Grand Assisi

... today. That has to be my favorite saint. Very busy here even though end of season. No wireless interent. We have one more day and we start home. I think we are ready to get home. It has been beautiful here and I have learned so much, but all good things must come to an end. See you all next week I hope.

... left her waiting for a (seemingly) endless time. we were finally reunited and snuck off to a calmer alley to a pizza al taglio shop.

The pizza was terrific, much more like the American pizza I am used to than the Roman pizza. We sat on a bench and ate in peace then stopped in the most beautiful chocolate shop. They were offering shots of Chocolate liqours and I bought a sample sized bottle of Chocolate ...

... pizzeria where I had delicious lasagna. After lunch we browsed through the many stands. Sample after sample led to some major purchases. It was hard to pass up the various chocolate products when the smell just filled the air. There was everything from chocolate beer to chocolate “pills” to chocolate pasta!!

Heaven.

I’ll update you soon,

Siara

... My friend has a nice, sparsely decorated flat in the heart of the village. We settled in and then went to the neighboring town of Amelia for a nice dinner.

Licia had worked in that region for a few months and had been recommended to a good restaurant near Amelia. We drove over the rolling hills to the small hilltop village ...

... Birthplace of st Francis) and sits on top of a hill looking very sacred. We climbed to the top where an old fortress stands and saw the sights before heading home.
(Whitney)

We had a pretty chill time in Perugia. It is a very nice area of italy- a bit more how I pictured Italy, actually. Locals on the bus helped us to get to the hostel but we finally made it. We stayed in a really cute farmhouse with horses and ...

... as you can see from the photos, there has been a tremendous amount of effort to restore the city. It is a truly beautiful little town and feel luck to walk around this historical and spiritual place.

We also had a quick stop over in Oriveto to see it's famed cathedral. It's known for it's vivid colored mosaics.

... I had wanted to go on recommendation from my dad who was unable to go and I had no expectations about it. Apparently this is another big site for pilgrams and there were TONS of people there to visit the St. Frances basilica and, therefore, very little parking. So, after stalling out in the olive groves a number of times (hills are tricky in stick shifts!!) we finally parked. We just wandered around the town, looking in shops and eating gelato and ...

... churches, basilicas and chapels here and there are lots of Italians (and Spanish) here on pilgramages for the long weekend. So it is really busy. But the churches are all beautiful and very different both in architecture and internal art works etc.We also saw some sort of local festival with groups of drummers marching through the streets - it was so deafening in the small enclosed piazzas and streets. But very atmospheric. We are off to Florence on Wednesday.....

... I am sad bc my hair straightener wont heat up and my computer wont charge....we'll have to see what happens in florence-i think it may just be too much wattage for a tiny town like this!! i just bough a phone card so I am going to go call travis! I am starting to get a little homesick, butit is hard to let that last too long because it is so absolutely beautiful here! I will write from florence when I can! Love yall!!!

... I am saddened remembering the twin towers of the World Trade Center felled by terrorist madness on September 11, 2001. Alas, I lament the fact that we in America build our tallest buildings almost always exclusively as tributes to the false gods of financial and commercial ambition. Even our sports arenas are now named after the highest bidder with virtually no way to identify the teams that play therein. I can't help but wonder if we are not in need of more steeples.