Day 30: Arrivederci Roma… Destination Sydney

A sleep in!!! A sleep in!!! Something I have not experienced for such a long time as sleep is so overrated when you are on pilgrimage. Due to our changed flight arrangements we were not leaving 'til the early afternoon and so had the luxury of an easy start and pack and redistribute the weight in the bags! The walk over to the terminal was an interesting one… we could see a large number of people assembled at the end of one of those moving footways and were not sure of what was going on. It appears as though we walked right through the middle of a photo-shoot for a Fin Air commercial, but no one stopped us! Ah well, guess we will never know. 

Departures in Rome is a bustling place... planes go EVERYWHERE from Rome, literally. So we checked in and went to the lounge to pass some time. One last task after a spot of Duty Free shopping was to have our last Italian gelato before boarding .It wasn’t looking promising but we found somewhere and enjoyed the final serve of yumminess! On to the plane, destination Dubai. It was a great flight. Unfortunately I had hoped to get the last 5 days of blogs posted here in Dubai in the wee small hours, but as has been a constant theme of recent weeks, the wifi is hopeless, so dear readers, these blogs will be posted upon our return tomorrow! Fingers crossed!

One problem of flying home via Dubai is that the last sector is the long one. Left Dubai at 2:30AM, and arrived into Sydney in the evening. So some sleep and lots of movies kept us amused.

Where did the time go? The best part of coming home is having a smiling daughter ready to greet us, and the following day being Mother's Day meant a fabulous way of catching up.
 

Day 29: Final fling in Florence…

Our last day in Florence and after another sumptuous brekkie our target today was to get up close and personal with David at Gallerie de l’Academia. Again the Firenze card was a quick access to this small gallery with very high ground floor ceilings to house the fabulous Michelangelo work. David dominates the far end of the ground floor of the gallery, towering above the patrons commanding our attention. It is just amazing... and I was standing beneath it. Wow!

We spent a fair bit of time wandering the rest of the gallery, the upper floor dedicated to the development of religious iconography in Florence from the end of the 13^th century. It was puzzling as to why all these bits of religious art had found their way out of the local churches and into galleries such as Academia and Uffizi and this gallery held the secret. Apparently during the Napoleonic wars art had been removed from churches and had been stored in other places eventually finding its way to these galleries, and while seeing the artwork in churches is fabulous, the preservation and restoration that has occurred to the altar triptychs etc. is fabulous. On the way out we found a "spoof" sculture of David by a contemporary Florentine artist.  David in pink... what a hoot!!

Medici chapel was the next stop before needing to be back at the hotel for a 12.30 checkout. This is a smallish chapel built to house the tombs of the Medicis and the sacristy that is off the chapel was designed and built by Michelangelo. The chapel is undergoing some renovation and so the scaffolding was obscuring part of the chapel but the huge marble sarcophagi mounted half was up the wall made a large statement about the wealth and privilege of the family Medici. Off the chapel was a small anteroom housing about 15 reliquaries with bits of all sorts of saints including a relic of a companion of St Ursula! A little shopping on the way back to the hotel capped off a lovely morning. 

We packed and left our bags downstairs and set out for lunch and a visit to the local church Santa Maria Novella. Unfortunately the museum was housing a private function and was closed to us, but we made a visit to the Blessed Sacrament chapel and then crossed the piazza for lunch and yes you guessed it… gelato. Following lunch we went for a long walk via the Duomo to the Florence synagogue. En route we stopped to witness a huge police cavalcade flanking a couple of black limos. Not sure which famous Italians were going somewhere but they were certainly making a statement.

Arriving at the Synagogue we were faced with very strict security before arriving in the prayer hall. We were fortunate that one of the community members  had just started giving a talk on the synagogue and the history of the Firenze Jewish congregation especially their place in the Holocaust story. It appears as though the Catholic Cardinal of Florence and the chief Rabbi worked together to try to protect the Jewish community, secreting many of them in convents and monasteries. As a result the loses to the Firenze Jewish community were much lower than the overall Italian impact of approximately 25%+ Jewish mortality. The work in the synagogue is rich and amazing... built in the 1800’s and only slightly damaged during the Nazi retreat in 1944. The mechitzah is huge surrounding the synagogue on 3 sides and four rows deep. It is a beautiful prayerful place and I am glad that we visited. 

We caught the number 6 bus back into Florence and then got adventurous and decided on a tram ride to the outer suburb of Villa Costanza for a look before grabbing the bags and heading to the station to catch the fast train to Roma. It was a very fast ride.

The 'entertainment' on the train back to Rome was provided unwittingly by a brash midwest American couple who sat opposite us across the aisle. They had been ripped off by a local who demanded money to put their bags up in the luggage locker. During the entire trip to Rome they prattled on, the wife especially, constantly disturbing the Italian doctor who was sitting opposite them. They wanted advice on where to eat and were surprised because they had never heard of spaghetti Carbonara!. This woman was a crushing bore... and she disclosed that she was a psychologist... a family court therapist to be precise... one wonders how she could possibly have been quiet for long enough. So glad they weren't making the trip on the airport express tonight and so we moved to the end of the carriage and gathered our bags ready to leap off. Then we walked straight onto the Leonardo Express straight out to the airport and the Airport Hilton Hotel, our domicile for the final eve in Roma. A bit of a hike from the terminal, but by the time we got there, bed never looked so good.

Day 28: Venezia … of Vaporettos, vaulting ceilings and gondolas, gondolas and gondolas!

Sun shining and train tickets in hand we hurried through breakfast this morning to ensure that we were at the station in plenty of time for our fast train to Venice. I was very excited at the possibility of seeing this city of canals and majestic buildings and knew that it would be a fun day ahead. The Trenitalia high speed train gets up to speeds of in excess of 250kmph as it wends its way north, initially through a series of very long tunnels and then beyond the rolling Tuscan hills onto the flat of north eastern  Italy and across the causeway style bridge in Venice, Santa  Lucia.

Stepping out of the railway station I couldn’t believe my eyes. No seedy rundown buildings not grey and drab as has been the case near many of the major railway stations we have visited in Europe. Not here in Venice… out of the train, into a piazza swarming with tourists and there before my very eyes, the Grand Canal! Wow, pinch me… I am in Venice! We stopped at the tourist information booth to collect our tickets to allow us 12 hours of transport on the Vaporettos or Water buses... perhaps best described as small ferries ( for my pilgrim friends, strangely not a lot smaller than our little ‘boat’ across the Aegean!!!) These are the mainstay of transport in Venice as everything is done by water or on foot, so one of the first things that struck me was that you are not so likely to get mown down by a kamikaze cab driver or cyclist in Venice, because every block or two you have to negotiate the stairs to go up and over a bridge crossing yet another canal. 

Our first stop was the Jewish ghetto, established in the 1500’s when Jewish residents were denied the right of freedom in the city and were contained in the ghetto by night curfews and not allowed to belong to the trade guilds. This paints a terrible picture of anti-Semitism, part of the Jewish story for so long. The ghetto is tiny: entry is gained through a small insignificant laneway opening and beyond that there is a winding street which opens into a piazza which contains no fewer than 5 synagogues, representing Italian Jewry, German Jewry and Ashkenazi and Sephardi groups. There are two monuments mounted on the walls of the piazza: one marks the final train that left the ghetto bound for the death camps and it tells the name of the residents of the ghetto who perished during WWII. The other is a general Holocaust memorial cast in bronze images, and with barbed wire above it. Even in the bright sunshine, there is a somber feeling at these monuments … they tell a devastating story of man’s inhumanity to man and I am taken back in my mind to the day in Dachau two years earlier when the sky had cried. Overwhelming. That the Jewish people continue to maintain their story in the face of such adversity is remarkable and as I reflect I look across the square to see an orthodox Jewish man standing in tallit in the doorway of his store, and the physical reminder of faith displayed in the prayer shawl says it all.  We paused for a quick coffee in a kosher café in the ghetto before heading off to find our water bus and our first trip, should I say cruise, on the Grand Canal.

We were heading in the direction of St Mark’s Square, and Chris was quite excited as we passed under the Rialto Bridge. It was of this bridge that was the painting that had hung on the wall of his parent’s place and it brought back lots of memories of home. As we cruised along we noticed the huge variation in upkeep of the properties: some of them in serious need of paint and some of them simply stunning. Arriving at Salute, we were interested in the church which was right at the stop so we disembarked for a closer look. This was a baroque church, smallish, but with lovely paintings on the walls and an exquisitely carved high altar. It was another peaceful little oasis in a bustling city and we noted that mass was on at 4pm this arvo with Organ vespers from 3.30pm. We filed that thought away for future reference and boarded the vaporetto for St Mark’s Square. 

I knew that St Mark’s square was big, as did Chris, but neither of us realized the extent of it, nor the intricate beauty of the work that adorns the church and the adjoining palace. What a place and it was bustling with people. We were drawn to watch the clock in the square that strikes on the hour… unfortunately 1pm is not as interesting a chime but still it was very beautiful.   A wander around one side of the square revealed a little laneway and we followed it to find a small restaurant and bar where we share a Capriossa pizza, topped with ham, olives, mushrooms, mozzarella and baby artichokes… Yum. Then a wander to find a Venetian geleteria. Didn’t have to look far for that either. Double yum. Having wandered the perimeter of the square and listened to the musicians playing in front of some of the posh restaurants it was time to visit the church. St Mark’s has the most amazing mosaics I have seen in my time in Europe. It rivals Hagia Sophia! Every available upper surface is covered. I wished that I could have taken photographs of these mosaics as they were beautiful, but they will be etched in my mind forever, What was also amazing about the church was the “roller-coaster” that was the floor. Problems with flooding and subsidence in Venice have caused incredibly uneven flooring which needed to be covered by matting for safety! You have to wonder about the long term viability of such a project. 

We wandered further along the waterfront on this bright sunny day, doing a spot of shopping and people watching. It was a magical day. We saw the Bridge of Sighs that connects the palace with the prison and along the waterfront we saw gondolas gondolas gondolas and MORE gondolas!!! Monty Python fans will know exactly what I mean when I say their writing team must have been to Venice. We were not tempted to ride.. having seen a water ambulance fly past us at high speed while we were on the vaporetta and having been tossed in its wake we didn’t fancy the thought of potentially ending up in the drink!! But they were beautiful to watch and the gondoliers bedecked in their navy and white or red and white striped shirts looked sooooo Venetian and they must be super fit!!!

We decided to go back to Mass at Santa Maria Salute… or the church of St Mary of Good Health. It seemed like a highly appropriate place to attend Mass for us at present and it was an intimate affair with only about 10 of us in the congregation. Mass was proceeded by Organ vespers, and the beautiful music transported my weary self to another place. Mass over, we hopped back on the waterbus to Rialto, but decided to swap there as this particular vaporetto had a real problem and was making a shocking noise and smell!! We went all the way back to the railway before finding somewhere for dinner. As we had not yet sampled genuine Italian spaghetti and gnocchi we shared 4 cheese gnocchi and pesto spaghetti!! Yum. And you don’t get any prizes for guessing what was for dessert. Yummy gelato of course! A mooch around the laneways and shops and it was time to board the train back to Florence and to sit and reflect on what a fabulous time we had shared in vivacious Venezia!!! We even caught a Venitian sunset on the way back to Tuscany. What a bonus.

Day 27: Finding the fabulous and frivolous in fantastic Florence … or should that be Firenze!

Firenze Card in hand we embarked on the first day of museum crawling through Florence after another very yummy breakfast. Our first stop today was to be the Uffizi gallery and to get there we went exploring Florence on foot, passing by the Duomo with its impressive façade, tower and baptistery and we landed in the square near the Uffizi to find sculptures contained in an open structure that looked a bit like a church and a line of other sculptures, one looking suspiciously like David! This was puzzling but we pushed on down to the museum.

We had been warned of the long queues at the Uffizi gallery and so wanted to ensure that we were there before the crush. The Firenze card promises that you can jump the queue to gain entrance to the museums and they were certainly correct here... straight through, bypassing the developing line. The Uffizi is home to a storehouse of artworks, from a sculpture gallery from the antiquities featuring busts and full body sculptures in marble, some in three and four different types of marble. It also houses a phenomenal array of painting, especially early Italian religious art from the 12-14^th century and many many renaissance painters, especially Florentine ones. Tracing the development of the religious artworks from the very two dimensional and iconic style of the eastern churches through to a more three dimensional style is really interesting and brought back a whole host of memories of artworks we had seen in churches throughout our time in Europe. Giottos, Cimabues and those from these schools were there. We even tested Eminence’s theory about the suffering Christ portrayed on the crucifix in the pre Francis and post Francis time and the theory held up pretty well in many of the Giotto inspire crucifixes in the gallery.

We then hit rooms 10 to 14 and there before our eyes was Botticelli’s Venus on a half shell. La Nascita di Venere. otherwise known as the Birth of Venus. WOW is about the only word for it. This gallery was fairly busy but there were benches provided in the centre of the room and it was fabulous to sit there and watch, allowing the artwork to engulf you as Rosemary Crumlin would say. It was truly beautiful and an amazing experience to see the work in real life, along with other Botticellis and works by his lesser known (to me) contemporaries. The next room was to contain Leonardo’s Magi, but to my disappointment it is not in the gallery at present as it is being restored. There were other beautiful works but not the one I had hoped to see. 

The Uffizi is built in a U shape and was we crossed the base of the U we glimpsed a good view of the Ponte Vecchio, but more on that later. Michelangelo and friends featured strongly on this side of the Uffizi with some amazing renaissance painting demonstrating portraiture, patronage and full bodied forms. There were works by artists I had never heard of that were very beautiful, and I really liked a couple of the Raphaels. After a break on the gallery roof for a quick drink and a view toward the Duomo we ventured downstairs in search of the Caravaggios. En route we found a most amazing display of tapestries, some with religious stories and some with courtly and historical stories. Their fine woven work and golden highlights were positively amazing and there was even a tapestry displayed in reverse so as to demonstrate the “back” showing the way the weaver drags their threads and finishes the work. I will never be embarrassed about the reverse side of an embroidery again!!! There were also some displays of tapestry materials and an explanation of the craft. Our final gallery was the Caravaggio group and while many were of his contemporaries, the work featuring the nativity and the light emanating from the child Jesus face was a fantastic example of the use of light in the works... and to think that until I had seen the Conversion of St Paul in the church in Rome I had never seen a Caravaggio either in real life or even in a book! This gallery was a great experience.

Uffizi complete it was on to the Ponte Vecchio. This is an amazing bridge as it is lined with shops on either side and apparently has a passing lane of the upper level so that the well to do did not have to share the crossing of the river with the lower throngs. Today the retail across the bridge is gold city. Jewelry shop after jewelry shop, maybe 40 in all with bright sparkling wares. This interspersed with souvenir sellers made for an interesting experience and just throngs of people, some strolling, some crossing with intent. It was our intent to head towards the Pitti Palace to see what was there and to stroll in the Boboli gardens. The costume exhibit was closed which was a pity as it was one I would have liked to have seen, but the gardens provided a beautiful vista and the view across Florence from here was pretty special too. We spent a little time here before finding lunch just off the main strip on our way back to the Ponte Vecchio where we grabbed a mandatory gelato for the stroll back towards the centre. We even found the “Straw market”, not much straw here these days, really only leather merchants and scarf sellers, but it did give me a bit of exposure to some very nice bags and wallets. Love comparative shopping and on this pilgrimage I have not had a huge opportunity to shop. Poor Chris!!!

We strolled back towards the Duomo and made a visit, again experiencing that sense of being captured and enveloped by the grandeur of the space. It was a little noisy but most of the people were more respectful than they had been in the Duomo in Sienna the day before. We noted that Mass was 6pm with vespers at 5.30 and so wondered if we might make it back to share that experience. We wandered back towards Santa Maria Novella in search of the leather market and we found it... a bit like the Temple Street market in Hong Kong except during the day, stall after stall in the streets near the Medici chapel and the Piazza de San Loernezo. It was fun looking and comparing and we did get Chris a tie… and I found leather bag that I liked so that was a bonus. But of course shopping is such an exhausting experience so we went back to the hotel for a rest before heading back to the Duomo for Mass at 6pm. 

Unfortunately vespers were not on today, in spite of the sign suggesting that they were so we hung out in the square with coffee and wandered the area until 6 when Mass started. Mass in Italian is an interesting experience, it is easier to understand than Mass in German and the side chapel in the Duomo where the Mass was held was lovely. It is difficult however when the homily is in a foreign language and it goes on for over 12 minutes! We decided on dinner in the Piazza Duomo after Mass, risotto and pasta are such Italian things to have for dinner and we found a lovely cake shop and took a little pastry home to have with a cuppa. A stroll back through the markets as they were closing was an interesting experience, the marketers being replaced by the street hawkers selling splat toys, copy watches and copy bags, all laid out on their sheets in case the police come along for a raid. The end of another fabulous and footsore day of pilgrimage!

Day 26: Under the Tuscan Sun

Well it didn’t actually look like there was going to be much sun in Tuscany at the start of our day, but things certainly improved as we set out to tour the hill towns of Tuscany, affectionately known in Aldertonland as “The Gigglies” due to our total inability to pronounce polysyllabic Italian names! First, breakfast in a Japanese styled breakfast room that served an interesting mixed breakfast, everything from muesli to chocolate cannoli and all points in between… you could even have bacon with that if you wished and the peach black tea was very nice. On to the tour.

Meeting the bus was a cinch as the meeting point was literally right next door to our hotel, and we clambered into yet another European coach, but this one had the steepest stairs I have seen in the last month. Bus full, off we went for our first stop Sienna.

The bus had to park well outside the city walls and the town was not really at all like I had imagined it to be. It is built on a saddle or a ridgeline with the Church of St Dominic and St Catherine on one side, the far side of the triangle taken up with the Duomo and the midpoint of the triangle being the shell shaped Sienna Square, home to the Palio. In between these three key landmarks we walked up and down, across very uneven cobblestones and dodged vehicles in all directions. It was really quite unsafe especially when the ambulance came barreling through. Our first stop was morning tea in the square. This is where the Palio horserace is held twice, in July and August each year. 10 of the local regions out of 17 are able to provide a horse and jockey and the they ride three circuits of this incredibly tight square. We had seen a DVD about the Palio on the bus on the way to Sienna and it appears to be a total blood sport, jockeys thrown, horses galloping with gay abandon. And the interesting rule… the horse that finishes first wins, jockey or not!!!. It is almost barbaric but clearly a part if Sienese culture for many years. Today of course there was no sand on the cobblestones, and the umbrellas from the local cafes lined the square, beckoning us to sit for an Americano and some biscotti and people watching. Then we were flocked together again and headed off to the Duomo.

The façade of this building is beautiful. Apparently the original plan had been for this to be the narthex of a bigger cathedral but the grand plans came to a screaming halt with the Plague of the 14^th century where two thirds of the town died!!! We queued to enter and once inside, the words of the Cardinal were ringing in my ears when he said that the places of worship of our tradition were more than “art galleries for agnostics”. Unfortunately that is exactly what the Sienna Duomo felt like… I was really missing my pilgrims, and the wise conversation and prayer sharing in sacred places. It was even hard to find a seat to block out the noise and quietly pray. Having looked closely at the very attractive flooring especially the Sybils in the limestone it was time to move on again in this somewhat disinterested tour group
.

The third stop was a lunch stop all the way around near the Church of St Dominic and St Catherine. Some in the group went off to have a sit down lunch but we opted for our own Panini and gelato and a stroll around, followed by a quick visit to the church. This one was much less ornate than the Duomo, but it was also very quiet which was lovely. There was a prayerful atmosphere here, and while I wasn’t quite ready for St Catherine’s head, it was a lovely place and the contemporary stained glass in the apse looked a little bit like a primary school colouring in picture… bright and colourful. The members of the group finally sauntered back, unlike our pilgrims who had been so timely for the last month, and we wandered back and boarded the bus for our next destination, Monteriggioni. 

I think that this one is Chris’s favourite hill town. It is a completely walled medieval town that is on the Via Francigena. The views from the town are beautiful and it has a lovely old church from Crusader days as well as some gorgeous little boutique shops. Chris enthusiastically climbed the town walls and took photos while I photographed him from the ground. Think I got the better end of the arrangement! Then it was off to collect the next Hill town, San Gimignano. 

This is a much larger hill town and not still completely walled, but it commands amazing views across the Tuscan hills and has dual piazzas and very interesting buildings and streets. Again the shopping was nice to browse and the only trouble was a very long toilet queue and the mandatory 50 eurocents for the queue privilege. We found a little laneway with a stunning view of the valley and just soaked up the hill town atmosphere. Arriving back at the bus there were latecomers again… one of the reasons that Chris and I prefer to be independent travelers… and when the bus finally came it was a welcome sight because today we had down a fair bit of hiking up and down and the legs knew it.

The final stop of the day was a local winery to taste the produce, both Chianti and a local white wine as well as some extra virgin olive oil. I admit to not being a fan of Chianti, but I have to admit that the olive oil was lovely. Then it was time for the trip back to Florence, complete with traffic jam and a quick bite to eat at the station before the hotel and a well-earned night’s sleep.Dreams of hilltowns and rolling hills bouncing in my head. Go the Gigglies!

Day 25: Tears in the sky.. Tears in the eyes. Another adventure begins

If you don’t count Gallipoli because we didn’t actually GO to bed, this was our earliest wake-up call of the pilgrimage and it was to be the last. Today, the pilgrimage sort of officially ends as the group makes its way back to Rome and Sydney via Singapore or off in different directions. So 4.20 was an early wake up for a 5am breakfast, but it was important to get up and share the meal and farewell the group as Chris and I would make our way today to Florence via train at 9.30 am. As the time came to board the bus there were hugs and a few tears as the group headed down the hill and out of sight. The grey drizzly sky a motif for the tears in the hearts of all as it was finally time to end.

Once the packing was over Chris and I left by cab for the railway station in Assisi, being taken down a back road that afforded a stupendous view of this beautiful hill town. It was cold on the station so we had a coffee in the little café before boarding the train, lugging the suitcases with us and finding a fairly comfortable seat in first class for the 2.5 hr trip to Firenze. The countryside was obscured by misty rain in some parts but appeared to change a bit as we moved from Umbria into Tuscany. 

The Waldorf Suites are literally opposite the Santa Maria Novella Railway station in Florence and that is where we are staying for our four nights. It is always a risk when you book a hotel on the net, but wow, did Chris do a great job with this one. We have been upgraded to a suite on the fourth floor and so we are in a one bedroom apartment style room with two bathrooms. Fancy having a bathroom each. There is some view to the distant hills, but the bus depot definitely doesn’t count. It is a fabulous hotel and a great location. 

No time wasted, after check in we hit the railway food court, grabbed a Panini for lunch and boarded the next train to Pisa, destination the Duomo and the Leaning Tower. Some serious rain followed on the train trip but it was just bleak and drizzly when we hit Pisa and made the 2km hike to the Field of Miracles. There was the Tower. What a phenomenal thing it is that it can LEAN on the angle it does and yet still remain standing. Mandatory silly pics taken, along with a few serious ones and it was time for afternoon tea in a lovely café nearby the Duomo. Wickedness! As we walked back to the station the rain got worse and it became a quite unpleasant afternoon, so the sooner we were on the train and back to Florence the better. Dinner followed, again at the railway cafeteria and then, just exhausted after the early morning start, we went back to the hotel and readied for sleepy time. Another lovely day over.

Day 24: Brother Sun and Sister Moon: Francesco, Chiara, Solitude and community

The dawn broke though wispy cloud to reveal a blue sky over Assisi for our day exploring this ancient holy place. Waking to church bells peeling all over the town is such a lovely sound, an ancient call to prayer, this time from our tradition. Today was to be a day of  walking for the most part as the centre of Assisi has significant restrictions on vehicles and as the medieval festival is currently underway there are even more road closures and things happening. The first stop after a yummy breakfast featuring healthy options like ricotta and pear tarts (well maybe not so healthy, just don’t tell the dietician!), was to visit the basilica of St Francis in Assisi a short walk from the hotel. This is a three leveled basilica, the ramp up from the street leads to the lower basilica featuring several chapels; the road down from the main square leads to the upper basilica and below the lower basilica is the tomb of St Francis, built on the Hill of Hell where he asked to be buried. 

As we were waiting to enter the basilica at 9am there was a man dressed in a hair shirt crawling up the pavement towards the basilica on his knees. Our guide Giuseppe warned us not to engage with him or anyone associated with him because he belongs to a cult group and they are very destructive and have nothing to do with the Franciscans. There was a lively interchange between one of the “followers’ and Giuseppe when the follower got too close to our group. 9am saved us and we entered the lower basilica to see magnificent frescoes by Cimabue and other early Tuscan painters. This basilica is an example of early Gothic architecture in Italy and is one of the first churches to feature stained glass as a way of adding beauty while providing light. Apparently the Italians shunned the Gothic style of architecture as it came from the north, but as Francis had some French ancestry, it was decided to build the large basilica in a style that was inspired by France, hence the Gothic style. We briefly visited the crypt to say a short prayer however Mass was being said down there so we had to pass by fairly quickly. After exploring the damaged frescoes in the side chapels near the stairs and learning that they cannot be replaced because there is a fine line between restoration and renewal, we climbed the steep stars towards the upper basilica, landing in a beautiful courtyard cloistered area. I can imagine it filled with dozens of monks in their long brown robes, praying their morning office.

More stairs and the upper basilica was revealed. Here I just stood and shook. It was so beautiful. Very understated in many ways, but the frescoes of Giotto like "St Francis Preaching to the Birds" that line the walls of the nave are just magnificent in every way. It is unfortunate that the ones by Cimabue have not stood the test of time, possibly due to impatience in not wanting to wait for the plaster to cure with the paint! My favorite is probably Francis with the birds and when we had seen this work we were presented with a holy card from one of the Franciscan priests that had been blessed at the tomb of Francis. It was such a great honour. Cathedral tour over it was time for a quick cuppa in the town before Mass so we hiked up to the coffee shop via a lovely garden area featuring the word Peace and the Tau symbol which Francis used as a cross. We became a victim of this very strange Italian ordering system…. You stand on one side of the store in a queue, pay for your cup of coffee and then queue to actually order it from the barista who really didn’t seem very interested in making take away Americano coffees for Aussies in a hurry.

Mass was held in the lower level of the monastery centre. The chapel was spartan, as you might expect from the Franciscan world, but very beautiful and the peace of Assisi emanated from everywhere in that chapel. Sam preached on what the Spirit brings... "Love peace patience….” The list was endless and so appropriate in this place of peace. After Mass it was free time and fellow pilgrims could be seen shopping – a pilgrim ritual that is very important to some – and there was also evidence of pizza, panini and gelato, some staple Italian food groups. Chris and I settled for panini and I has my first cannoli. Yummmmm.

After lunch we gathered back on the concourse to load into cabs for a very steep drive in 8 seater cabs towards the Franciscan hermitage, high in the hills beyond the town of Assisi. It is here that Francis would escape to and live in solitude in caves, spending time in prayer. The hermitage there today is very old, dating back to Francis’ time and provides some accommodation for about 5 people to attend retreat. It is the most beautiful and peaceful place. We wandered thought the original tiny building and the pathways and doorway were so tiny it was a bit like being back in the underground city in Cappadocia. The location is utterly beautiful and the only sound around the place is the sound of bird calls. Absolute peace and a magnificent view over the Assisi valley.

Back in the cabs it was slightly further down the mountain to the church of San Damiano and the foundation house of the Poor Clare sisters and place of St Clare’s death. It was in the chapel here that Francis heard the crucifix speak to him with the message that he needed to go and rebuild the crumbling church. An interesting message for Francis who did just that  and the original crucifix hangs in the large church of St Chiara in the Assisi town centre, but could equally well have applied to Francis the peacemaker who travelled to Egypt and built relations with the Sultan. Initially perhaps his aim had been to convert him or be martyred, but in their exchange the Sultan came to respect Francis as a man of peace.

 There is much our troubled church of today could learn from Francis and perhaps as educators we too need to take seriously the message of the crucifix to “rebuild the church” as a place of peace and inclusivity. St Damiano is also important today as St Clare’s place of death, and her final resting place is also the St Chiara Church. My favourite thing about St Damiano is that this was the place where Francis composed the Canticle of Creation – Brother Sun and sister Moon and the others reinforcing the beauty and grandeur of God’s creation. The sense of stewardship is strong in this peaceful place. It is very beautiful.

The final stop on the tour today was back in the town at the church of St Chiara to see the relics and to pray before the crucifix. It was here that the cardinal told us about the St Francis experience of the crucifix. Apparently on the original crucifix which we saw in the chapel, the body of Jesus is like a living body, with eyes open. In the neighbouring part of the church there is a post Francis version of the cross and it shows a more tortured and “dead” Jesus. The two versions have implications for Christology… the divine and human natures of Christ and the cost of suffering. It was something I had not been aware of before and I really like this particular image of the crucifix as we had one out at Marayong in Geoff’s time there.

Tour over it was time for a gelato and a stroll back to the hotel. As the medieval festival was on in the town square it was necessary to go the long way round and so we strolled down hill to get to the hotel with time to freshen up for our vigil Mass and to gather our holy things for a cardinal’s blessing tonight at our final vigil mass. While Mass was cozy in the hotel bar area, it was lovely and Eminence told us that he was happy to bless the “2 tons” of religious iconography because these aids were tangible reminders of the faith and the tradition.


It was hard to believe that we had celebrated our final Mass together and we sang Sing a Blessing to bless each other as we head off tomorrow on our separate ways. Dinner followed the Mass and then the speeches and thank yous. There were more than a few damp eyes as we expressed our gratitude to Chris Hingerty, Chris Hohnen, Deacon Sam, Dr Dan and Eminence or THE CARDInal as we had come to know him. Our last night together... it seems like forever ago that we started and now it is almost over. What an amazing ride this has been.