Assisi

I arrived in Assisi on Monday with my class and we went straight to a tour of the city and we started at the basilica where they keep the tomb of St. Francis of Assisi. It also contained the bones of St. Clare. In the crypt there was almost a museum. They had habits of both of these friends and also St. Clare’s curly hair. We also went to the place that is believed to be St. Francis’ birthplace. It has now been turned into a small chapel.
I instantly fell in love with this town because the presents of St. Francis is felt everywhere. There seem to be as many monks and priests here as there are in Rome. It is a beautiful town and there isn’t a bad view anywhere. It is up on a hill that over looks the valley below. You can see vineyards, olive trees, and small towns in every direction.
On Tuesday I went to Perugia where we had our professor (who lives there) give us a tour of the town. He walked us around THE ENTIRE TOWN! When we finally got our lunch break my 4 friends and I got a show. As I said in an early post, the PDA (public displays of affection) here is very bad. We were sitting at a look out point and there was a couple that you could only laugh at because it was just so ridiculous. If there was ever a time to say get a room this was it. It went on for over 50 min because they were going at it before we even got there. During this time my friend Maggie decided that she would start an album on Facebook called, “I’m a creeper”. She started taking pictures of all the PDA she that she finds. The problem is when she goes in for the picture she will act like she is taking a picture of the scenery but she will have a huge grin on her face. It is the funniest thing. Later in the day she scored double points because she got a picture with 2 couples in it.
Tuesday was also St. Patties Day but by the time dinner and desert was over it was after 9 and I decided just to have a pint with one of my professors down at the bar in the hotel. By the end of it we had about 6 other people sitting with us and we were singing and telling stories. He has great drinking stories. My favorite was back about 20 years ago when he had bought a bottle of Bailey’s. After about a month of having it there was a bit gone but he couldn’t remember having any. Another month after that half the bottle was gone and he still hadn’t had any. So he talks to his daughter who at that time was a junior in high school. He just casually started talking about how he likes Bailey’s and that he must like it a lot because he can’t remember having any and half the bottle is gone. She replied, “Yeah, we (all 4 of his kids) all do to, we put it on our ice cream.” He said it was so funny that he just couldn’t be mad. They didn’t know there was alcohol in it.
Today we piled on a tour bus and went to 2 towns stopping at random things on the way. The first town we went to was St. Benedict’s birthplace. He only lived there for a short time but there is a basilica and a cathedral there for him. In April I will be going to his monastery, Monte Casino in Rome. We also went to what is believed to be his birthplace and is now a chapel and we also went to an old Roman bathhouse that is connected. .
The next stop was an old Monastery that is still in use. It is called Abbazia di S.Eutizio, it’s in Valle Castoriana. On our way there we pulled over to the side of the road to take pictures. As we are standing there a Shepard and a hurd of sheep come through. It was so awesome! The dogs failed at their job when the sheep were in the road because a car came through and it had to stop because the sheep wouldn’t move.
This has been a great trip and a nice break from school. I head back to Florence tomorrow afternoon.