emergency button in their rooms if things go wrong (deeming it to be safe),

or if it is the fastest way for them to make money to go to college.

These women cannot be happy. This life cannot bring them joy.

I'll make a safe assumption that they are empty, 

and know that something is missing.

They need to know Jesus's love. They need to know what real love is.

They need to know that they deserve so much better.

They need people around them to support them and believe in them.

Satan has a tight grasp on the Red Light District.

Please pray for all of these girls, and all of the men who use them.

They need to know Jesus.

Pronouncing Ausfahrt.

Berlin was one of the most incredible cities because of its crazy history.

It was the best walking tour I have been on yet.

We had a free half of a day when we got there.

Kate, Cara, and I did some adventuring, making it a point 

to arrive at Starbucks as our final destination.

Starbucks never tasted so good.

We celebrated St. Patricks day by hanging

 out in the bar of our hostel, eating burgers, and drinking green beer.

A live band was playing acoustic covers of american songs.

A highlight was definitely singing and stomping Ho Hey 

with everyone at the bar.

We were able to see parts of the Berlin Wall that are remaining.

Our guide told us the craziest ways that people tried to get across the wall.

One way some people got through was by someone from the West side coming over to the east side with a car, hiding someone from the East side in their car by putting them inside the car seat and sewing it back up, 

or by putting them in the gas tank,

and then driving them through Checkpoint Charlie and safely to the west side.

The East Side Gallery is an international memorial for freedom. It is a 1.3 km long section of the Berlin Wall located near the centre of Berlin.

The Gallery consists of 105 paintings by artists from all over the world, painted in 1990 on the east side of the Berlin Wall. 

It is possibly the largest and longest-lasting open air gallery in the world. 

The paintings at the East Side Gallery document a time of change and express the euphoria and great hopes for a better, more free future for all people of the world.

The Holocaust Memorial is a memorial in Berlin 
to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust.

From the edge, it looks like just a bunch of short rectangle blocks on the ground, but when you walk into the memorial you start to walk down a slope and the blocks start to get taller.

They get as tall as 13 feet.

When you're in the middle of it, it seems quieter.

It does not feel as if you're in the middle of Berlin.

It's very surreal and a unique environment to do some hard thinking and reflecting.