I miss Italy

My resolution was an epic fail apparantly. It has been over a month since my trip to Italy and I have still not even sent out my postcards!! Rather than try to explain the epicness that was Italy, I would trip to post pictures, but unfortunately, this trip was also educational in that I learned that "format your memory card?" means "erase all traces of the best spring break you will ever have?" So the credit for most of the pictures I may or may not post must go to my very dear friend, Rachel. Thank you, friend! Also, there is just way too much; I am not talented enough to put Italy into words. It is a country entirely beyond my verbal or written skills. And since it's the Friday after my ecology final, my brain does not want to function properly, so we'll try something new. Here's a haiku summary of my vacation in Italy:

Ah, Brussels airport
No chocolate, no waffles;
Soduku and sleep

Long hike on the coast
Lemons, oranges, the sea
Steep ascents, sharp drops

Florence! we are lost.
Art, Madonnas, and David
good pasta and wine

Rome, brilliant, awesome
the Forum, Colosseum,
we're leaving so soon?

That's a quick summary. The Cinque Terre was gorgeous; it was hard to believe we were actually there! We stayed at the mar-mar, which was probably the best hostel we stayed at all vacation. The town had a few streets and they all had severe increases in elevation--you could not live there with bad knees. One thing I especially loved, though, was the three grocery stores right outside our house. The town shut down around 8pm, though, but we were usually so tired from hiking or travelling that that didn't really matter. Florence was nice; you definitely have to get up early to visit the Uffizi or the Accademia. One thing that's very disappointing about visiting Rome and Florence is the amount of Catholicism that's visible in their art. I have seen enough Madonnas and saints to last a lifetime. We went to St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and while it was beautiful for the initial 10 minutes, the hypocrisy became very apparant. This is religion that pretends to venerate God and Jesus, but everything I have seen was made to honor and glorify man. Sure, there were a few paintings and pictures of Christ. But very often, there were saints or artists' patrons also being presented. I was able to visit a catacomb site, though, and after all the gilded angels and images of popes and saints, assumptions of Mary, and annunciations, the image I would rather carry is that of a fish carved into the wall of the catacombs. Christian worship services had been held there when it was still illegal to be a Christian. I'm not sure how much false doctrine had crept into Christianity at that time, but for now, I choose to think that it was still in line with the Bible. It's still very hard to see how much people exploit the name of God to make money or to push doctrine passing as true and saving. It made me realize how, too, how valuable fellowship with everyone back home at Messiah is.