Viva Italia - Day 6 - Assisi and Arrival in Florence

Assisi is a very beautiful city. As mentioned in the previous post, it originated before Columbus and has been added on since then. Each time you pass through an ancient gate, you are entering a different time period in the history of Assisi.

View of Assisi

At one end of Assisi is the Basilica of Santa Chiara (St. Clare), begun in 1257 and home to her tomb. I had not heard of Clare, but she was the founder of a Franciscan order for women who lived cloistered away in a convent - the first monastic order for women. Like St. Francis, Clare fled a life of luxury and devoted her life to God.

Random photos taken while walking from the Basilica di Santa Chiara to the Basilica di San Francesco d'Assisi, at the other end of Assisi.

The Basilica di San Francesco d'Assisi was begun in 1228 and comprises two churches: the upper and the lower. The choir was able to sing for mass in the upper church. The Franciscan service was a little less formal than the services in Rome.

I had gnocchi gorgonzola for lunch, which is one of the best things I have ever eaten in my life.

After this quick tour of Assisi, we climbed on the busses for another three hour ride, this time to Florence. We got here after dark, but the view from our room was FANTASTIC. We could see the duomo!

David and I walked from the hotel to Piazza Signoria where we had dinner. Ever since my first trip to Florence with my sister, I've made a habit of eating in this plaza. It's a great place because it's behind the Uffizzi and there are sculptures outside. David had gnocchi this time - his was four cheese - and he also thought it was one of the best things he had ever eaten.

After dinner, we ignored the chilly weather and bought gelato and walked across Ponte Vecchio. Tomorrow we have to get up at 5:30 a.m. so we can go early to see Michelangelo's David - totally worth it. 

Tomorrow we also leave the group and head on our own to Milan while they head on to Venice. We love Venice, but decided to come home on Saturday since David starts teaching on Monday. This has been such an awesome trip. Traveling with a tour group is much easier than traveling on our own - although we don't get to see or do nearly as much. It will be interesting to see how we do on our own tomorrow.

We called the kids on Skype tonight. They don't miss us at all. Jalen told us he was too tired to talk to us and when I told Baylie we'd be home day after tomorrow, she said, "Oh, rats!"