On my way to Israel, I stopped in Italy for a few days. I think I will bullet point some highlights- I always did prefer bullet points to writing essays in school!
You can't really read it but this is a plaque at the mission home in Rome
On the final leg of my flights to Rome, I met Marco Coppola from Napoli. He looked to be about in his late 20s and he described to me how he was a student at NYU studying film (I have since looked it up and confirmed the information... those sneaky Italian men, you never know!) He was thrilled to find out I was a Mormon and told me how much he loved Mormons; so much so that his first full length feature film was going to be about 3 Mormon brothers, disillusioned with their faith but then venturing out into the world they rediscover how precious their faith and family really is. On the train ride into Rome from the airport, Marco showed one of his short films. He was incredibly talented and I am looking forward to seeing his movies one day in theaters!
The sights and sweets of Rome
Rome was a whirlwind of revisiting old mission companions, members, and investigators.
I hung out with Luca, my favorite Romanian investigator all day Wednesday and we stopped by the mission home, visited with the sorelle including Sorella Olsen, ate lots of pizza and gelato, and finally ended up at Institute where I saw even more people I knew from the mission. How strange to be hanging out with the GANS (YSA) as a free person rather than as a missionary! I loved it!
This is a picture of Luca and I eating pizza
Thursday I visited with Raffaella from Ladispoli and Adriano, Angela, and Marco Agomeri from Ostia.
This is Adriano and Angela and Sofia and Sorella Olsen
Sorella Olsen and Sofia
Friday morning I left Italy for Israel, with an 8 hour lay over in Athens, Greece. It was pouring rain, which I was totally unprepared for, but undeterred, I left the airport and hiked up to the Parthenon. I was happily surprised to discover that it was a free day, all the ruins and museums associated with the Parthenon were free that day!
The Parthenon was great mostly because it is so famous and it is always surreal to actually be at the site I have seen in so many pictures, but it actually seemed no bigger or cooler to me than the Greek temples at Agrigento in Sicily! It was pretty much the same thing! On my hike down though, I started talking to a family from Australia and we spent the rest of the afternoon together at the museum. This is my favorite part about traveling; its not fulfilling to me to travel alone and experience these things alone, rather it is the people from all over the world you meet and connect with and share these experiences with that make them memorable and exciting.
The Parthenon was free!
Walking around downtown, you can see the Parthenon on the hill
I spent my last hour in Athens running around desperately in search of a gyro. As far as I can see, they don't actually exist in Greece. I found lots of these bagel type things instead and bought a sugary-donut one but it was an unsatisfactory replacement for the highly anticipated gyro.
I chased after my umbrella in the wind and was laughed at by a family of gypsies. I tried to take a picture of a pink mohawk, piercing, tattooed man on the corner playing the guitar and he immediately stopped playing and charged at me, yelling, "don't take picture, don't take picture!".
One of the many stray dogs of Greece
I heard that in Greece there is some type of law that protects stray dogs; they are fixed, vaccinated, and fed (by the government? I don't know). I saw them everywhere, they are nothing like the skinny stray mutts of Mexico. The stray dogs in Greece are fluffy, well-fed beasts! They are huge!
I saw these everywhere for sale on the streets of Athens!
Video clips from Rome and Athens:
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