7:30am.

Now, I understand that for some of you, this is a normal occurrence. But for the rest of us, it’s a bit iffy.

So we wake up (thank goodness) and make it to the bus stop with as little time to spare as possible without being late. That was an absolutely essential strategy, because it was cold today. All day. Frigid, to be more precise.

A little bus ride/nap later we arrive at Assisi. (Uh-see-see, c’mon now.)

The frigid followed us, how every thoughtful.

We tour around St. Francis, and then stroll casually along the main street to…Santa Chiara? (Don’t quote me on that, but I’m pretty sure it’s right.)

The trick to both of these places is their strict “no cameras” policy. That’s right, no bedroom. (Oh dear. That’s a horrifically inside joke. Skip that one if I’ve never called you “J-to the E-S-S”. Trust me.)

The Pre-Lunch High Points

• In St. Francis, the friars/security kept shushing Paolo. Poor Petey Paolo can’t keep his voice down. He’s quite animated and entertaining. (Oh, and knowledgeable. Yeah, knowledgeable.)
• In Santa Chiara, as we were leaving, one of the friars stopped our group and asked Paolo if he could talk to us for a minute. He gave us this fantastically reassuring speech. I was just about ready to sign up for the friarhood(?) listening to him. He wanted to make sure that we understood the Truth behind the architecture/sculpture/painting/beauty. He spoke very eloquently, not in the semibroken English sense, but in the philosophical sense. “Understand that the source of the architecture, the source of the sculpture and painting, the source of all beauty is Jesus Christ.” (It was a great accent to the day. Glory to God, indeed.)

And now for another very important but not pre-lunch high point: lunch.

Goodness gracious, it was amazing. It’s the second of three provided lunches we have during our day trips. The restaurant is called “La Rocca”, the rock, of course. It is built directly onto the hillside, and there is in fact a large rock jutting into the wall of the main dining area. We sat next to it, it was dern cool.

Did I mention the food yet?

Appetizer: Bread. Good, moist bread. (We have bread with every meal at the center, but it’s a bit dry. Don’t get me wrong, I still eat about 5 pieces on average, but it can’t touch La Rocca’s bread.)

First course: Semi-spicy spaghetti. Holy guac, this stuff was fantastic. I shoulda had a bit more, but opted out of it for some reason. It was quite filling.

Now, if you just stopped there, that’s a pretty great all around meal. But…

Second course: Some kind of thin, stuffed chicked cover in a cheesy(?) sauce stuff. (I’m a big food connoisseur, duh.) Wowza. Talk about rich in flavor. If they’d kept bringing food, I would’ve eaten until I burst.

Whew, good stuff. But wait…

Dessert: Fruit. Pretty standard, for any meal.

An apple and a quarter later, we were off to traipse about. (”We” usually equals John, Jessica, Elizabeth, and myself, for future reference.) We “hiked” up to this nifty castle, paid to go in, and spent quite a lot of time there. It’s like a playground for adults.

Then, we realized that it was nearly time to get to the bus back to the center. We managed to squeeze in a stop at the gelato place inches before the group left to meet the bus.

If you’ve not had gelato and/or don’t know what it is…I’ll fill you in later.

Bus ride back = sleep, of course.

Dinner at the center was pretty grand as well. More bread, more spaghetti, yum. (Not sarcasm.)

A little group work and voila! Another day done.

It’s dang cold in this room. I’ma cheeze it.

Charles