Assisi

Saturday, June 18

We left the Convent of the Holy Name of Jesus, on the Piazza del Camine in Florence where we are staying at about 7:00 and headed for the train station. Assisi is about a 2 1/2 hour train ride from Florence through many little towns with several stops. It was really beautiful, only most people, including myself had at least a few short naps enroute!

We caught a bus at the train station to carry us up to the top of the old town. Needless to say...Assisi has hills, too. Steep hills, very, very steep hills. We accidentally, found a wonderful little restaurant, il Duomo. Most of the kids had margharita pizza (tomato sauce and cheese), some ventured to the porcini mushrooms, which are awesome here. But the pizzas were baked in a wood-fired oven and were very good.

We then wandered further down hill and had gelato while waiting for the Church of Santa Chiara to open. There we saw the cross of San Damiano, which is the one in front of which Francis was praying when Jesus spoke to to him asking him to rebuild his church. We then went down to the crypt to visit Claire. I told the girls that Claire was about their age when she ran away from her family to follow Francis and give up everything for Christ. That got a response!

Further down the hill is the Church of St. Francis. We visited the lower church first with the image of Francis from Cimibue and wonder frescoes from anyone who was anyone in the 13c. We also went to the crypt where Francis and his first followers are buried. Francis' stone coffin is secured with iron bars, attesting to the value of relics in the proto-Renaissance. A relic was "as good as gold." After visiting Francis we walked through the upper church with the famous frescoes cycle on the life of St. Francis.

Everyone enjoyed Assisi, it is picturesque with beautiful views of the Umbrian landscape below.

Someone in town recommended a pizza place called the Yellow Bar. We took the kids there on the way home, walking with some encumbrance through hundreds of runners. We don't know if it was an evening marathon through the streets or what....there were just a lot of people. The Yellow Bar had lots of people and loud music...the older people in the group ate across the street at the something Lion. Can't even remember the name I was so tired. But the food was good, despite the rather touristy look of the place. It was very close to the Piazza Republica.

Sunday, June 19

Today breakfast was later, so we told the kids they just had to be ready for Church at 10:00. We went to S. Maria del Carmine, just across the plaza from the convent. The mass was in Italian, but the priest, flanked by two Carmelite Brothers, was Indian. His Italian was followable,because I am sure it was his third language. The original church dated from sometime in the 13th c., remodeled in the 14th and 15th, burned in the 18th and redecorated in the 19th. Some of the original frescoes by Massacio still survive.

Most of the kids grabbed an early lunch at McDonalds in the train station. The are getting a little tired of pasta and pizza, but that is probably because the order the same thing every time!

We are now on a very full train to Pisa. The air conditioning is working. So all is good. Tomorrow is our last day in Florence. Still so much to do and so little time. Tomorrow, for the more artsy, I am doing the "nickel" tour of churches: S. Maria Novella, San Lorenzo, S. Croce and S. Spiritu. I don't know how many takers I will have since it is a pretty ambitious plan.