The Eurostar...a Delightful Experience

Greetings from Firenze or Florence (for all of you who, like me, didn't know that those were the same place)! We had a much better train ride today from Venice to Florence. We were so surprised that we were riding the Eurostar...which is a nice train. We took our 1st class seats, which were separated, but we both met some delightful people.

Jennifer sat next to some Aussies who were on a six-week holiday through Europe. It was fun to hear them banter back and forth. I got to hear all about their "bloody" journeys through Ireland and Scotland. They even helped me with my baggage and threw away my "rubbish." What a fun change from the bachelor pad and the restless four-year-old from the other day.

Karen sat next to three friends from California. Two of them were teachers...(Diane, one taught kindergarten and one taught first grade). They had worked together 25 years ago. We had so much fun laughing and visiting. One of them had dated a man in Mississippi, so we tried to make a few connections. Jennifer overheard all of us talking, and she said that would be us in 20 years. So now, we have made a pact to return to a slower-paced European vacation in 20 years. We'll start saving our pennies now.

Our other fun friends were Fred and Becky from Indiana. (Fred and Becky, if you ever check this, please know that it was so nice to meet some fun friends in Salzburg and in Venice. We hope the remainder of your trip is wonderful. We will definitely be checking in to writing a travel grant next year. Please keep in touch.) We met them on the correct bus back to our pension in Salzburg. By the way, that was our favorite hotel so far...the one that we didn't even plan ourselves. God does know where we need to be and when we need to be there. Thanks, Fred and Becky, for being such an encouraging part of our travels.

For all of you in the south...think August heat and humidity at the beach with no wind times ten. Karen has already had to change shirts, and we have only been here for 3 hours. We might be checking our email hourly since it is very air-conditioned and our hotel is not. We might see if we can cut a deal and sleep here on the floor...just kidding moms.

We will update you more tomorrow with our travels.

Ciao for now..

Elisa and Julia (in honor of Elise and Julia)