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Published: October 27th 2015
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Los Angeles
Santa Maria dellgi Angeli Day 2
Up at 6:00 and after a lovely breakfast we were on the road at 9:00. Our first stop of the day was in the California region of Umbria. What Mike meant was that we left the bus in Los Angeles and headed for Santa Maria degli Angeli. This imposing church (Saint Mary of the Angles) contains the modest chapel of San Francisco (St. Francis). Hence the California reference. The left side of the church was closed except for confessions. The side chapels looked interesting but I forgot all about them because as I walked around I heard singing. It was coming from the modest structure in middle of the church where Mass was going on. The chapel could hold about twenty worshipers and we stopped in the doorway to listen. This is the chapel that St. Francis himeself used, very small and unimposing.
We wended our way to the Rosetta or Rose Garden. The story goes that one day Satan was plaguing Francis with temptation and in order to escape, Francis took off his clothes and rolled around in the brambles. When Satan gave up, Francis got to his feet and found not a scratch
Los Angeles market
Quiz. What is this? on his body. Today the Rose Garden contains the only known variety of roses that have no thorns.
From Los Angeles we traveled to Assisi for a visit to the tomb of St. Francis. After touring these magnificent churches, one wonders what St. Francis, a simple humble man, would make of all the splendor. One cool thing about Assisi was the escalator from the parking lot to the town. It just makes so much sense to keep the busses out of the narrow streets and give tourists easy access.
Next stop was in Montefalco for a tour of the Scacciadiavoli winery. The process is the same as other wineries we have visited but here we actually got a taste of the grapes straight from the fields and they were sweet and delicious. I enjoyed watching the machine remove the stems and sent the grapes to the fermentation tank. The best part, of course, was the tasting. We sampled seven varieties, two sparkling, two white, two red and an after dinner wine. We each had meats and cheese, bread and olive oil to nibble and it was thoroughly enjoyable. Fun fact; roses are planted near the vines as both
Assisi
Basilica and tomb of St. Francis. plants are prey to the same diseases. If the roses are stressed, its time to treat the vines.
Our final stop was the beautiful hill town of Todi. Here we browsed the shops, made our way to the central piazza and had a cup of cappuccino. The sunset from the top was lovely and the villages and towns below began to light up for the night. Here, we took a funicular from the parking lot. So easy on the legs.
Pat and I enjoyed a glass of the Montefalco Bianco and headed down to the hotel restaurant. There were about four other parties dining and one waiter and his assistant. It took forever for them to take our order but the food was worth the wait. I had pasta with sausage in a cream sauce and Pat ate the Italian version of spƤtzle with squash. There wasn't anything left on our plates. Off to bed to read.
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