Assisi photos

Look at all the yummy treats! Walking between 4 and 8 miles a day in the heat is the only thing that is ensuring that our pants still fit....

It was really, really hot. I love this picture; I feel that I have exactly captured the mood of the moment....

This is what we mentioned...the McDonalds in Assisi. Please notice the nuns' baskets with burgers and fries....and Ronald in the starring role rather than St. Francis.

Tuscany photos

This is the valley we drove through...lots of winding, dirt roads, but also many beautiful views...

My favorite picture...taken while in the pool.

One of our most successful timer photographs...camera was precariously perched on a book and a towel, and then I jumped in and got in the photo...

More photos...

Hey...here are some more photos, but for some reason the computer here is uploading them out of order....

The pool, and the view, in Pienza... (the postcard place)

Our yummy Tuscan lunch...

Leaning ladies at the leaning tower

One last view from the hike in Cinque Terre....

Photos

Some oldies in Vernazza, walking slowly up and down the main street.

Our kayak adventure....D did a good job taking this with one hand on the camera and the other on the oar.

A lovely view from our hike.

The view from our bedroom window in Vernazza.

Night soccer on the same little harbor beach.

"My pants are sticking to my legs!"

This from Deanna today, as we trudged around Assisi in near 100-degree weather. Also heard from her were comments such as, "I wish I could take off all of my clothes and jump in that fountain", and "I would be a lot more comfortable if I could just take off my pants." Those of you that know her usual degree of modesty can now appreciate how hot we were today....she would like me to include as a disclaimer that by the end of the day, she did have a little heat rash on her arms, so she wasn't just being melodramatic.

But Assisi, specifically the Basilica of St. Francis, was well worth our efforts. His message is humbling, the basilica has amazing art about Jesus and about St. Francis' life, and unlike other famous religious sites we've been to, this one seemed much more serious and sacred. The friars there actually enforced the rules of modest clothing and silence in the basilica, and there were many, many religious pilgrims there as well. But once you leave the basilica, all bets are off....the stores along the streets do serious business with the Franciscan image....including places where you can buy figurines of friars playing poker. ALSO: at McDonalds in Assisi, they have big, blown-up images covering the walls (we think from the movie Brother Sun, Sister Moon), that actually have Ronald McDonald in the picture where St. Francis should be, and the nuns are giving out hamburgers and fries from their baskets instead of rose petals. It was so jarring that we had to take photographic evidence.

So we are off to Rome tomorrow...driving in, dropping off the car at the airport, and then to our hotel. We are hoping that all goes smoothly...we'll write again from Roma!

E & D

We are in a postcard...

Literally! The place where we stayed in Pienza, the little farm, is on postcards all over Tuscany because it is so beautiful. We had to drive up a dusty, unpaved road to get there, about 2 km out of town, and it just kept getting more amazing....lots of "wows" from us in the car. Then, after we'd checked in, we went to the pool for the rest of the afternoon-evening, which is situated on a ledge that overlooks a valley filled with empty pastures with huge rolls of hay, the occasional stone house, and lone trees here and there. We took some funny self-timed pictures of us in the pool that required one of us to set the camera and quickly jump in and swim to other side so we could get the view. It was quite possibly the most peaceful place I've been in a long, long time.

Before arriving, we'd stopped in some hills towns, including Cortona of "Under the Tuscan Sun" fame. All quite as lovely as can be expected...but as we reviewed it today, we think 3 hill towns was enough...otherwise it would start to feel like they were all blending into one never-ending Tuscan landscape...and they would lose their charm.

Small note: We have come to affectionately call all of the older generation folks we see walking about arm in arm "the oldies". Often they say good evening to us as they talk in small groups, help with directions, or just peer down at us from their shutters. (People watching is very big in general here.) I've taken some surreptitious pictures of them...they're quite charming.

Other small note: We have also named our traveling companions. Which ones, you might wonder? Well, of course there is Rick (Steves), Lonely (Planet), and now Mama. Mama is my suitcase that has become so heavy she has taken on a personna of her own. "Come on, mama, time to get out of the car!" "Come on mama, you can make it up the stairs", and so on. We think she is about to give birth to a baby we shall name Duffel, and hopefully that will lighten her load.

:)
E & D

And they're off...

...in a sporty little Renault (free upgrade), Erin and Deanna are zipping across Tuscany. Today we stopped in Pisa on our way to Siena where we are staying tonight. Yes, the leaning tower leans, and the closer you get, the more alarming it looks. We did the usual touristy picture thing where I pretended to be holding up the tower....it was funny to hear all around us, in all languages, "put your hand a little higher...a little lower, no, higher, no lower...." As soon as I can post pictures you will see what I mean.

We've made it here to Siena and are on our way to the main square, Il Campo, for our evening gelato. It's quite the place to hang out of an evening....

tired tourist moment: today in the Duomo of Siena, Deanna was reading from the guidebook as we stood in front of what was described as a "vibrantly frescoed wall"....and we looked up to see a completely white marble altarpiece. Oops.

Tomorrow morning we leave for a little farm where we will spend the night, so maybe the next time I'll blog is the day after that, from Assisi. We're excited that the farm has a swimming pool; it felt like at least high 90's today...

Ciao for now!
e