Assisi, Italy: Day 8

 Double-feature today, I guess.

Monday, September 26th, 2022

Who woke up and wasn't any better? Rhetorical question.

Another grey day in Italy. The best part was that it wasn't hot, but I didn't realize this until when we got back to Rome.

Assisi is basically a city on a hill...or multiple hills as I later discovered speed walking through it. 

Assisi is basically guarded by St. Francis' Basilica on the left and St. Clare's Basilica on the right. We went to St. Clare's and walked, ending our day at St. Francis'.

We didn't get to visit the castle in Assisi, but we did see it:

I'm sorry, but I'm just not a fan of the striped outside. Everyone was like, "Oh cool! This is different." Sure. And it's ugly. Moving on.

The inside was okay, but no pictures! No, no, no. No pictures inside anything in Assisi. That's how everyone gets you to go there, I think. This is how you get tourists to Assisi: don't let anyone take pictures so they have to come themselves. And go back again and again.

 

 

After visiting St. Clare's Basilica and walking around. It was time to start our speed-walking tour. This was, by far, the worst tour. So, I'm the youngest person in the group (of course. I'm always the youngest on these things). There are people walking with canes. There are people who've had their knees replaced. There are people who have had other injuries. And this older gentleman just kept high speed walking, not even waiting on anyone. In the middle of the tour, he stopped at a public rest area and, of course, most of the women went, including Mom. It's a good thing that I didn't have to go and that I waited on her, or she'd still be in Assisi...

Well, probably not. Francesco is too nice to leave us behind.

But still. 

Our tour guide for Assisi didn't wait on anyone. Mom and I walked so fast up and down those ridiculous Assisi hills, out of breath and not hearing anything on the stupid radio that was connected to the microphone all our tour guides used. 

I did get some pictures of the town before the bathroom break, though.

We also got to stop in and see Blessed Carlos Acutis, because a lot of our group requested we go see him. Fun fact: he was not Italian, but he loved Assisi so much that he and his parents moved there. I'm told that his mother goes to the chapel where he is and gives talks on him often.

Hey, look: Mom and I finally caught up with everyone at the Basilica of St. Francis. By this time, she was very mad, rightfully so. Have you ever been so sick and so tired that you just don't care anymore? That's where I was at.

Ciao, St. Francis' statue:

No photos inside! 

We got to have Mass there, I believe. We also got another tour inside with one of the Franciscan monks. I felt sorry for him, having to talk over me and one of the Julies coughing the entire time in the front row. I was pretty irate at the other tourists in our group for that. They all went in before us, but only left the seat front and center for me, Julie, Mom, and Julie's husband to sit. Nothing like giving a talk to people who are coughing up a storm right in front of you. We should've sat in the back. Julie actually went out at one point, I believe. I figured that if the others couldn't hear, it was their own blasted fault for making me sit in the front.

St. Francis' Basilica was much prettier than St. Clare's. Don't believe me? Go there yourself. I dare you to try to take pictures so we can compare notes.

I'm so bitter about Assisi. I'm sorry. It's really not the city's nor the citizen's fault.

Interesting story: Many Italians go to Assisi to pray to have children, especially if they are having trouble having any kids. Francesco said that this was the case for his parents. They came to pray in Assisi and he was born. They named him Francesco because of St. Francis...because "Francesco" is "Francis" in Italian. He also has a sister named after St. Clare. We dedicated our Mass in Assisi in thanksgiving for Francesco.

So, it wasn't a totally bad day.

After all our tours, we were free to walk around Assisi and get lunch on our own...as if we hadn't just ran the entire town. Sorry, sorry.

Mom and I found a shop window with Harry Potter stuff!

 

We ended up going to a little shop that sold cannola (We call them cannoli here in the US, but "cannola" is the singular of "cannoli" in Italy). We bought a sandwich which was so good. Then again, we were so hungry. We also bought a lemon cannola. To be honest, it's not my thing. Very, very sugary. I recommend just finding gelato. 

As we're eating on the side of the street outside the little shop, we spot some other tourists. You can just tell when someone isn't Italian by looking at them. Don't ask me to explain. I can't. But it is also a dead giveaway when they start speaking English. It was a family from Wales, if I'm remembering correctly. They were interesting and very friendly. Mom had to be the first to speak up and introduce us, though, because I was still eating and I'm a shy introvert and I don't roll that way. Say hi to me first and then I'll talk to you. If you're going to stare at me, I'll stare back. It was awkward. Thank goodness for my mom. 

 

We finally found somewhere to sit for a while down a hill, but then it started raining. Good thing Mom was carrying around her umbrella. We decided to start walking back to the place where our bus was going to meet us. 

After waiting around under a bridge for the rain to let up, because it was really down-pouring, we got to the bus lot and waited around with some of the other tourists in our group, just talking about previous trips. This particular couple was from New York. They had been on so many trips, including the Holy Land. 

I was happy to finally sit down when the bus got there.

Spoiler for the next post? That's the day I actually start feeling better.