Breathtaking mountain towns

The city of Assisi hangs on the side of a mountain and fairly gleams in the sunlight. It's easy to imagine the Franciscans of the 13th century moving silently through the colonnaded walkways and singing in the chapels. Our group strolled the cobbled streets, wonderfully uncrowded, delighting in the cool mountain breeze. The basilica of San Francesco is another beautiful sacred space, marred by the evidence of the damage done by the earthquake of 1997. Whole chunks of fresco were dislodged (killing several pilgrims), and all present hurried to gather every single shard of stone that fell to the floor.Even in the midst of a deadly earthquake, all souls in that space understood that the art had to be preserved. (I understand that one enterprising visitor recorded this on his video camera, and it can be found on YouTube.) Since the church is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, there have been U.N. funds available to assist in restoration, and it's well under way.

Particularly compelling to me was a very modern crucifix, depicting St. Francis prostrate at the foot of the cross. One of the arms of the crucified Christ is hanging freely from the cross, and his extended hand points to the monk. It could easily have been done by Picasso, but wasn't, of course. Of all the crucifixes we have seen, I found this to be the most interesting.

As we wandered back to our bus, we stopped for gelato. Mike had his usual limone, and I tried the stracciatella, which turned out to be vanilla with chocolate chips - delicious!

Did I mention that this was not my first gelato?

We went down the mountain and journeyed back north to Cortona. As I have been reading "Under the Tuscan Sun," this town was of particular interest to me. Our afternoon excursions have been mostly devoted to lunch, relaxation and conversation. How we wished we had more time in this truly beautiful village! Cortona has only one truly level street - all others are either straight up or straight down. This can be very challenging, especially for the senior citizens in our pilgrim group (actually that's all of us). But what a reward! I believe I took the most photos in Cortona. Every vista seemed to be a photo op.

At lunch we encountered our first locals who truly did not speak English. Thank you, Fabrizio, for your excellent tutelage in Italian (OLLI Maymester). Between pointing, gesturing, and some southern-accented Italian, we were able to communicate our order, ask for the check, and let our hosts know that our meal was molto bene.

Now I am home at the Hotel Casci, sitting with the group in the hotel bar, having an adult beverage and writing this account. The bar is half of the space that Rossini occupied in the 19th century, and definitely has good vibes. And this is where I write these accounts.

At this point in our trip, we are wishing we had an additional week. We feel comfortable, acclimated, and no longer jet-lagged. Bill assures us that no amount of time would be sufficient. Our only recourse is to return to Florence, to arrange for more time in Lucca, Assisi and Cortona. (Don't really feel a need to return to Pisa.) What a wonderful trip!