if your friends ever jump off a mountain...DO IT TOO!

 Ello mates!

Sorry again for the absence!  I am still alive and breathing with a few more stamps in my passport and a few less euros in my pocket.  I only have 4 ½ weeks left in my European tour!  Oh my goodness!  So many places to see and so little time!  Time flies when you’re having fun…but time isn’t the only thing flying around here!  I am too!!!

It has been almost a month since I visited Interlaken, Switzerland so I’ll fill you in.  It is still one of my favorite places thus far I have seen.   The trip all together ended up taking a big hit to my budget, but worth every penny…or I guess Frank.  We flew out early, early Friday morning flying from Rome to Geneva, Switzerland.  From there we had to purchase a 140 frank round trip ticket to Interlaken.  I can’t complain.  The train ride still ranks itself high as one of my favorite experiences here.  Passing through cow pastures lined with snow-capped mountains wadding in bright blue, glassy lakes is not a sight for sore eyes.  When I got off the train I realized I had almost taken 150 pictures.  A bit excessive probably.  This is turning out to be a very well documented trip to say the least!

So proud we found our right train!

Real life. 

Planes, trains, and automobiles but we made it!

Interlaken.  Home of tacky tourism and all things Swiss.  Cheese, chocolate, yodelers, hot chocolate, goats, fondue, and sausage.  They have it all!  The town is a bit cheesy because they try to amp it up for the tourist, but who am I kidding?  I walked around the entire weekend with my camera around my neck and my unmistakable southern American draw, so you just learn to own being a tourist.  

We were taking a group picture and these asian women really
wanted to be in it too.  So we embraced it of course.

The hills are alive!!!

We got to go to a chocolate show and see how they make all the fun
chocolate shapes.  And the free chocolate wasn't a bad touch either.

We found our hostel in due time and all 18 of us divided amongst our perspective rooms.  Our hostel was called Balmers.  Apparently it ranks in the top hostels in all our Europe.  Why you ask?  Well, because Balmers came equipped with what I would like to think a teen club on a cruise ship would be like.  Highlight of the trip to say the least…eh well it made for great people watching.  Bums from all around the world gather to soak up the fresh air and a brew…in a dark, loud, small, light flashing seizure waiting to happen room.  Hilariously awkward and bizarre.  But hey, when else in life will you ever get to fall asleep to terrible European techno base, bumpin’ to the beat of ‘Bringin Sexy Back’ snuggled in a bed that may or may not have been washed from the night before with a random kid from Denver snoring in the bed beside you.  Never. (I hope.)  YOLO my friends.

If all your friends were jumping off a mountain…would you?  ABSOLUTELY and I did!

Y’all.   I am about to let you in on a secret.  You CAN fly like an eagle.  It is very possible.  Go hang gliding.  Oh my stars, birds have the best life ever.  So some of us decided we would spend some of our spending money on the best souvenir you could ever buy.  Saturday morning we woke up early, suited up, and hang glided over the Swiss Alps.  I repeat… Hang-Gliding-Swiss-Alps. 

Taa-Daa!!! 

The man. The myth. The Aussi Legend.  Bernie.  My main man.

This was when i was receiving 20 seconds of instruction for how
 to jump off a mountain correctly.  Efficiency. 

I met Bernie about 10 minutes before he tied me to his back and I ran off a mountain with him.  Bernie was a great little Aussi with a rockin’ stash, but I literally thought I was going to send my final moments with this man.  His only instructions at the top of the mountain were,

Bernie- “Just don’t stop running.” 

Me- “…or what happens…” 

Bernie- “…or we crash.”

Cool I thought.  I guess if I have to die young, dying in the Alps won’t be so bad.   Running, running, running, running…still running but my feet are not touching anything…I AM IN THE AIR!!!!!

I can’t put into words the emotions and feeling going through my head at that very moment.  I have never felt so small.  I have never felt so calm.  And I have never fully understood the magnitude of our creation until this moment.  Wow.  God did not have to create mountains.  Have you ever thought that we could very easily been given a world flat as paper and just dirt.  We don’t deserve to live in such beauty and I don’t think we appreciate the powerfulness of it.  How cool is it that although undeserving, we can walk amongst the jaw dropping, eye opening, breath catching creation.  Nature is just neat.  

If I had a frank for how many times I said, "Oh my goodness, this is incredible",
I could have paid for my flight!

Coming in for landing!  Hard to miss those long legs!

Hard core.

I could not stop laughing and smiling!  Incredible!

WE DID IT!!!

Going with big groups, every one tends to do their own things.  It’s fun that way.  I preferred to just lay on my back and look up.  I didn’t do it alone.  Of course I bought some authentic Swiss chocolate.  Girl’s best friend.  The night ended perfectly.  Mollie and I needed to get away from the hostel so we grabbed our journals and books and turned left out of the hostel and just kept walking.  The only thing we knew was we wanted hot chocolate, and we wanted to watch the sun set behind the Alps.  Done and done.  It’s good to have a friend who you can just sit with.

We even had time to teach Danielle how to ride a bike...sort of.

Sunday morning we carbed up for our long travel day back to the palace.  Balmer’s served two pieces of bread every morning with a slice of cheese and hot water.  It was free so you can’t complain.  We smelled nicely of hostel, hang gliding, grass, train, airplane, and taxi by the time we graced the palace with our presence.  We were glad to be back…just in time to unpack and pack for a week in Florence.   We finally got to bed around 2:00am and woke up at 5:00am to get on the bus all day heading north.  Florence.  Florence my friends is just superb.  I’ll keep yah hanging until next time!

Ciao!

pottery, pasta, and pretty views.

About 2 weeks ago, we took an overnight field trip to the Umbria region.  In the Bruno program, we usually have class Monday and Wednesday and travel Tuesday and Thursday to the places we learned about on the other days.  Pretty cool if you ask me.  But we did a bit of a switcherroo just to spice things up.  We packed our bags…in which I am becoming increasingly good at…piled onto our party bus and headed about 2 hours north of Rome.  Umbria is actually smack dap in the middle or Rome and Florence.  This region is known for the beautiful, unique ceramics known as majolica we see in stores like our very own Pottery Barn and Bromberg’s.  Our teaches surprised us with a visit and personal tour of the famous Ditta G. Grazia and Company that supplies the U.S. and other countries with beautiful hand crafted and painted ceramics situated in the Umbrian town of Deruta.  The owner, who is the grandson of the man who started the business gave us the grand tour.  I think they guys were less than thrilled about his tour, but every girl had enough stars in their eyes for ourselves and our jealous mothers back home. 

On the tour with the owner.

They have won many awards form companies like
William Sonoma and Pottery Barn for their wonderful pieces.

Ta-Da!

Growing up in the Hendry home, you can’t help but have a slight appreciation for dishes and ceramic pottery.  But this brought it to an entirely new level.  Mother, you would be so proud!  I even started questioning my life ambitions because I think I want to make pottery now.  I mean you can just pick that kind of stuff up right? 

In any case, the tour ended in the in house museum with some of their oldest ceramics and their infamous guest book.  People like Laura Bush and the Beatles had signed after their visit so we were very excited to have our names put in the same book.  Very neat experience!  Some of the signatures dated back to the early 1900’s! 

Look closely...you can see Paul McCartney's signature. 

After the tour we got to go to their very small gift shop.  They don’t have a big selection because they do the bulk of their orders by shipping home and internationally.  I guess they are not used to cheap college kids just wanting a 10 euro hand crafted vase.  They do not exist, or so we quickly found out.  But 8 euro ash trays sure do.  We promptly made our way into the “seconds” room, which is where they sell pieces that are messed up in some way.  So yes.  I purchased what I’m pretty sure is a messed up ceramic ash tray…but it is going to be the most beautiful ashtray you have ever seen.  Mark my words and it can just double as a ring tray by my sink.

After Ms. Linda and Cinzia literally peeled us away and we chased after the boys who high-tailed it outta there long ago, we made our way to Assisi.  Assisi is home of the Basilica of St. Francis.  Many Catholics each year treat Assisi as some sort of pilgrimage to come and pay respects to St. Francis.  His bones are buried in the very bottom so he gets lots of visitors.  St. Frances is known for starting the first monastery, or being the first monk.  He is so well respected and is the patron saint of Italy because actually walked in the footsteps of Jesus.  Mom, if Simon were Catholic, he woud pray to St. Francis.  He is also the patron saint of animals.  So if any of you are looking to baptize your dog in he future, he is yo man!  Back to business, he is said to have sold all he had and devoted his entire life to prayer and devotion to the life of Christ.  Apparently he is the first recorded person to have borne the stigmata (the wounds of Christ; nail hole in hands a feet with a stab wound in the side).  It is not a self-inflicted wound, which is why he is so revered.  Also, in case you were wondering, during my time in Italy I have earned an extra minor in Catholicism studies.  I have currently visited every church from south of Rome to north of Florence and they may or may not all look the same.  # BOOM #catholicsrule

St. Francis Basilica

What a view!  I guess if you had to be a monk,
it would be too terrible to live here!

Assisi was just all in all a rally cool town.  Not only did it have the best gelato and salad I have had all summer, but it was beautifully decorated with colorful ceramics everywhere.  If one city describes the quintessential Italy, it would be Assisi.  It was set perfectly up on a hill that looked over quaint vineyards and farms.  And little monks were running around.  And who doesn’t love a good monk?

A thunder storm coming in over the valley.

We went to our first wine tasting that night.  Umbria is known for its production of white wine, so what better to do than tour one of their finer wineries of the region.   After our tour of the property, I decided I don’t think I would complain if that were my life.  At first glance, owning a vineyard seems like a very relaxing, chill, and swanky lifestyle.  Everyone loves people who own vineyards because that means they get free wine.  And when you give people free wine, you have lots of friends.  So I would be living this swanky, chill life with lots of friends.  I could totally get on that level.

Aside from my delusional grape growing dreams, owning a vineyard is a lot of work, and a lot of it…ok all of it depends on the weather.  Talk about stress!  I could be living a swanky life, but I would be living a swanky zit faced life because of all the stress.  So take away the friends cool friends from the equation above.   I would probably be a lonely zit faced chick with lots of wine I would be driven to drink because of all the stress.  So bottom line, I think ill keep the fun grape growing business to the experts…the Italians.  We all know they do it best anyway. 

The evening was fun, relaxing, educational, and not to mention very interesting.  We even got a diploma saying we are now certified wine tasters!  The rain thankfully waited on our tour to finish.  After the rain, God just decided to send a little happy to let us know he is thinking about us and I got to experience my first full rainbow.  What a sweet way to end such a happy day!  I know I will never forget my trip to Assisi and the good times had.  I love small happies like that.  God you rock!

Real life.  I bet skittles were at the end.

Goodnight Assisi.  Sleep sweet.

The next morning I did something a little risky.  Brace yourselves…I wore a skort.  Girls, if you are acting right now like you have no idea what I am talking about you are lying to yourself and to your creator.  You know you wore them and you know you loved them.  I bought my first skort since I was about 8 years old in Rome about three weeks ago, and I decided today was the day it needed to make its début.  Gosh, my skort and I had so much fun!  It’s like a backwards mullet…party in the front, business in the back.  You can run, and look sassy doing so.  (Please humor me by picturing a backwards mullet on your dad.  Hiiiilaaaarious.)

Yay for jean skorts! 

I won’t bore you all with the details, but we visited Civita di Bagnoregio, also known as the ‘Dying City’.  Top notch view my friends.  Top notch.  It looked like an Olan Mills photo shoot…minus the cheesy part of Olan Mills.  The dying city looks like the castle Repunzel lived in.  Sadly no one even remotely Repunzels age live here.  There are only about 15 full time residents who live on the hill and they all are over the age of 85.  The city almost looked suspended in the air.  The rock on which it once sat is eroding in the weather leaving the city “dying”.  You can only get to it by walking across the long bridge.  Personally I skipped, but that was just because I was wearing a skort and people who wear skorts have more fun.  And I’m blond, so there’s that. 

There's the little city on a hill. 

What a view.  Nature's neat.

The city was the most boring thing I have ever seen…because there were 2 stores and I could have taken about 20 giant leaps to get from one end to the other.  I know I have long legs, but that is just disheartening.  We came, we saw, we bought an ice cream cone, and peaced out.  Done and done.

Our next adventure was the cute little town of Orvieto which was super fabulous because we got to eat lunch at this stop.  Every place we attend where I take part in a meal will always hold a special place in my heart…just because it always will.  I need not explain.  We visited a church…duh.  But my favorite part of this last stop was St. Patrick’s well.  Designed like a DNA, two path ways with almost 250 steps never cross from the bottom to the top so that carts could go retrieve water and get back up with out running into another cart.  What a genius little Roman work that was!

ANOTHER CHURCH ANOTHER CHURCH ANOTHER CHURCH...
and we are excited!

At the bottom of the well.

That about sums up our trip around Assisi.  I like field trips with the whole gang.  I like when we are all together.  Our group has a lot of fun together.  I think there are maybe 2 or 3 people who were really good friends before this trip, (minus Steven and Lauren who have been dating for 3 years; I assume they knew each other decently well), and we all get along so well and love being with each other.  That is probably why we go on weekend trip in groups of 15!  I am thankful for the new friendships made on this trip and am even more thankful I am making all these memories with such wonderful people.  Who needs a winery to make friends when you can just travel the world and make friends along the way.  Much more fun, and a lot less stressful!

Duces.

Leigh