Spent the Day in Assisi!

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Today was the best day I've had since being here I think. It totally made up for the disappointment and horrible-ness of yesterday. I was/am so happy.

Like I previously said in my earlier blog, today we went to Assisi with our professor and his wife, the student crew of 6 from St. Bonaventure, and I think 7 random other students who wanted to join our posse. We started the day by meeting at 9AM at the MiniMetro station, took that to the train station, then took the train to the bus station in Porta Nova. That took about 2ish hours. The views from the bus ride going up never ending hills made me know that this trip was going to be so worth it.

Next we walked to San Diamo which was about a mile basically straight down hill. I’m talking knees-bent-might-as-well-have-just-rolled-down kind of hill. This apparently, (according to the itinerary that we were given for the trip) is where St. Francis experienced the voice of Jesus telling him to rebuild His church. Also where St. Clare (my name! minus the “i”) and her sisters established their order. Walking up that hill was a challenge in itself. Sweating and panting, Abby and I finished last, as we knew we would!

After that we walked to the Basilica of Santa Chiara (St. Clare). Honestly I can say this may be the most beautiful building I have ever been in. The detail, something my Dad usually has to force my sister and me to even look at while touring somewhere, I noticed on my own with my mouth literally open in awe. The ceilings were impossibly tall, the paint colors were still in such good condition. After walking around the massive church that had probably 5 or more altars, like little mini churches all in one, we walked downstairs. There we saw some clothing of St. Francis and…in a very eerie but very detailed setting..the tomb of St. Clare. It was hard to take in what I was actually standing in front of: A SAINT! One with the same name as me! This was a moment I will not forget any time soon or most likely ever in my life.

At this point, we were starving, probably walked over 3 miles and noticing that we were most likely lost in the city of Assisi since we weren’t showing up any time fast to our destination for lunch. Finally..we arrived! This restaurant was called I Monaci, a pizzeria near Il Teatro Metastasio, via San Francesco. We all ordered a pizza, and I got the I Monaci, which literally means “the Monks!” It was delicious, cheese pizza with little scoops of ricotta cheese mixed with spinach on top. Personal pizzas here are about the size of a normal small pizza you could order back home for about 2 people, but that hasn’t stopped me yet from eating a whole one! We finished the meal with fresh (so delicious) pineapple. Some people got hot chocolate, and others, like me, got coffee. I’m still not used to the tiny cup it’s served in. My goal for the upcoming week is to find coffee that I can get in a huge mug!

After this long meal we made our way to the Basilica di San Francesco (St Francis). Everyone knew this would be a pretty big deal. After all, St. Bonaventure University is a Franciscan school based of the teachings of St. Francis. This Basilica was also breath taking like the one for St. Clare. It’s 3 levels, all with such high ceilings you would think you were in 3 separate buildings. Here we saw the tomb of St. Francis. Another eerie setting, but still…A SAINT! Both basilicas did not permit cameras. Nonetheless, we managed to snap a few illegal ones when we could, minus flash of course.

We then took a bus down to Santa Mara degl’Angeli and Porticula. Here is where St. Francis died. This it is a huge church, built to enclose a little tiny church called the Chapel of the Transitus, Francis’ death place. I lit a candle there in memory of my relatives, and as a “thank you” for chance to experience everything I was/am. I mean, how many people can say they have seen 2 saints tombs in one day?

The thing that kept standing out the most to me at these churches/basilicas were the marble floors. I don’t know really how to explain this, but they were so smooth, almost slippery, from the amount of foot traffic that they have been under. I have never noticed that happening anywhere in the US, and I must have said about 5 times that it was blowing my mind.

Wow this is getting long. So anyway we had to walk back to the train station, realize we somehow missed our train (still I don’t know why) and instead of waiting 2 hours for the next one, our professor and his wife hired 3 big taxi vans to bring us back to the MiniMetro station and we took that back to Perugia.

I got to Skype with my best friend from school and she was with our other good friends at the time so I got to see everyone! I was so happy! I talked to my parents for a while on Skype, too. My dad was so happy to hear about everything I did today, as I knew he would be.

Tomorrow is the first day of classes, so hopefully those will go well. It’s almost 1:30am here! Sorry about the length. Good night!

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Photos

tomb of St. Clare/Santa Chiara
eerie...

I Monaci!
pizza place for lunch

Me!
in front of Santa Mara degl’Angeli and Porticula