P.S. We have noticed that Europeans seem eager to clap at anything (e.g. plane landing, second-rate buskers etc), however, perhaps the most surprising was the hundreds of people applauding the sun for setting … Sunday, 26 August 2007
Santor-dreamy
We are just finished 3 days in Santorini and there is really not much to say (if you want a little history, see James comment on the Athens post!), it has been very relaxing and we are fully energized for Turkey. Enjoy the pictures, after all they say more than words ever could!
P.S. We have noticed that Europeans seem eager to clap at anything (e.g. plane landing, second-rate buskers etc), however, perhaps the most surprising was the hundreds of people applauding the sun for setting …
P.S. We have noticed that Europeans seem eager to clap at anything (e.g. plane landing, second-rate buskers etc), however, perhaps the most surprising was the hundreds of people applauding the sun for setting … 
Athens fires
Athens postscript: We were saddened to hear about the fires near Athens, news of which has probably reached the UK and Australia (despite being in Greece, and only just heard). We left a couple days before they started and wanted to let people know we're safe. Please pray for the families of those who were killed or injured.
Friday, 24 August 2007
Athens
Next stop was Athens for one-and-a-half days, were we delivered another Rory and Amy sightseeing whirlwind tour (basically the Acropolis and surrounds). We also managed to explore a little bit of Athens itself, which we really enjoyed (Athens has scrubbed up a lot post-Olympics), especially the chic Kolonaki district.
By far the most exciting Athenian moment for us was our visit to what remains of the Areopagus, a rocky outcrop and meeting spot for the ancient Greek judicial body, place of religious worship, philosophical debate and (most importantly) Paul’s famous speech to the Athenians which resulted in the spread of Christianity into Greece in 1st century AD (this also happens to be one of Amy’s favourite bible passages).
Paul had been invited to speak before the Areopagus on the basis “all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas”, and Paul’s message certainly was a new and intriguing idea - see Acts 17:16-34, highly recommended reading.
It was only when we were standing in the Areopagus itself that we realised Paul would have been speaking directly in the shadows of the Acropolis (including the Parthenon of course) and overlooking the Agora and Roman Forum! This gave the powerful context to his opening statement "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious…". He then proceeded to tell them about their "unknown god" by declaring that “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands…", which I imagine would have been shocking (almost insulting) given the majesty of the surrounds! Paul went onto explain that God can be found through Christ, who will judge the world with justice and "He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead". As you can probably tell, standing in the place where these powerful words were spoken was very exciting for us!
So that’s Athens, next stop will be Santorini, followed by Turkey (so expect some more Paul-related commentary!).
Monday, 20 August 2007
Croatia
After our London splash and dash we headed to Croatia, a country we had both longed to visit. First stop was Dubrovnik, a place with a strong Italian influence owning to the fact that it was once ruled by the Venetians (and consequently had great ice-cream). Dubrovnik is pretty, but is also pretty small and one morning was enough to do the sites, which included a sweaty walk around the walls of the old town. Otherwise, we relaxed on the many rocky “beaches” nearby. Although the lack of sand was frustrating, it didn’t bother us too much as we spent most of the time in the crystal clear waters of the Mediterranean including doing a few ocean swims along the coastline!
After two nights we took a day ferry to the island of Hvar and, as we watched the Dalmatian coast drift by, listened to a Dick Lucas talk on the Church in Thyatira regarding the importance of relying only on teaching from the bible and not on anything “added” by man (Revelation 2:18-29 ).
Whilst Dubrovnik could be best described as cute, Hvar was idyllic and it was the first time on the trip which felt like a proper summer holiday. We spent most of the time relaxing on rocks (again no sand), either near Hvar or on one of the many little islands nearby. We even ventured so far as to hire a small put-put boat for the day to discover lots of private little coves again all with crystal clear water- it felt like we were back on honeymoon again!
Monday, 13 August 2007
The London Splash and Dash
When we heard that our good friend and bible-study member, Fiona, decided she was going to get baptised on 12th August, we couldn’t resist re-jigging our itinerary so that we could be there (“but Italy is just around the corner” I insisted). It actually turned out to be a bit of a family reunion, as my sister-in-law Renee (one of Fiona’s closest friends from Sydney) did the same.
If the whole baptism event looks a little odd to any of you (see photos), all it is is a physical symbol of what’s happened to Fi in her heart. By being baptised Fiona is declaring that she wants to make a clean start (hence the water) with the God who created her and she trusts that Jesus’ death means that she’s been forgiven for previously ignoring God (hence why she gets dunked in the water and pulled out again – it’s like saying “I’d like to be a part of what Jesus’ death achieved “ i.e. forgiveness and being raised to eternal life - http://www.matthiasmedia.com.au/2wtl). It was awesome to be there to celebrate with her and many of our other friends. A real glimpse of heaven!
If the whole baptism event looks a little odd to any of you (see photos), all it is is a physical symbol of what’s happened to Fi in her heart. By being baptised Fiona is declaring that she wants to make a clean start (hence the water) with the God who created her and she trusts that Jesus’ death means that she’s been forgiven for previously ignoring God (hence why she gets dunked in the water and pulled out again – it’s like saying “I’d like to be a part of what Jesus’ death achieved “ i.e. forgiveness and being raised to eternal life - http://www.matthiasmedia.com.au/2wtl). It was awesome to be there to celebrate with her and many of our other friends. A real glimpse of heaven!
Italian Lakes
We decided to explore an area of Italy that both Rory and I had never visited before – the Lakes. So we picked a small town of Lombardy called Cadenabbia, situated right of the shores of Lake Como. Our room in the small family-run hotel had views of the lake and the town of Bellagio (so we finally saw what our Las Vegas honeymoon hotel was attempting to imitate), and the bulk of our time here involved pottering around quaint Italian towns sipping Proseco and eating gelato – you know the deal.
However, just to ensure that we couldn’t be accused of spending our entire time here in a state of self-indulgent naval-gazing, we decided it would be worthwhile to struggle our way up one of the many steep inclines that hems in the Lakes (also known as the Pre-Alps). So we pitched up the tourist office and selected a map and directions for a hike (yes, I said hike). We decided not to be complete pansies and opted for one graded a “medium” level of difficulty. We reassured ourselves that we should be able to manage it no worries – we’re young (well, one of us is), I go to the gym and all that, Rory was a representative swimmer at one time or another – of course we can handle an “above average” hike. Well, after a lot of huffing, puffing, sweating, cursing and shouts of “who’s stupid idea was this anyway?!”, we made it to the Menaggio Rifugio (m. 1400). Let’s just say that if we had any idea that “rifugio” means mountain shelter, we never would have attempted it. “Medium” indeed. But the views of Lake Como and Lake Lugano were fantastic.
Needless to say it took a whole lot of gelato and an entire day by the swimming pool for our aching calves to recover.
However, just to ensure that we couldn’t be accused of spending our entire time here in a state of self-indulgent naval-gazing, we decided it would be worthwhile to struggle our way up one of the many steep inclines that hems in the Lakes (also known as the Pre-Alps). So we pitched up the tourist office and selected a map and directions for a hike (yes, I said hike). We decided not to be complete pansies and opted for one graded a “medium” level of difficulty. We reassured ourselves that we should be able to manage it no worries – we’re young (well, one of us is), I go to the gym and all that, Rory was a representative swimmer at one time or another – of course we can handle an “above average” hike. Well, after a lot of huffing, puffing, sweating, cursing and shouts of “who’s stupid idea was this anyway?!”, we made it to the Menaggio Rifugio (m. 1400). Let’s just say that if we had any idea that “rifugio” means mountain shelter, we never would have attempted it. “Medium” indeed. But the views of Lake Como and Lake Lugano were fantastic. 
Needless to say it took a whole lot of gelato and an entire day by the swimming pool for our aching calves to recover. 
Sunday, 12 August 2007
Rome wasn't built in a day!
Yes, Rome may not have been built in a day, nevertheless we planned to conqueror it one, here’s the why and how …
Of all the places we are visiting on thhe European leg, Rome was the one that both of us had been before: Amy visited Rome with good friends Sally, Andy and Ev and at that time promised herself that she would never come back (something to do with knife wielding maniacs) and even tried to make sure by not throwing a coin into the Trevi Fountain; I had been many times for work, but had never been a tourist in the city or seen the sites, something I really wanted to do…
In the end, my belligerence won out and Amy found herself in Rome, nearly 7 years to the day since she made her promise never to return. The flip side of my bargain was that we would be highly focused to minimize our time, hence the total of one day of sightseeing.
To this end we joined a Rome walking tour (http://www.enjoyrome.com/walking/index.html) and picked off the major sites in 3 hrs: The Colosseum (proper name Flavian Amphitheatre), The Forum, Capitoline Hill, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon and Piazza Navona. Of these, the most stunning was the Pantheon, but the most interesting was The Forum, which included the Arch of Titus, which was built to commemorate the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70 (see Mark 13: 1-2).
For the other must see in Rome (The Vatican of course) we got up at 5.30am to get to St. Peter’s Basilica at 7am. It was simply stunning inside and I would certainly find it impossible to concentrate if I were sitting there in a church service given every corner, column, wall, roof etc of the interior was adorned with art, sculpture and gaudy decoration! 45 mins later we were in the queue for the Vatican Museums which opened at 10am … once in, we raced around and past the vast hordes of people, checked out the Sistine Chapel (surreal) and were out in a record breaking 45mins, in fact, I think we were probably the first to leave that day!
Of all the places we are visiting on thhe European leg, Rome was the one that both of us had been before: Amy visited Rome with good friends Sally, Andy and Ev and at that time promised herself that she would never come back (something to do with knife wielding maniacs) and even tried to make sure by not throwing a coin into the Trevi Fountain; I had been many times for work, but had never been a tourist in the city or seen the sites, something I really wanted to do…
In the end, my belligerence won out and Amy found herself in Rome, nearly 7 years to the day since she made her promise never to return. The flip side of my bargain was that we would be highly focused to minimize our time, hence the total of one day of sightseeing.
To this end we joined a Rome walking tour (http://www.enjoyrome.com/walking/index.html) and picked off the major sites in 3 hrs: The Colosseum (proper name Flavian Amphitheatre), The Forum, Capitoline Hill, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon and Piazza Navona. Of these, the most stunning was the Pantheon, but the most interesting was The Forum, which included the Arch of Titus, which was built to commemorate the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70 (see Mark 13: 1-2).
For the other must see in Rome (The Vatican of course) we got up at 5.30am to get to St. Peter’s Basilica at 7am. It was simply stunning inside and I would certainly find it impossible to concentrate if I were sitting there in a church service given every corner, column, wall, roof etc of the interior was adorned with art, sculpture and gaudy decoration! 45 mins later we were in the queue for the Vatican Museums which opened at 10am … once in, we raced around and past the vast hordes of people, checked out the Sistine Chapel (surreal) and were out in a record breaking 45mins, in fact, I think we were probably the first to leave that day!
So there you go, all Rome sightseeing done in a shade over 4hrs, plus 2hrs queuing at the Vatican! And I forgot to mention, we even managed to fit in a fun dinner with Reneé on the day we arrived as she was in town to meet up with Huw after his stint with the AYO was finished.
Next stop is the Italian Lakes, where the pace will be somewhat more sedate …
Wednesday, 8 August 2007
Berlin
Our next stop on the itinerary was Berlin – a city with fantastic restaurants and museums, a very German-style public transport system that runs like clockwork and a heck of a lot of modern European history. Some highlights of the city included checking out the Processional Way from 6th century BC Babylon at the Pergamonmuseum, seeing the remains of the Berlin Wall and learning more about the pre-1989 divided city (including a family who escaped from East to West by strapping themselves to a homemade cable-car and literally flying over the Wall) – who said this wasn’t going to be an educational trip?!.
We also noted some rather odd pedestrian traffic lights (see photo – does anyone else agree that this is a little strange?!).
Our favourite Berlin moment had to be seeing Amy’s brother Huw play with the Australian Youth Orchestra at the Konzerthaus for the opening night of the Young Euro Classic Festival. The concert hall was packed and the AYO were absolutely amazing, earning a standing ovation from the entire audience. The first oboe was of course particularly superb. Well done Huw!!!
In addition to learning about history and culture, we’ve also started listening to a sermon series by Dick Lucas on the letters to the churches in Revelation 2-3 (in anticipation of our upcoming visit to at least one of those featured!). At the beginning of chapter 2, after praising the church in Ephesus for their endurance and loyalty to the truth, Jesus admonishes them as they have “forsaken [their] first love” (2:4) in declining in their previously vigorous outreach with the gospel to Ephesus and beyond. This is a warning for all the churches (2:7), including those today, which fuelled our passion to be “lampstands” and shine our light to everyone around us….
In addition to learning about history and culture, we’ve also started listening to a sermon series by Dick Lucas on the letters to the churches in Revelation 2-3 (in anticipation of our upcoming visit to at least one of those featured!). At the beginning of chapter 2, after praising the church in Ephesus for their endurance and loyalty to the truth, Jesus admonishes them as they have “forsaken [their] first love” (2:4) in declining in their previously vigorous outreach with the gospel to Ephesus and beyond. This is a warning for all the churches (2:7), including those today, which fuelled our passion to be “lampstands” and shine our light to everyone around us….
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