Church within a Church

The first church that St. Francis built, called 'Sacred Hut', was two small stone rooms you see here, in the town of Rivotorto, a few miles from Assisi. A larger church was built in the 15th century, encompassing the 'Sacred Hut'. After an earthquake in 1854 destroyed the church, a larger church was built in the 19th century.   

How cool is this?

Just a walkway from one street to another!

Scenery

This is the valley below the city of Assisi. You can see the clouds that brought us rain before we boarded the bus.

Lunch

Chicken, and yes, french fries!  The waiter gave us a weird look when we asked for ketchup!

Lunch Hotel

This is the hotel where we had lunch. The outside of the building looks very old, however, the bathrooms were the most modern we've seen!

Exiting Basilica

We are exiting from the third level. As you can see, the wind is blowing quite hard and the day was getting colder.

Basilica

We are heading to the main level entrance of the Basilica. No pictures are allowed inside. We visited the lower level where St. Peter is buried, as well as the upper level.

Basilica of St. Francis

This Basilica was built in the 13th century and is where St. Francis is buried. It was built after his death to honor him.

Assisi

We thought this was an interesting corner. Can you see how the road, shared by vehicles and walkers, takes a 320 degree curve?

The road to Assisi

Today we traveled to Assisi, perched on the side of Mount Subasio in the Umbria region. St Francis of Assisi, whose name our current Pope chose, was born here. 

Fountain

This fountain is at one end of the square. This picture, the pic of the square and the pic of the clock tower were missed when I transferred last night, so they're out of order.

Il Campo

A horse race is held in this square each year. It takes place on two days between the 17 districts of the city. Dirt is brought in and put around the square on the walkway surrounding the square. Spectators are jammed within the dirt track and on balconies. The uniqueness of this includes the fact that the jockeys ride bareback. 

Tower

This pic got sidetracked when I was posting yesterday. It's the clock/bell tower in the Il Campo (the square) in Siena.

Moving slow

We're on our way back to the bus for the ride back to the hotel.

Sweets

Almond cookies are a favorite in this area. Our Program Director, Fernando, treated us.

Lunch

We had a group lunch in a restaurant just off the plaza.

Wedding

This wedding party, exiting the town hall, spoke with an English accent. There were a lot more attending the wedding than we would see at a Justice of the Peace at home.

Gelato

This is how gelato is presented in the cases in many of the small shops.

Walls of Siena

We were told by our Siena tour guide that the holes in the walls of the bricked buildings were for scaffolding when the buildings were built. By the way, the world's oldest bank is in Siena, according to our guide.

Statues

Four of the statues in the church were done by Michelangelo. This is one of them.

Inside

The striped marble is overwhelming!

Duomo

This is the Siena Duomo (Cathedral). 

Siena

This is the first church we visited, Basilica Caterinia, taken after we walked across town. It is plainer than the cathedral we visited soon after, but I liked it better.

Florence American Cemetery and Memorial

American Cemetery and Memorial

There are 4,398 graves of American soldiers at this cemetery. The names of 1,409 soldiers missing in action are listed on tablets. There are a total of 24 permanent American burial grounds and 22 separate memorials on foreign soil. These members of our group were folding the flag after a lowering ceremony by our group. 

Ceiling in Duomo

The ceiling in the Duomo is fascinating!

Inside The Duomo

Compared to some of the other churches we've seen, The Duomo is quite plain.

The real David

The real David is housed in the Accademia Gallery.  Photographs are prohibited. Of course, sometimes you can sneak one, or more than one, in. Wayne got some better ones with his camera. These pictures I'm posting are from his iPhone.

Statues

Another beautiful statue in the Piazza Signoria.

Bridge

This is the oldest bridge in Florence. It was the only one not blown up in WWII. The area that looks like houses or apartments on the bridge are really jewelry merchants.

Piazza Signoria

There are many statues in the Piazza Signoria. This one is placed on the opposite side of the doorway from David.

David

This reproduction of David is in the Piazza Signoria. The original statue, by Michelangelo, is housed in a museum.  

Baptismal

This building was designed to perform all baptisms. These doors are reproductions as the original doors were damaged in a great flood in 1966. The original doors are still being restored and will be displayed in a museum probably in a year.

Visit to Firenze (aka Florence)

The Basilica of Santa Maria del Fiore, alto known as The Duomo. This church is huge!

Tonight's dinner

We shared a pizza this evening. For dessert, guess what? One big bowl each with four flavors of gelato!

Views from the hot spring area

When you're in these hills, every view is spectacular, as long as there is no fog!

Healing water

This is a hot springs used for bathing by the Romans. Some of our group took off shoes and soaked.  I just wanted to feel how hot it was. It wasn't as hot as I thought it would be, but it was pretty warm. This, of course, is just the runoff from the baths.

Stunning view

Wayne has taken at least 1,350 pictures already! This is taken from the walkway along the wall.

Clock

Every town in the countries we've visited in Europe have a clock tower.

Scenery

Since Tuesday was rainy all day, we didn't see many views like this. This is what we expected of the Tuscany landscape.

Typical street

We roamed the streets for over 2 1/2 hours, visiting the shops and having  cups of gelato. Mine was made from fresh strawberries. Wayne had hazelnut. That stuff is addictive!

Traveler #2

This is a section of the wall surrounding the city.

Traveler

Our guide, Fernando, said that we are not tourists; we are travelers!  

Charm galore

Many of the buildings are made of brick or stone. This is one of many arches in this walled city.

The town of Pienza

This is the town we visited today. As you can see, it's quite old. This is history!

A Church

Every town has at least one catholic church, no matter how small the town is. We stopped here first thing this morning. We don't remember the name of it. It was closed for renovations, so we couldn't get in. Notice the fog. We had no views from the bus on the way here.

The bus

This is our bus for the next week. Wayne doesn't like it because it's pink on the inside! 

Snack!

This light lunch was served at the winery. We also had servings of three wines, as well as bread with three different types of olive oil. 

Brunello Montalcino Winery

This winery is owned by a lady, and most of the workers are women.  Men are only employed for the 'heavy' stuff!

Village life

We were offered several appetizers and samples of wine in this small store.

Day trip to Radicofanii

This is in one of the churches in Radicofani which is a small village that lies in the shadow of a medieval hilltop fortress.