Assisi

Day 7

We left Rome by train and arrived in Assisi in the early afternoon. Assisi is a beautiful hilltop town in the region of Umbria which borders Tuscany. The town is exacly what you imagine an italian village perched on a hill, old stone buildings, built on winding narrow streets with a main piazza for gathering, eating and entertainment.

In addition to its beauty, Assisi's main attraction is as the birthplace of St Francis and St Clare who lived here in the 13th Century. More recently it is the final resting place of Bl Carlo Acutis, a teenager who died of leukaemia in 2006 and who's life has had a profound impact on millions of pilgrims. I'm also currently appointed to St Anthony's Catholic School, a Franciscan school who is under the patronage of St Francis and St Clare. 

Our accommodation was certainly room with a view. In fact, it is the same hotel I stayed here back in 2012 and had to return as I knew Nook would love this special little village, an oasis between the our stays in busy Rome and Florence.

The afternoon was spent browsing every store along the streets for souvenirs and/or gelato.

We had a lovely chat with the owner of an art shop who knew a little about Tasmania. We had to dispel the myths about boxing kangaroos and crocodiles in Tassie. We discovered that the climate of Assisi and Tasmania are similar and upon checking, I discovered that Assisi is 43 degrees N and Tassie at 42 degrees S.

We enjoyed dinner in the piazza before and early night with weary feet after traversing the hills of this beautiful town all afternoon and evening.



In the morning we visited the Basilica of St Francis, had a final street stroll and headed to the train station for our next destination.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Final Days

Image
Day 25 Today, we parted ways as Nook flies to Ireland for her two week Nano Nagle pilgrmage and the kids and I fly home. It was hard to say goodbye, but we hope she has a wonderful time and enjoys this couple of weeks doing something for herself and comes back renewed and refreshed. The kids and I then caught the train from Heathrow into the city as our flight didn't depart until later than night.  We went to Kings Cross station to see Platform 9 and 3/4. Along with many others we joined the long queue and waited about an hour. We didn't mind as we didn't have anything else planned and had to kill time. We then had a browse through the gift shop where they sell anything  and everything Harry Potter. We then went for a look through Harrods. Interesting to look, but a bit over the top and now really our kind of store.  By this time it was mid afternoon and we had some sushi for lunch before heading back to the airport. There were no issues getting through airport checking, ...
Read more

Rome

Image
  Day 4 After our 6 hour flight, we arrived in Rome to weather that was cooler and overcast. We are staying in the city centre, so we enjoyed our transfer ride through the heart or Rome. A stark contrast from Dubai, one of the most modern cities to Rome, one of the oldest. After we settled in, we went for a walk and unfortunately we are located in a shopping precinct, which made for an extended walk with all the stopping. It started to rain, so we invested in a couple of umbrellas from street sellers. It’s amazing the goods they have for sale. Our stops included Piazza Navona, the Trevi fountain and the Spanish Steps. We threw our coins into the Trevi, so we would return to the Eternal City. This is Nook and my, third visit so it must work! Rome has always been our favourite city, and still is. The vibe, history and culture is something we can never tire of. We found a small ristorante to enjoy pizza, pasta and vino! Day 5 An early start with a 4.30am rise to catch the train to Nap...
Read more

Paris

Image
Day 13 We arrived in to Paris mid-afternoon, which enabled us to check in to our hotel and then head to explore some the streets of this beautiful city. We immediately noticed a difference to Italy, as the streets are wider and often tree-lined. The last time I was in Paris was in 2005 with a large school group, so I didn't get a chnace to really discover this city.  We ended up walking down the Champs-Élysées, where we resisted the urge to stop into nearly every shop, however Ella found a large Sephora store and the boys the  Paris Saint-Germain F.C store, where they purchased some merchandise. We marvelled at the grandeur of the Arc de Triomphe. As it started to rain we continued walking to the Eiffel Tower and had to take cover as a spring shower came across. We then went and enjoyed a 1-hour cruise down the Seine. We were amazed at how fast flowing it is and how much power the boats needed to get upstream. Unfortunately, due to the high water level we couldn't get under th...
Read more