The Resort

Once upon a time, our stay in Geneva had come to an end, so we decided it was time to head to the beach. We had acquired very cheap accomodations along the Costa del Sol, the southern coast of Spain on the Mediterranean Sea. Getting there took the better part of a day, using (almost) the cheapest transportation available.

Study the map well... you may be quizzed on locations one day! Our travels (in not-so-accurate red crayon) went in a roughly counterclockwise direction.


We first flew with EasyJet from Geneva to Madrid; upon arriving we tried to buy bus tickets to Malaga but were told that bus tickets were sold out until mid-afternoon. Taking the train was an option but it would have been about 70 euros each instead of 20. When we arrived in Malaga by bus almost six hours later, we took the metro to the neighbouring town of Fuengirola, at which time there were no more buses running. So the last bit we did by taxi... what's another 20 euros at the end of a long day of travelling?

Here was the view from our very large balcony:



View from the other side of the suite, and the least messy-room photo I could find:



We had to walk a few hundred metres to get to the beach, but that was close enough. As luck would have it, our week at the resort was not the warmest so we didn't end up swimming at all that week. Come to think of it, we didn't swim at all during our trip. Which is fine by me: Carrie may be life guard material, but my own swimming abilities are equivalent to those of a brick.



More some other day.

Yard saling

On Saturday Carrie and Mom went to some yard sales to see what kind of junk they could drag home. Soon they phoned home to please go there-and-there to pick up a new Jeep. Well for $50 who can say no to such a good deal?! So now Carrie is the proud owner of what resembles een echte Hollandse fiets. That's right, some Dutch now and then. Who knows, soon I might just do all my blogging in Dutch.

Reformation day

Just before leaving Geneva at the end of April, I decided it wouldn't be right to leave without having seen the Reformation Museum in the old part of town. Since Carrie had to work I went alone. (Back in January, it was great to know we would have 4 months to enjoy the city, but how were we to know that time would eventually run out??)

Some scenery on the way...



St. Peter's Cathedral is a big old church where John Calvin did some fire-and-brimstone preaching during the Reformation era. Here's the chair he used and the steps to the pulpit he preached from:



The church itself is a fair size and nicely plain inside (in contrast to the decked-out Roman Catholic churches in Europe). I climbed up the bell tower and took a zillion pictures of Geneva.





Beside St. Peter's Cathedral is the smaller Calvin Auditorium (a.k.a. John Knox Chapel -- it seems to have several names). This is where Calvin and Knox (and others) preached during the Reformation; it has been used by Protestant groups ever since. Nowadays it is in use by a Dutch Reformed group and the Church of Scotland (we attended services of the latter several times).



Some time probably last century, it was discovered that there were ruins beneath the cathedral, so now there is an archeological dig underneath the site with lots to see. An audio guide is available for a self-guided tour, which provides one with plenty of history (back to the 1st century AD) and a great view of rocks.



Cross sections of the ground show how everything was built up over the centuries. And I encountered a skeleton... neato.



The ticket I bought got me into the bell tower, the ruins underneath, and the Reformation museum. The museum had plenty of things on display, several presentations, and a whole lot of history to read. It all seemed pretty accurate, from what church history I've retained over the years.

There were plenty of manuscripts, like a 300-year-old copy of the Heidelberg Catechism, a 400-year-old edition of the acts of the Synod of Dort, a 500-year-old Latin edition of Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion, and a letter of John Calvin to William Farel.



In the bookstore I just had to take this next picture. Perhaps he didn't brew beer, but apparently he inspired someone to.



Not far from the cathedral site is a park on university property that includes part of what is known as the Reformation Walk. It has statues or monuments of the main Reformation characters. The main 4 on the wall are Calvin, Farel, Knox and Beza. If any of these are foreign to you, pick up some books! :)





And that, my friends, was Protestant Rome.

Back in Canada

Well, for some strange reason people are still checking this blog... I feel obligated to write something.

We're back in Canada finally. We flew in Monday June 4th on KLM from Schiphol and moved into my parents' house. They then flew in from Schiphol 3 days later after their own two-week stay in the Netherlands, and we graciously allowed them to move in as well. We spent the week relaxing and recuperating from all that holidaying. Back to normal soon...

Today is Sunday. We went to Toronto church for the day, being members there and all. It was great to be back and to be welcomed back. In no time at all we were asked to house-sit for a couple going on vacation, so for the next three weeks we'll have a nice place in Richmond Hill with a pool in the back yard. Sure, I'm totally gonna get work done now...

Yesterday was the annual season-end barbeque for our Bible study group which we haven't attended in forever. Maybe it's fortunate that we didn't know about it, since we skipped out on half the meetings! Sorry Roze, I didn't read your comment in time. Oops...

Not sure why I'm ending every paragraph with an ellipsis. I'm sure nobody minds. Unrelatedly, I think perhaps I'll continue blogging if only to help myself remember what we've been up to. Being 30 has its downsides.

I have no pictures with which to excite my readers. Lucky for me there's not much you can do about it!

p.s. Carrie still plans to blog about her Geneva internship. Patience, grasshoppers...