Sunday in Assisi

Sunday morning we woke up pretty early in order to catch the train to Assisi. It's a long journey (2.5 hours from Florence), but all of us felt pretty strongly that we wanted to go. It's a really beautiful city, and it holds such importance in the Catholic church that we couldn't miss it. On the train, we met a man and his wife who had just spent a week there. Their church had organized a pilgramage - 7 holy places in Assisi in 7 days. We chatted for a bit, and then Aunt Clare said, "It's very important for us to go to Assisi because we're both Clares", meaning that St. Clare is our patron saint. But this man immediately assumed that she meant that we were both members of the Poor Clares, a branch of Franciscan nuns. Only in Italy....

We got to Assisi about a half hour before mass was about to start, so we took a cab from the train station up the hill to the town. The cab driver asked me where I was from after we talked for a minute, and I told him Seattle. He was surprised, and said he thought I was from Rome because of the way I spoke italian!

Mom in front of the Basilica

We went to mass at the Basilica of St Clare, which was wonderful. There were a group of nuns singing all of the hymns and responses, hidden away so that we couldn't see them. Afterwards, we went to Osteria gli Orti for lunch, which had been recommended by the cab driver.

Aunt Clare's antipasto plate, which was totally empty before we left!

Assisi is full of hidden little alleys and corners and so many beautiful flowers

I wanted to go to the museum exhibit to see the instruments of torture for the martyrs, but I was overruled...

After strolling through the city for awhile, it was time to go back to the station, and we hailed a cab in front of the Basilica of San Francesco. All it took was a little question of the cab driver to start an incredible adventure: I asked him where all of the fields of sunflowers were, since we saw them in pictures but not in person. He asked me if I wanted him to take the street near the fields, since it too went to the station. I said yes, and we were off! We went along a street that was right under the city, and the panorama was spectacular.

We stopped to take a few pictures, and then he asked me if we had been to Chiesa della Santa Maria dei Angeli, which is right near the station. We said no, so he took us there, explaining all the way (in italian) why this church was so important. I translated the best I could for mom and aunt Clare. He parked in front of the church and took us inside. We saw a plaque commemorating three days of prayer in the late 80s, attended by leaders of all of the world religions. Then he showed us a small chapel built by St. Francis to honor the Virgin Mary. He showed us the place where St. Francis died. On display is the rope belt that he wore around his habit as well as blood from his stigmata. It was a spectacular mini tour led by a man who was very emphatic about showing us the most important parts of his city and his religion. Of course, we tipped him very well, and he tried to refuse the extra. He had even turned off the meter while he took us inside the church. It's people like this that make Italy so wonderful!

The long trip back to Florence and then pizza for dinner for all of us. Here's mine below...and yes, those are slices of hot dog on the pizza! We all laughed so hard when it came that we practically could not eat!