Le Grazie Assisi

... are teeming with families, young people and older folks just walking enjoying the cool weather, hot coffee and all sorts of chocolate products. I even caught a wedding happening on Sunday. We have another two days here and will return to Rome on Wednesday afternoon….just in time for dinner and a full day of touring before heading back hone on Friday morning.

Best to all back home,

Jorge

12.4.09/12.5.09 On To Umbria, And The Very Spiritual Assisi

When we got up this morning (12.4.09), we were in the middle of a cold Venetian downpour – as good a time as any to leave the city, I guess! After our morning vaparetto ride from Ponte di Rialto back to the train station, we hopped a high-speed train back to Florence, where we switched to a second, regional train for the remaining trip to Assisi.

[Before arriving in Assisi, we accidentally got off ...

Back to the land of pay toilets. Don.t know why that bothers me so much but it does. It just doesn.t seem right. Anyway, we are now in Assisi. We got off the boat and it was raining, and then we had to take a detour to Assisi. the road was very narrow and hilly, It was a little tense for awhile. Saw St Francis ...

... poked our heads in to find a choir practicing Christmas songs. The inside of the Cathedral was fantastic, the voices sounded amazing, and there was an incredible energy coming from the whole place, so we went in, sat in the pews, and listened for quite a while.

As we made our way back to the hostel, along a very dark, curvy, and sidewalk-less road, we saw a small, unfamiliar light moving back and forth. Though Assisi is probably the safest place we'd been the whole trip ...

... the market emerging in the center. Che bella!!! The festival was in full force with booths of chocolate and related prodects as far as the eye could see. Unfortunately, also were crowds as far as the eye could see.

My camera batteries had taken a surprize turn and I needed to go find a tobacco shop to buy more and Licia opted to wait in the center. Unfortunately, i got a little lost on the way back ...

... 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

Yip just as mum rekoned- awesome !!! loads of pics-sorry can,t share here tho. No body here is into photo download share stuff- sorry Stewart-all your help to teach us ... maybe next stop.over lol. Again into the Gelato-eyes always bigger than u know what-ttfn

... put Gabe's to shame. The sun was getting low when we left the Basilica making for a picturesque view of the valley below. Gabe felt this was one of the most beautiful views in all of Italy, but he awarded that honor to many places on our trip. We took that opportunity to enjoy Assisi while finding our albergo "La Rocca." Assisi might be one of the best examples of a medieval city we had seen, most definitely owed to the fame of its Basilica. Perhaps the only down side ...

... they certainly deserver a lot of credit and there were fresh diggings still around us. There must have been several layers of human activity on this site as indicated by the brickwork of the homes which showed reconstructions in Roman brick, rock, clay and even concrete. An indication that over the centuries before its final destruction it had gone through similar disasters. I would have liked to find more about the construction of these homes and how they were plumbed ...

... the order of the Poor Clares. We saw the crypt with the remains and relics of Clare and tunics of Francis. Afterwards we had an hour or so for shopping and lunch. Calpurnia and her mother and I did more of the former than the latter, finding many nice souvenirs--though Assisi proved pricier than Florence--and some excellent gelato, my first for the trip: I had peach and ...