My appologies. It's been 3 months since we got back from Europe, and much longer than that since I actually posted during our trip... But I've finally gotten all the trip pictures uploaded to our picture site.
They don't all have captions/explanations yet, but if I wait to do that, it'll be another 3 months. :)
Hope you enjoy looking at them, and feel free to check back to Our Picture Site regularly, as it will be updated semi-often with our travels and happenings.
Also, this blog will eventually be finished, when I take the time to transfer my paper journal entries to here. But I wouldn't hold my breath.
For more regular updates about the Ambrose family, check out our Ambrose Family Blog.
Ciao!
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Adios, Already! Or The Ambroses Rock the Casbah! ;)
Dan & I are "stuck" in Madrid, yet again on a layover. Frankly we are very ready to move on to our next stop, Paris!
The past few days have been amazing, complely full of answered prayers! Friday we made the trek from Barcelona to Madrid where we spent a beautiful Sabbath wandering through the archeology museum (free on Saturday afternoons), rambling around Madrid's version of Central Park, watching street performers, eating ice cream, and praying together by a peaceful stream. God gave us a day of rest and we fully enjoyed it.
Sunday, as I've already posted about (I think...) we got stuck in Madrid, due to an over booked train, which ended up being a blessing. We were forced to change our schedule which actually gave us more time in Gibraltar and Tangiers.
Our time in southern Spain (Algeciras), Gibraltar, and Tangiers (Morocco) was undoubetedly one of the big highlights of our trip! I wrote about our visit in Gibraltar so I'll just remind you that we got to hold wild monkeys!!!
Yesterday (Tuesday), we caught an early ferry to Tangiers, where I had immense trepidation about going to, especially considering my sprained knee. Dan had brought up possibly doing another taxi tour, so I wouldn't be in so much pain, but mostly we were just going to wing it, like we have most places and pray extra hard for our Lord's protection.
Oh me of little faith! My Father had a plan for us that He obviously set in motion well before Dan or I ever stepped foot on African soil (which we took video of, by the way).
Stepping of the ship we were immediately greeted by a little old man in floor length, hooded, white robes and a white beanie. He looked like a cross between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda. In a soft but clear voice he started asking Dan some questions, which Danny answered mostly to get him off our back since Dan thought he was trying to get us to use his hotel. It turned out he was a private tour guide who offered us a tour to a total of 80 Euros; taxi, admission to all attractions, camel ride and "everything you could want, I take care of, you come with me you are family!"
Somewhat wary but eager to fit as much in our limited time as possible, Dan decided we would do it.
It was the best decision he could have made! Ahakmed, our guide,and Abduel, our driver were wonderful! In fact, according to everyone we met--literally all of whom knew Ahakmed by name--he is the best guide in all of Tangiers. We were not disappointed! From the moment he picked us up by the dock until he watched us get back on the ferry at 22:00 that night he gave us the best service imaginable, and we really did feel like we were family!
In Europe, well to put it bluntly the customer service stinks (not everywhere, but most places), in Morocco it was just the opposite! He, and everyone else we interacted with couldn't do enough for us. It was wonderful, and humbling.
Ahakmed took us everywhere. We were with him for about 8 hours and we got a better taste of Tangiers than we have gotten of many places we have stayed a lot longer. We saw and explored Hercule's Cave (the cave was named after Dan, by the way ;), saw the king's palace, Saudi Arabia's many palaces, the coast of Morocco, the light house where you can see the Atlantic and Mediterranean simultaneously, the spice market, meat market, fresh market, got to go into an ancient bakery where they still bake the food in the same manner and same oven they did 1000 years ago, we were taken to a tiny Moroccan restaurant where they served us delicious authentic Moroccan food that Dan even loved, explored the ancient city of Medina, rocked and explored the Casbah (the ancient fortress), took a camel ride, I kissed a baby camel, and we were taken to so many other little places I can't even hope to mention them all, but needless to say it was wonderful!
All my worry and anxiety were once again unjustified. Why can't I learn to trust God and my Danny?
We were easily safer in Africa than we have been almost anywhere. God made sure of it. We were escorted the whole day by the most respected guide (he has been a guide since 1960, and fluently speaks 6 languages) in all of Tangiers, who took care of us like we were his family, and I don't exaggerate!
On the ferry back Dan brought up that if things had gone according to our plans we never would have gotten to have such a great time in Morocco. If we had made our original train, we would have had to combine Gibraltal and Morocco and never would have made the memories we did. If my knee hadn't been hurt we wouldn't have even considered a taxi or guided tour, and while I am sure we would have enjoyed ourselves it wouldn't have been anywhere near the experience God had in store for us. He really does move in mysterious and wonderful ways.
We also came away from Morocco with our first and only souvenier, a hand crafted, wool, cashmere, & silk oriental rug in the most beautiful design I have ever seen. We still can't believe we got it, but it is amazing and we both look at it as a momento that will become a family heirloom! Dan is now carrying both backpacks while I cart the 28 pound rug around on a cart. We have effectively increased our baggage by 50%! Oh well, it is the stuff like this that makes memories!
Thank you all for your prayers, my knee is bruised but the swelling is going down. I think it will heal nicely!
Love to all.
The past few days have been amazing, complely full of answered prayers! Friday we made the trek from Barcelona to Madrid where we spent a beautiful Sabbath wandering through the archeology museum (free on Saturday afternoons), rambling around Madrid's version of Central Park, watching street performers, eating ice cream, and praying together by a peaceful stream. God gave us a day of rest and we fully enjoyed it.
Sunday, as I've already posted about (I think...) we got stuck in Madrid, due to an over booked train, which ended up being a blessing. We were forced to change our schedule which actually gave us more time in Gibraltar and Tangiers.
Our time in southern Spain (Algeciras), Gibraltar, and Tangiers (Morocco) was undoubetedly one of the big highlights of our trip! I wrote about our visit in Gibraltar so I'll just remind you that we got to hold wild monkeys!!!
Yesterday (Tuesday), we caught an early ferry to Tangiers, where I had immense trepidation about going to, especially considering my sprained knee. Dan had brought up possibly doing another taxi tour, so I wouldn't be in so much pain, but mostly we were just going to wing it, like we have most places and pray extra hard for our Lord's protection.
Oh me of little faith! My Father had a plan for us that He obviously set in motion well before Dan or I ever stepped foot on African soil (which we took video of, by the way).
Stepping of the ship we were immediately greeted by a little old man in floor length, hooded, white robes and a white beanie. He looked like a cross between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda. In a soft but clear voice he started asking Dan some questions, which Danny answered mostly to get him off our back since Dan thought he was trying to get us to use his hotel. It turned out he was a private tour guide who offered us a tour to a total of 80 Euros; taxi, admission to all attractions, camel ride and "everything you could want, I take care of, you come with me you are family!"
Somewhat wary but eager to fit as much in our limited time as possible, Dan decided we would do it.
It was the best decision he could have made! Ahakmed, our guide,and Abduel, our driver were wonderful! In fact, according to everyone we met--literally all of whom knew Ahakmed by name--he is the best guide in all of Tangiers. We were not disappointed! From the moment he picked us up by the dock until he watched us get back on the ferry at 22:00 that night he gave us the best service imaginable, and we really did feel like we were family!
In Europe, well to put it bluntly the customer service stinks (not everywhere, but most places), in Morocco it was just the opposite! He, and everyone else we interacted with couldn't do enough for us. It was wonderful, and humbling.
Ahakmed took us everywhere. We were with him for about 8 hours and we got a better taste of Tangiers than we have gotten of many places we have stayed a lot longer. We saw and explored Hercule's Cave (the cave was named after Dan, by the way ;), saw the king's palace, Saudi Arabia's many palaces, the coast of Morocco, the light house where you can see the Atlantic and Mediterranean simultaneously, the spice market, meat market, fresh market, got to go into an ancient bakery where they still bake the food in the same manner and same oven they did 1000 years ago, we were taken to a tiny Moroccan restaurant where they served us delicious authentic Moroccan food that Dan even loved, explored the ancient city of Medina, rocked and explored the Casbah (the ancient fortress), took a camel ride, I kissed a baby camel, and we were taken to so many other little places I can't even hope to mention them all, but needless to say it was wonderful!
All my worry and anxiety were once again unjustified. Why can't I learn to trust God and my Danny?
We were easily safer in Africa than we have been almost anywhere. God made sure of it. We were escorted the whole day by the most respected guide (he has been a guide since 1960, and fluently speaks 6 languages) in all of Tangiers, who took care of us like we were his family, and I don't exaggerate!
On the ferry back Dan brought up that if things had gone according to our plans we never would have gotten to have such a great time in Morocco. If we had made our original train, we would have had to combine Gibraltal and Morocco and never would have made the memories we did. If my knee hadn't been hurt we wouldn't have even considered a taxi or guided tour, and while I am sure we would have enjoyed ourselves it wouldn't have been anywhere near the experience God had in store for us. He really does move in mysterious and wonderful ways.
We also came away from Morocco with our first and only souvenier, a hand crafted, wool, cashmere, & silk oriental rug in the most beautiful design I have ever seen. We still can't believe we got it, but it is amazing and we both look at it as a momento that will become a family heirloom! Dan is now carrying both backpacks while I cart the 28 pound rug around on a cart. We have effectively increased our baggage by 50%! Oh well, it is the stuff like this that makes memories!
Thank you all for your prayers, my knee is bruised but the swelling is going down. I think it will heal nicely!
Love to all.
Monday, October 15, 2007
A Wonderful Day, And a Major Prayer Request
It was the best of days, it was the worst of days.
Today couldn´t have been more extreme in either way. I spent the morning in pain and tears and the afternoon/evening in rapture, laughter, and frankly still quite a bit of pain.
This morning everything that could go wrong, did. Almost without exception. We got on the metro at 7:35 for what should have been a 30 minute ride to the train station to catch our train to Gibraltar which was scheduled to leave at 8:35. In the middle of the train ride the metro stopped, made all of us deboard and wait 10 minutes for the next train to go by, then in the middle of the next metro ride it stopped again for a few minutes. We were incredibly stressed by the time we got to the train station, at 8:20, but still sure we could make our train, because we thought we knew how to board the train. Yet another instance of us thinking we knew more than we really did.
We ended up having to run for the train, up the escalating staircase where I lost my balance (running with a huge backpack + being a huge klutz don´t go well together) and fell on the moving sidewalk/staircase. Insert awful pain and a sprained, swollen, black and blue, scraped up knee and a crying hurt Katie still running to make the stupid train to southern Spain.
With one minute to spare we made the train, where my hubby took wonderful care of me and even managed to communicate with the man in the dining car enough to get me a bag of ice for my knee. He prayed for me on the train, made me elevate my leg as much as possible and just generally babied me. God gave me the best husband, and I know it! He has been carrying both backpacks (I married the strongest man alive!) and supporting me. I couldn´t be more blessed with a wonderful loving hubby. He takes such good care of me!
Thankfully the hotel was just across the street from the train station, so I hobbled over there, and we assessed the situation. It´s not good, but it could be worse. We decide to go ahead and take the train to Gibraltar and see what we can do. Dan said he´d carry me the whole way if necessary (and he was serious! I love my strong hubby!).
In Gibraltar we saw the amazing Rock of Gibraltar, which is breathtaking. The huge expanse of stone surrounded by the beach reminded me of the need to build my house on the rock that is Jesus Christ, not on the sinking sand of the world.
We decided to take a taxi tour because Dan didn´t want me walking on my knee more than necessary. The taxi driver, Dennis, was a joy to be around. He was very kind, knew all the ins and outs, helpful, and knowledgable. I´d highly reccommend a taxi tour, even if you don´t have a bum knee, because we got to go in areas that other tourists can´t get into, and you get the insider experience.
Best of all, we got to hold wild monkeys! I´m completely serious and have the photos and videos to prove it!
In Gibraltar, Barbary Macaques run wild (in fact, it is the only area in Europe with wild monkeys) and the taxi drivers know how to interact with them. Dennis stopped in a special area where they came right up and jumped on the taxi, and eventually on Dan & me! Dennis fed them and let us both hold one big one and one small one. It was amazing! We actually held and interacted with 2 wild monkeys! There are approximately 250 wild monkeys on the Rock of Gibraltar and this was an experience we will never forget!
For reference, until I can upload my pictures & video from our camera, here are some pictures from wikipedia of Macaques:
Tomorrow we venture into Morocco, Africa! Exciting!
So a reminder of our main prayer requests:
Please be praying for healing of my knee. It makes it difficult to enjoy backpacking with a swollen painful knee.
Please be praying for our saftey in Morocco.
Thank you, dear ones, and forgive the scatterbrained post. I´m exhausted, and in need of food! Love to all.
Today couldn´t have been more extreme in either way. I spent the morning in pain and tears and the afternoon/evening in rapture, laughter, and frankly still quite a bit of pain.
This morning everything that could go wrong, did. Almost without exception. We got on the metro at 7:35 for what should have been a 30 minute ride to the train station to catch our train to Gibraltar which was scheduled to leave at 8:35. In the middle of the train ride the metro stopped, made all of us deboard and wait 10 minutes for the next train to go by, then in the middle of the next metro ride it stopped again for a few minutes. We were incredibly stressed by the time we got to the train station, at 8:20, but still sure we could make our train, because we thought we knew how to board the train. Yet another instance of us thinking we knew more than we really did.
We ended up having to run for the train, up the escalating staircase where I lost my balance (running with a huge backpack + being a huge klutz don´t go well together) and fell on the moving sidewalk/staircase. Insert awful pain and a sprained, swollen, black and blue, scraped up knee and a crying hurt Katie still running to make the stupid train to southern Spain.
With one minute to spare we made the train, where my hubby took wonderful care of me and even managed to communicate with the man in the dining car enough to get me a bag of ice for my knee. He prayed for me on the train, made me elevate my leg as much as possible and just generally babied me. God gave me the best husband, and I know it! He has been carrying both backpacks (I married the strongest man alive!) and supporting me. I couldn´t be more blessed with a wonderful loving hubby. He takes such good care of me!
Thankfully the hotel was just across the street from the train station, so I hobbled over there, and we assessed the situation. It´s not good, but it could be worse. We decide to go ahead and take the train to Gibraltar and see what we can do. Dan said he´d carry me the whole way if necessary (and he was serious! I love my strong hubby!).
In Gibraltar we saw the amazing Rock of Gibraltar, which is breathtaking. The huge expanse of stone surrounded by the beach reminded me of the need to build my house on the rock that is Jesus Christ, not on the sinking sand of the world.
We decided to take a taxi tour because Dan didn´t want me walking on my knee more than necessary. The taxi driver, Dennis, was a joy to be around. He was very kind, knew all the ins and outs, helpful, and knowledgable. I´d highly reccommend a taxi tour, even if you don´t have a bum knee, because we got to go in areas that other tourists can´t get into, and you get the insider experience.
Best of all, we got to hold wild monkeys! I´m completely serious and have the photos and videos to prove it!
In Gibraltar, Barbary Macaques run wild (in fact, it is the only area in Europe with wild monkeys) and the taxi drivers know how to interact with them. Dennis stopped in a special area where they came right up and jumped on the taxi, and eventually on Dan & me! Dennis fed them and let us both hold one big one and one small one. It was amazing! We actually held and interacted with 2 wild monkeys! There are approximately 250 wild monkeys on the Rock of Gibraltar and this was an experience we will never forget!
For reference, until I can upload my pictures & video from our camera, here are some pictures from wikipedia of Macaques:
Tomorrow we venture into Morocco, Africa! Exciting!
So a reminder of our main prayer requests:
Please be praying for healing of my knee. It makes it difficult to enjoy backpacking with a swollen painful knee.
Please be praying for our saftey in Morocco.
Thank you, dear ones, and forgive the scatterbrained post. I´m exhausted, and in need of food! Love to all.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Stuck in Spain
Well our trip has hit a little snafu, we are stuck in Madrid for an extra day because of an over booked train.
Oh well, perhaps this is a blessing in disguise, my still a bit sniffly hubby is laying next to me and I will be a kind wife and not disclose the adorable sound his stuffy nose is making. We both could use some extra sleep, so we're taking advantage of this "disaster".
An additional prayer request:
Our travels down into Africa will be a little bit more dangerous and difficult as much fewer people speak English in Morocco and it is notorious for petty theft. Please pray for God's extra protection as we venture into this exotic area.
Love to all.
Oh well, perhaps this is a blessing in disguise, my still a bit sniffly hubby is laying next to me and I will be a kind wife and not disclose the adorable sound his stuffy nose is making. We both could use some extra sleep, so we're taking advantage of this "disaster".
An additional prayer request:
Our travels down into Africa will be a little bit more dangerous and difficult as much fewer people speak English in Morocco and it is notorious for petty theft. Please pray for God's extra protection as we venture into this exotic area.
Love to all.
Friday, October 12, 2007
The Lord Is Amazing! And FAST!
Wow! Thank you for the prayers, they're powerful!
Dan's iPhone is once again working, after almost a week of being out of commission, and just hours after I post the prayer request. Concidence? I think not! Isn't it wonderful that our Father cares, even about the details?
I can't wait to share some of our other miracles this trip! God is so good!
Dan's iPhone is once again working, after almost a week of being out of commission, and just hours after I post the prayer request. Concidence? I think not! Isn't it wonderful that our Father cares, even about the details?
I can't wait to share some of our other miracles this trip! God is so good!
Where's this "Group Lunch" Again?
Oh how things get lost in translation!
Today, Danny & I booked our reservation on a train from Barcelona to Madrid, Spain and had one of the funniest experiences of our trip thus far. I hope I can do it justice in the relation, but as I'm not so good at telling jokes, I doubt I will. Here it goes, anyway.
We stepped up to the ticket counter after waiting for an hour in line (one thing I hate about Spain is the lines!) and were greeted by a middle aged man who informed us that he "speak only little English" which is just fine with us (a little is much more than many people speak!). We request a reservation on the 13:30 train to Madrid and are informed that is full.
"Fine," we say, "we'll just take the later one." He asks if our Eurail pass is 2nd class, and we inform him that, no, it is 1st class. "Oh, then you can take train at 13:30, 1st class have room." Fablous! Then he goes on to inform us, "Snack served on train, and group lunch around the corner."
"Group lunch?" We ask, surprised. We'd never been in a train station where they gave us a group lunch, but then again, we'd never gotten a snack on the train before either. We ask him to clarify, "Where is this group lunch?" "Group LUNCH," with a great emphasis that I chalk up to his personality and points around the corner. We shrug, thank him, and take our tickets.
As we walk, we look at each other and figure that we might as well try the group lunch, if it is included. Anything to save a few bucks, right?
We walk around the corner and see a huge McDonalds, a few stores, but no signs for a "Group Lunch" anywhere. We wander about a bit, asking each other where a group lunch would be found. Finally we decide to give up, and spotting the Salsa Lounge for 1st Class passengers we figured we might as well go in there to inquire about the group lunch and have a seat.
Walking in, we head straight to the counter and ask the lady there about the group lunch. She looks at us, very confused and says that her English isn't very good... We show her our ticket and explain that the man at the ticket counter told us we could find a group lunch near by.
She points out that there is a snack on the train, but she is not aware of any group lunches. She graciously tells us we're welcome to the complimentary drinks and snacks that the lounge has to offer the 1st class passengers, and after a bit of a strange look at us, we leave.
We decide to sit down, have a drink, and decide what to do about our missing group lunch. Dan leaves me to watch the bags and goes out to look for the group lunch, or scout out other lunch possiblites.
While he is gone I mull over the situation, and suddenly it dawns on me what happened. Dan walks in to find me in fit of giggles at our sillyness. "Danny," I say laughing, "He said, Group LOUNGE not Group LUNCH." Dan looks at me, and starts cracking up. We both can't stop laughing at our miss hearing. We had spent 20 minutes or so looking for our phantom group lunch, while in the very lounge the man was referring to.
Dan & I kept coming up with more scenarios where we would have looked even more like stupid Americans, insisting on a group lunch where there was none, but now that I'm writing it down, it seems more like a "you had to be there" type of thing. Oh well.
Today, Danny & I booked our reservation on a train from Barcelona to Madrid, Spain and had one of the funniest experiences of our trip thus far. I hope I can do it justice in the relation, but as I'm not so good at telling jokes, I doubt I will. Here it goes, anyway.
We stepped up to the ticket counter after waiting for an hour in line (one thing I hate about Spain is the lines!) and were greeted by a middle aged man who informed us that he "speak only little English" which is just fine with us (a little is much more than many people speak!). We request a reservation on the 13:30 train to Madrid and are informed that is full.
"Fine," we say, "we'll just take the later one." He asks if our Eurail pass is 2nd class, and we inform him that, no, it is 1st class. "Oh, then you can take train at 13:30, 1st class have room." Fablous! Then he goes on to inform us, "Snack served on train, and group lunch around the corner."
"Group lunch?" We ask, surprised. We'd never been in a train station where they gave us a group lunch, but then again, we'd never gotten a snack on the train before either. We ask him to clarify, "Where is this group lunch?" "Group LUNCH," with a great emphasis that I chalk up to his personality and points around the corner. We shrug, thank him, and take our tickets.
As we walk, we look at each other and figure that we might as well try the group lunch, if it is included. Anything to save a few bucks, right?
We walk around the corner and see a huge McDonalds, a few stores, but no signs for a "Group Lunch" anywhere. We wander about a bit, asking each other where a group lunch would be found. Finally we decide to give up, and spotting the Salsa Lounge for 1st Class passengers we figured we might as well go in there to inquire about the group lunch and have a seat.
Walking in, we head straight to the counter and ask the lady there about the group lunch. She looks at us, very confused and says that her English isn't very good... We show her our ticket and explain that the man at the ticket counter told us we could find a group lunch near by.
She points out that there is a snack on the train, but she is not aware of any group lunches. She graciously tells us we're welcome to the complimentary drinks and snacks that the lounge has to offer the 1st class passengers, and after a bit of a strange look at us, we leave.
We decide to sit down, have a drink, and decide what to do about our missing group lunch. Dan leaves me to watch the bags and goes out to look for the group lunch, or scout out other lunch possiblites.
While he is gone I mull over the situation, and suddenly it dawns on me what happened. Dan walks in to find me in fit of giggles at our sillyness. "Danny," I say laughing, "He said, Group LOUNGE not Group LUNCH." Dan looks at me, and starts cracking up. We both can't stop laughing at our miss hearing. We had spent 20 minutes or so looking for our phantom group lunch, while in the very lounge the man was referring to.
Dan & I kept coming up with more scenarios where we would have looked even more like stupid Americans, insisting on a group lunch where there was none, but now that I'm writing it down, it seems more like a "you had to be there" type of thing. Oh well.
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