Perugia

We had had quite a bit of snow (which provided me with a good photo of Bologna), and when I travelled from Bologna on Tuesday, I wondered how far I would manage to get! I took a bus that went via Rimini and Urbino (the latter looked very pretty - maybe another visit...) and I arrived in Perugia. I am now staying with friends I made last summer. I have been helping with some odd jobs, like painting!

Bologna!

Arrived in Bologna on Friday evening after walking around Venice during the day and seeing Palazzo Ducale.
The Saturday was great, and I know why I love travelling. I had gone looking for a church for the Sunday (not leaving it to the last minute like before!). No details found on the internet and the tourist office could only tell me about one non-Catholic church, which I noted. I had prayed to find somewhere, so I was particularly happy when walking down a road I found a couple of people advertising faith in Jesus - I asked which church they went to and they gave me the address and times!

I walked around Bologna some more and then in the evening I started reading a book on Smith Wigglesworth. When later I went to the supermarket I met some Spanish men who were from the hostel. We started talking and I told them a bit about the book, how God had used Smith Wigglesworth and how many people had been healed. It lead on to telling them about what I believe.

Later that night I was in my hostel room. I was sharing with 3 Italians, two of whom spoke hardly any English. I ended up in conversation with them in broken Italian, and the conversation got around to girls, and I said I didn't want to sleep with woman until I was married. They guessed from this that I was a Christian, and one of them started asking me questions about it. They seemed to believe in God, and one was interested when I showed him some verses in Galatians about not pursuing the desires of the flesh which leads to death, but having the fruit of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, etc. We had read from a Bible in old English, and between us we had managed to translate it into Italian, which I reckon required divine help! He seemed to take the words to heart and was even trying to explain the message to his friend.

On the Sunday I went to the church and even had someone sitting next to me who could speak English really well and translated for me. He even gave me a lift back to the hostel afterwards.

On the road again

After a longer time in the UK than I had anticipated, I have set off again.

First stop, Venice in Italy. It really is a delightful town - I can see the attraction. Arriving on the day after Valentine's Day I was surprised to find that the gondoliers had been on strike! The weather was great, like early summer by my last day there. I met a fun group of people at the hostel, but stayed up too late on the first night. The streets in Venice are very pretty and it's rather confusing walking around - there are sign posts for the three main sights, but if you want to go somewhere else you could end up getting quite lost - dead-end streets make it like a maze!

I had been before in summer 1990, but February is a good time to go because there are far fewer people. And especially off the beaten track there were not many tourists. I was staying in an area populated by local Venetians, which helped to enhance the atmosphere (and keep the prices of the food down!).

One evening I went with 3 others and played frisbee in St Marks Square and nearly midnight! And since I had my guitar I played that in the square too. Someone took an artistic photo of me, so that may appear on my website!

Gearing Up Again

Got a very cheap ticket to Venice, leaving 15th Feb. I am starting to gear up again for travelling, thinking and praying about what's up ahead.