His/Hers

We arrived in Seattle Tuesday night after a long, tiring and stressful 3 days of travels.  Now it’s just unpacking, settling and reconnecting with friends and family before we both start work on Monday.  More pictures and stories to come…it’s one of the many many things on my to do list.

Last night we arrived back in St Louis.  After 21 days days of traveling, what do we have to show for ourselves?  Well, we’ve gained about 100 lbs and so has our luggage, but more importantly our eyes have been opened and our hearts filled with the many delights that God has spread across this world for us to enjoy.  We feel truly blessed to have had this experience.

The next few days will be our last in St Louis.  On Sunday we pack up the truck, leave on Monday, and arrive in Seattle on Wednesday.  As we said so many times during our trip…it’s all so surreal.  We will be leaving one home to return to and rebuild another. I will miss our little apartment, our life in St Louis, our work, our school, the community we have built here.  But I am also excited for the community we will be going back to and the new life we will build. With two very strong emotions occuring at once I am left to simply feel numb.  And for that my little heart is thankful.

Please keep us in your minds and hearts this next week as we pack up in St Louis, drive across the country, and unload in Seattle.  It is a task we are not necessarily looking forward to completing as we know it may come with stresses, challenges and frustrations along the way. But the reward, returning home, is defintely worth it.  And the Richmon’s are always up for an adventure!

David’s Highlights:

1.) The Sistine Chapel was beyond brilliant, and probably my favorite tourist site of the trip. We were in there for a half-hour because it was so busy, but I could have spent the whole day looking at all the artwork–it was a visual Bible.

2.) Rome at night is the best. We hit most of the sites in the evening after dinner and this was the best way to see them, not to mention that most had the best street entertainers, especially the musicians.

3.) A little bit of indulgence, but I got an Italian pipe today! The tobacco store was snooty, but helpful, which made buying it and navigating the Cuban cigar floor fun.

Brenna’s Highlights:

1.) Stoopaging. A stoop + sitting = stoopaging.  This is one of the many words in the Richmon family language as well as one of our favorite past-times.  We have done this all trip but Rome was exceptional for stoopaging- at the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, outside the Pantheon, at Piazza Navona or on any other ancient doorstep on an ancient block throughout the ancient city.  We would sit and rest up while enjoying the city before us.  And Rome is quite the city to enjoy!

2.) Gelato!!  Gelato is another past-time (yes past-time, not food) that we have enjoyed the entire trip but no place could surpass the store we found in Rome.  Giolitti was voted best gelato in Rome in one of the guides I read and I would have to agree…even though I didn’t try any other place while we were there.  You get three huge scoops of countless flavors of delicious gelato in a chocolate dipped cone topped with fresh whipped cream.  Wow!!  Now that’s a well spent 3 bucks…each and every day!

3.) Throwing coins into the Trevi Fountain with David- hopefully we will return to Rome someday.

David’s Highlights:

1.) I found a leather messenger’s bag. I’ve been looking for awhile and hadn’t found the right one. But Florence is famed for its leather work and I was able to track down just the thing I was looking for.

2.) We stopped by Dante’s house. Yeah, the guy who wrote the Inferno. It’s surreal to be able to trace the footsteps of people and places that you’ve only read about or seen in books.

3.) Our bike tour of Tuscany was lots of fun. Neither Brenna or I are expert bikers, but the terrain was fairly level and the scenery was spectacular.

Brenna’s Highlights:

1.) The Mercato Centrale- an indoor market with everything you can imagine.  Italians just grocery shop for one day at a time and it was so fun watching them come and go, gathering food for that night’s dinner. We grabbed some rosemary foccacia and prosciutto for a perfect picnic lunch to eat on the front steps of an ancient apartment building.

2.) We did wine and olive oil tasting at a 12th century castle in the Chianti region of Tuscany.  It was beautiful and wonderful and very surreal.  We even saw the Countess who lives at the castle drive by in her little Smart Car.  The Count drives a Porsche.

3.) Climbing to the top of Giotto’s Tower at the Duomo was wonderful.  We were able to see the entire beautiful city and the Tuscan countryside in the near distance. 

David’s Highlights:

1.) Walking along the vineyards overlooking Manarola–gorgeous!

2.) Climbing on the seaside rocks.

3.) The fish we ate at Trattoria dal Billy.

Brenna’s Highlights:

1.) There is a hike along the coast that connects the five towns that make up Cinque Terre.  It is beautiful and challenging and very rewarding. It was a fun change from the museums and other tourist attractions we left behind us in the bigger cities.

2.)  Pesto, pesto, pesto! If you like pesto, this is the region to visit.  I made sure to have it everyday…on pizza, foccacia, or on the local noodle called trofie.  I would have probably eaten it plain if I could!

3.) We had one amazing evening in the small town of Manarola.  The sun set over the water making the sky explode with colors.  We ate our favorite meal yet on a porch overlooking the city and the ocean below us.  Alas, my camera had run out of batteries so I was left with only the pictures etched in my mind.  Let me assure you, they are the best pictures I have ever taken in my life.  After the meal we ate gelato while watching the sun continue it’s nightly descent as we strolled along the Via dell’Amore…the walk of love!