Mer loves the travel writer Rick Steves, and her “bucket list” is to make sure she gets to all fifteen or so European countries about which he has books. She has read his stuff for years and years, and often makes travel itineraries based on his books just for fun, even when she does not have a trip coming up. So, it is a big deal when Mer goes “off Rick.” Today was one of those days – we headed off to Trento, in the north of Italy, which is a city Rick Steves does not mention. He may not be alone – when we checked into our quite posh hotel, our very nice receptionist found out we were from the United States, and she asked, “What are you doing here?” Trento (or Trent, in English) is not on many American tourist destinations, although it is a big skiing area for Europeans.

We left the lake district this morning, taking a train from Varenna to Milan, then a different train from Milan to Verona, then finally a third train from Verona to Trent. It took about four and a half hours, and then we still had to catch a bus to our hotel, which was on the edge of town. The happy result of the location is that the hotel is a four-star hotel, but costs more or less the same as hotels in the center of town. Then, for whatever reason, the nice receptionist gave us a free upgrade to a small suite. We were quite pleased.

We got into the hotel around 3:30 or so, dumped the luggage, and wandered the grounds. We skipped off to get a snack (an ice cream bar each), which we brought back and ate outside near a fountain. I then took a quick nap while Mer grabbed a book and sat outside looking at the mountains. She came back inside and woke me up just before 6:00 so that we would be in time to meet Mer’s friend, Richard.

Richard and his family are the reason Mer was willing to go “off Rick.” Richard is an Australian man who fell in love with an Italian woman and lives in Trent. Mer and Richard met about twenty years ago when Mer was living in Florence for college, and Richard was there learning Italian. Richard had long had a goal to be a missionary to Trent, and he came to Italy (without knowing how to speak Italian) to do just that. Mer and Richard met at an English Bible study in Florence, and have stayed in touch all this time.

Richard came with his five-year-old son to pick us up, and he drove us to his apartment on the other side of town, just over the Trent line. Shortly after we arrived, Richard’s wife, Pinuccia, arrived with their seven-year-old daughter. The children are fun – they speak Italian, but do understand English, and they are quite polite. Pinuccia speaks a small amount of English, and she is very hospitable. Richard hosted a very good dinner for us prepared by his wife, while we talked and watched the children. It was a lovely meal, and we managed through the language issues pretty well. We spent about three hours with the family, and then Richard drove us home. We are hoping to go to church with Richard and his family tomorrow, but that will be contingent on our figuring out the bus system.