Rome Week Sneak Peek

Plus, happy one-year anniversary to Zigzag Along and a new way to follow along

Happy New Year Everyone!

It is a beautiful day in Sarande, Albania. We are happy to be back to our apartment by the sea. This was our view this morning. Our sliding door opens to a deck that allows us to keep it open and get some sun while staying inside. Still a little too cold to sunbathe, but warmer than Thessaloniki and Rome.

Our Third Trip to ROME

This issue is mainly written to give you, our paid subscribers, a sneak peek of our trip to Rome. Your support means so much to us, and one benefit I like to give you in return is behind-the-scenes access to what we are doing.

We were thrilled to ring in the new year with our friend Jonathan in Rome. Rome is our all-time favorite city to visit, and the third time was a charm.

We finally got inside the Colosseum!

We toured the Vatican Museum again! (Seven hours!!) We are confident we know the layout and how to plan future trips.

Our last day was highlighted by a tour of Mamertine Prison, where Saints Peter and Paul were imprisoned.

The three of us stood in silence, soaking in the two-thousand-year distance, yet the nearness we felt from these men whose captivity changed our lives.

🗓️ Zigzag Along is One Year old

Happy first anniversary to Zigzag Along!

We launched this Substack newsletter in our Batumi, Georgia, apartment by the shores of the Black Sea. It’s been an eventful year since then. We returned to the US and continued to write. Then, we planned and successfully launched our third European tour.

Thanks to each of you, we now have over 250 subscribers! I still remember when our goal of 100 felt unreachable.

Our next goal is 1,000.

How can you help?

The #1 thing you can do to help:

When you read something by us that you enjoy, click the heart ❤️

Most of our readers get this newsletter in their email inbox.

However, many of our new readers have discovered us through the Substack app and website.

When you click that heart, you tell the algorithm that you are engaged in what we create, which will lead it to share our articles with a larger audience.

The second thing you can do to help:

Follow our Notes.

If you only read our posts in email, take a moment and click this link to go to the Substack homepage.

Go ahead, I’ll wait.

…

Did you do it?

If not, click this link.

Great!

The top of the homepage shows posts from newsletters you subscribe to. The rest of the screen will look familiar, like a social media site.

Those are Notes. Both Deana and Jeff are posting short-form writing and photos there on a daily basis.

We hope you enjoy the extra content. Most of it will only be found there, not on Facebook or Instagram.

And the same rule of thumb for helping out with posts works for Notes. Click that heart ❤️ and you will help other people find us.

📪 Postcards

Postcards from the Sarande, Albania, post office were sent to our paid subscribers about eight weeks ago. Please let us know when you receive yours!

Even better, take a photo of the cover and send it to use in an email or message!

One last photo

Thanks again, everyone.

Here’s one last photo of Jonathan admiring St Peter’s Basilica. The scope of this building is impossible to convey without experiencing it yourself, but his contemplative pose demonstrates the grandeur he witnessed.