Vacanza, Part 2

Allora. The second part of my trip was nice. I was by myself which had a tendency to be a bit lonely, but in the end I really enjoyed it. It's nice to know that I'm independent enough to travel on my own and that I have enough knowledge of the language to communicate. So first was Assisi. After a decent bus ride, I hopped off the pullman and I walked around pretty aimlessly and talked to some people. Needless to say, there was a lot of church visiting while in Assisi.

First, St. Francis. It's got upper and lower churches with gorgeous frescoes. My favorite was the lower church which was older than the other. While I'm not a huge fan of crypts, I managed to work up the nerve to enter them in Assisi. I read that St. Francis chose the spot of his basilica as his burial site because originally it was the Collo d'Inferno (Hill of Hell) or the place criminals were killed. Since some of his followers were devoted to the idea of building the church it's now known as the Collo di Paradiso. Knowing what I do about his teachings, I'm not so sure St. Francis would've been happy, but as one of the most popular destinations for pilgrims, I think maybe things might balance out. I was also a huge fan of St. Clara's Basilica, anchoring the other side of Assisi. Saw some others and even went to vespers mass at St. Rufinus. That night I ate some pizza, took a great walk, and was able to see Perugia down the hill. I stayed in a hostel and I think I was the ONLY person in the whole place. Nice, safe place with some peace and quiet--not for 15 euro!

The next morning I took another stroll to the train station for the trip into Perugia. I have to admit that I was a bit surprised at the city at first! I had heard that it'd be a bit like Siena, but that's not quite accurate. There were so many cars and the drivers didn't have much patience for pedestrians. This was a bit of a put-off at first, but when I FINALLY made it to the center (it took a while for various reasons) I really enjoyed myself. I bought a panino and ate it on the steps of the Basilica di San Lorenzo, which I also visited. Lucky for me, I was able to catch up with Alissa, another student from Meredith. She gave me a tour of the city and I met all of her friends. One of them performed a great magic show and after that we had a fun night hanging out with them like the Italian students by the Fontana Maggiore. The next morning Alissa was on her way to Venice, so I was out and about early. I decided to sit and write in my journal in a park that looks out onto the gorgeous Umbrian hills and by chance I met a man from NBC. He asked me to "model" for a news story on the Amanda Knox case so my hands were on the Today Show! That was pretty exciting.

In fine, it was also nice to be able to move at whatever speed I wished and there was some good thinking time, but I quite like travelling with someone else with whom I can share my experience. But for now, I'm back "home" and loving it!