We chose Wednesday to visit the Mediterranean Sea. It was a day of driving, but with some beautiful sights. Of course we had to do some cross country driving, so the roads were once again a little challenge. The back of the van has a much different ride than the front. I keep hearing sighs, people breathing a little deeper, and every now and then a comment - "How fast are you going?" or "Maybe you should slow down a little." I still think it is a smoother ride when the "Yank" is driving than when the "Aussie" is driving, but of course he is usually driving on the wrong side of the road. We made our first stop in a small village and found their piazza for a cup of cappuccino and tea. All the towns have at least one piazza, sometimes many. Each usually has a church and a fountain with some shops surrounding it. It was a nice mid morning stop and then on to the Med.
We had talked about having a nice seafood lunch when we go there. When we arrived it was a typical seaside commercial town, maybe a little like Daytona. We ended up finding a string of take away stands that offered decent food, if not real friendly service. After lunch we walked down the beach of black sand to the water. I couldn't resist jumping in - shorts and all! The water was nice, but it was a quick swim. I thought my shorts would dry quickly, but even when we got back to Assisi that evening only the bottoms were dry. It is hard to figure out what the people of Assisi thought of this guy a couple hundred kilometers from the sea walking down the street with wet pants! I guess they don't know me, so it doesn't make too much difference. 
We stopped on the way home at a roadside stand to get fruits and vegetables for a nice evening meal on fresh bread, with cheese. We took a different route back which was even more hilly and winding roads than on the way. We came around one curve at the top of the hill and came upon a beautiful village carved into the side top of the mountain - Pigliatono - It was beautiful!!! Although most of the towns and villages have been beautiful this site was far beyond the ordinary. If anyone comes to Italy and they are in the area it would be worth the drive to see it.
The end of our two weeks is approaching quickly. It has been very nice to spend it with our great friends form Australia and Plymouth!!
As we settled down in our apartment for the evening the church bells began to toll around 9:00 PM. About an hour later we suddenly heard a brass (oompah type) band playing. Once again we looked out our bedroom window into the piazza and found the village band playing as hundreds of people filed out of the church. We soon realized that this was a procession of some type. We think it was feast day for St. Rufino. The procession was led by many monks, priests, and sisters followed by a gleaming bust of St. Rufino being carried by four men, then the bishop, and then all the people in the church. The band continued playing as the procession made its way down the hill to the next church. It was very unexpected and another treat from our stay in Assisi, across the street from the church of St. Rufino. As we went to bed around 11:00, much to our surprise the procession returned to the church. The band played several more songs (one was a version of 'When the Saints Come Marching In") before the crowd dispersed around 11:45 and we went to sleep.
August 13, 2010 - Thursday - Florence
I believe everyone is a little tired of riding after yesterday, but we stuck with our plan to go to Florence today. We all really want our last day together on Friday to be an easy day in Assisi. Please note that the Aussie is driving today and Greg was doing his good job of navigating. The ride up to Florence was about two and a half hours. We planned to stop outside of Florence to take a train in. We had heard that the traffic was terrible in Florence. Good plan, right? Well we missed the turn off and ended up close to downtown. Ian did ask for advice and I said, "We are this close now we might as well go on in." Well, the traffic was a mess, but we found a parking garage and pulled in, only to find it was full and someone had just parked their car in the entry and left it. We backed out with a little bit of problem, but got back into the stream of traffic. We soon found that all the parking garages were "Completo" (full). We drove around the block and took off in another direction to search, before too long we found ourselves in the midst of the shopping and sightseeing area. The streets were very narrow, but became even narrower with people walking four or five abreast down each side of the street. We slowly made our way through the crowds without hitting anyone. As we turned here and there looking for a way out we realize we were going the wrong way on a one way street, but there was no way to get off. After a few more turns and only one person letting us know we were going the wrong way, we made it out of the area. Finding a parking place about a mile down the road, we decided to make our way back on foot. Lunch and then we went off on our own to see the sites. Mary Kay and I had been to Florence once before, so we only had a couple of things to do. One negative to Florence is that it is the only place we have visited where vendors are allowed to set up their booths across the street from the churches and other places. It made it very crowded (a place that cars/vans shouldn't be) and took away some of the feeling of beauty. However, when you entered the Piazza San Giovani and saw the Cathedral of Santi Maria del Fiore you could not help but to be awestruck. The outside of the cathedral is white, green, and red marble with very large brass clad doors.
We walked on from there to the Porta Vecchio Bridge and and past the replica of David at the Vecchio museum. After a bit more shopping and a drink we met the others to start our trip home. I crawled into the back of the van with Mary Kay and took a little nap. About an hour and fifteen or twenty minutes later I looked out and noticed that we were still on the autostrad. We should have gotten off of it after about 40 minutes. For those who followed our bike ride, this is the time when we could have used Kyle's text - "Dad, do you know you are going south?" It seems our navigator and driver both missed and exit and we were now south of where we needed to be - in fact we traveled many of the same roads we had traveled yesterday when we went to the Mediterranean. The only problem is that was Southwest and Florence is mainly North of Assisi. It was okay, we just traveled a little further (maybe and hour or so) than we would have and as I told them I needed a little humor for the blog.
We arrived home at last and once again ate a light supper. I picked up a cheeseburger from the "deli" next to the apartment (it was probably a pork burger). We all went to bed after an evening of chatting. Once again we were in for a surprise. We noticed that there were many cars parked in the piazza. About 11:15 the piazza was filled with people and a fireworks display started. Can you imagine a fireworks show starting at that hour in the US? We couldn't see them from our room, but the noise was something to experience in the walled city and all the tall buildings that just bounced the sound waves off of them. Another neat end to a nice day!!
Do Something For Others Today!!
Peace and Arrivederci!!
Jack and Mary Kay
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