Assisi

We left about 11 am for the train station. On our way out the door we met our host, Allessandro; we had previously met his spouse, Asadeh.   He was just as gracious as she was, and promised to consider carefully our comments, especially since we had stayed for six nights, while most of their guests only stay for two nights.   He explained that they have five apartments that they rent out, but they do not own them, they rent them from others.   He said that they have learned a lot about what is appealing to their visitors, and are perhaps now ready to buy a property.

The train station was busy and a bit chaotic.  Sandi waited in line at the pharmacy, and gave up, due to a long line.  We took a number to buy a train ticket from a human, but realized that the wait would be measured in hours, not minutes.  We tried again to use the ticket machine, with an attendant to help us if needed, and this time the machine worked, we were able to buy a ticket from Assisi to Rome.  I made a mistake and bought first class tickets instead of second class, but that was only a few dollars difference, and now we will get to ride the first class cars of a local (regional) train to Rome.

We waited to find out our track number, and it came up on the board about 10 minutes before departure.  As we were getting to the train, someone took our bags and hauled them on board.  Not too surprisingly, they wanted a tip.  A learning experience.

The train ride was pleasant, through the Tuscan and Umbrian countryside.  The train stopped every few minutes.   We chatted with some Australians in the adjacent seats, and exchanged travel tips.  We took a cab to the convent of St. Brigida.  The sisters have a ministry of hospitality, including similar houses in Rome and other cities.   After we dropped off our luggage, we walked up to town, taking elevators and escalators to do so.    

Our first stop was at the church of St. Chiara (St. Clare), who was the first female follower of St. Francis, and founded the order of the Poor Clares.   We happened to be there when a Spanish language mass was starting, for a group of pilgrims from Lima Peru.  We stayed for mass  The Spanish mass really made me feel at home.  Afterwords I chatted with a couple of the pilgrims, impressing Sandi with my Spanish.  This church, like most of the churches here, is in alternating pink and white marble.

We continued walking, and saw a sign for St. Damiano.  I remembered that San Damiano was where the cross spoke to Francis, telling him to "rebuild my church, which is falling into ruins."   San Damiano was a very tranquil and spiritual place, with only a handful of pilgrims.   We both liked San  Damiano very much.   However, the walk back up to town was long and steep.

The sisters served us and the other guests dinner.  The sisters have a unique habit, including white bands with red dots on their heads.   Our room is simple, like a convent room.  The wifi is only available in the sitting room downstairs.  The patio is divine, with a view of the surrounding countryside.  

On Wednesday we headed back up to town to follow the Rick Steves audio walking tour of the town, which was quite interesting, including the Roman  colliseum, and finishing in fromt of the Basilica.  After lunch, we used his audio guide to the Basilica, paying special attention to the Giotto frescoes.

The photo is of Richard with Sr. Marcelina, the Mother Superior and manager of the guest house. 

More Florence

Saturday morning we slept in, and went shopping in the very nice central mercado. 

Saturday afternoon, we visited the San Lorenzo church, one of the major churches in Florence.  Interestingly, they never installed the facade, it is still rough. This included some bronze panels by Michelangelo.

In the evening, we went to the English language mass at the Duomo. While waiting for the Saturday evening mass, we sat and people watched near the Duomo

On Sunday, we got up early and visited the Acadamia, where the original statue of Daviid is located.  We had an early admission ticket, so we were ahead of the masses.  In addition to MIchaelanglo's statue of David, there was an exhibit of art related to St. Francis.    In a separate part of the museum, there were also interesting musical instruments, including Stradivarius violins By the time we were ready to leave, the place was packed with tour groups.     

After the Acadamia, we went to the central market, where we had lunch.

Sunday evening, we went to vespers, and then to a mass with an organ.   Yes, we have been attending several masses at the Duomo, each for it's own reason.

We ended up sitting right next to the organist.   After mass we chatted with him for a few minutes.   Sandi's sister Peg is the music director for her church, so we had something in common with him.  He was a super-nice guy, and suggested that if Peg visited she could play his amazing organ.  His name is David Jackson; he has a father from Birmingham and a mother from Florence.  He has two PhDs, including one in composition.   The closing music was improvised, which made it especially impressive.   We made a video of him playing the closing music, putting it up as a private video on Youtube.   

We had a nice dinner at a restaurant off the main square, with a very nice waiter,  watching his family eat dinner, and then went to a chamber orchestra concert, including Vivaldi's Four Seasons and Mozaart's A Little Night Music.

On Monday morning, we headed for the church of the Santa Croce, another huge and impressive church, containing the tombs of Dante, Galileo, Machiavelli, and Michelangelo.  An amazing collection of people to be in one city, let alone buried in one church.

We went to our favorite panini place, for the third time; they remembered us.   

After lunch we headed for the church of Santa Maria Novelle, near the train station.  It was perhaps a bit less impressive than the other churches, but had interesting frescos.

Sandi needed to make a business call, but we easily made it back to the apartment in time.  

Tuesday we will leave at noon for Assisi.

  

Florence and Siena

We took the vaporetto to the train station, where we took the frecciargento  high speed train to Florence. It was not truly high speed on that trip, but nice. It speeds up as it gets closer to Rome. Our seat mate was a mischievous English teacher, who bantered with us, and told us that all Italians would try to cheat us.

We bumped our luggage down the bumpy sidewalks of Florence to our apartment, where Asadeh met us in the street, recognizing my photo. The apartment is a studio, and felt like a NYC apartment, but perfectly adequate, with a great  location. We can see the Duomo church from our balcony. 

We found a great panini place and walked around the amazing Duomo church. We bought tickets to the Uffuzi museum, and then walked across the Ponte Vecchio, and up a steep walkway to the Plaza Michelangelo, with a great view of the city.

We had dinner in Bevo Vino, a funky cafe near the river.

Thursday we got up early to go the Uffuzi; we had tickets for 8:15, so we were ahead of the masses.   It was a bit overwhelming.  It was amazing to think of one family with so much wealth and art.  Sandi thinks that she has a better understanding of the Renaissance.  We admired the open air statues in the Plaza Veccio.  At that point we were on art overload, so we went back to the panini place, and took an afternoon nap.  In the evening we went to mass at the Duomo. We went to bed early to get ready for a big day on Friday.

Friday was an all day tour to San Gimagnano and Sienna.  We started at San Gimignano, a hill town and a UNESCO world heritage site.  it is well preserved, and unique for the towers found on many of the houses.  The town was full of busloads of tourists, but it was possible to get off the main road and see a little on our own.  Sandi spent some time and money in the leather market, but managed to show some restraint.

For lunch, we went to a vinyard, tasting wines, olive oil, and truffle oil, which they would be happy to ship to your home.  The guy was quite a saleman.

In Siena, we had a short tour of the town, and then just spent time in the plazas people watching.  The town's peak was earlier than others, so the archtecture is Gothic.  A lot of the economy of the town is and has been based on banking, for hundreds of years.  Siena is famous for the Palio horse race in the square, with neighborhoods competing with each other.  If you want to see it, you need to book a year in advance.   

On the way back to Florence, we stopped at another smaller hill town and fortress, Monteriggoni.  Many movies have been shot there.   Monteriggoni and Sienna are on the pilgrimage route to Rome, the Via Francigena.  Like the camino a Santiago, this has undergone a resurgence of popularily.   

A long day but a good day.

Saturday we slept in, and had a liesurely breakfast.   We headed for the central market, which was very busy and somewhat upscale, but with vegetables and other market products along with fancy food.  We spent $10 to stock our larder.      

In the afternoon, we visited the San Lorenzo church, another amazing church, where Michelangelo and other great artists worked.  

We went to the English mass at the Duomo, and then sat for an hour watching people. Sandi prepared a nice pasta meal. 

More Venice

On Sunday morning we went to the nearby church, of Jeremiah and Saint Lucia. The mass was in Italian of course, so we only understood a few words. 

After mass we walked around, and discovered the body of St. Lucia in a glass case. St Lucia is from the fourth century, and is a relatively well known saint, associated with healing of eye diseases. 

After lunch, we walked a short distance to where we could see the Grand Canal, for the Historical Regatta. The water bus system was shut down for the event. After the historical regatta/parade, there were races in different classes. The women's race turned around a buoy right in front of us.  

After the race, we walked to the other side of the island to catch a boat to Murano, where we ate dinner in the same restaurant, Osteria al Duomo.  We are enjoying our boat pass. 

Monday was churches day. The most impressive was the Suola San Rocco, 8000 square feet of Tintoretto.  The nicest church building was Santa Miracoli, with bookmatched marble inside and out. 

We saw a very nice modern art piece by Jaume Piensa at San Giorgio. 

The fish market outside our door. 

 

On Tuesday we visited the Ca'Rezzona modern art and Oriental museum. The piece below is particularly pointed due to the refugee crisis. There is a beggar in the lower left, as well as razor wire. The text is 'It is not a good day to be human.'

After a good lunch in the museum cafe, we took a boat to the beach at Lido. We liked Lido, very calm this time of year. 

We tried to stop by the biennial art show, but tickets were 25 euros, and it was late. We headed home, where Sandi cooked a good dinner. 

Tomorrow we take the train to Florence.  We could have stayed another week.  

Denver to Venice

Our trip started with a 3 AM alarm, followed by a 4:10 pickup. We got on a United flight to Newark, and tried to sleep.

 In Newark, Sandi used her United Club passes. I had never been in an airline club, and was surprised with the free food and free drinks. There was good wifi, and a sense of quiet. A good call on Sandi's part.

The flight to Venice was long, but uneventful. We arrived Thursday morning, and waited 45 minutes for Sandi's bag. Apparently the Venice airport is known for slow baggage. After some confusion due to lack of signs, we found  the dock, and bought a ticket to Venice. What could be more appropriate than arriving in Venice by boat?

Elisabetta was waiting for us at the Guglie dock, and took us to a lovely apartment. We ate lunch at the cafe next door, very nice. 

We were very tired, so we took a nap after lunch.  We bought a chip and data for Richard's phone. We took a lengthy walk through the Cannaregio neighborhood, and got away from the tourist area. We had dinner near the apartment. 

Friday morning we woke up early, and took a walk to San Marco plaza. There  was already a long line for the church, so we had a nice buffet breakfast in a fancy hotel. 

Richard was fascinated by the garbage system, which was running nearby while we were eating. The garbage is collected by handcarts. The worker pulls the cart to the dock. The garbage scow has a small crane, which picks up the cart and puts it on a dumping station. The bottom of the cart drops, and the garbage is then pushed and compressed by a ram.  The crane sets the empty cart back on the dock. The garbage is picked up daily by an army of men pushing handcarts. There are handcarts everywhere, delivering everything. 

We went to the Doge palace, which was sensory and opulence overload, with huge halls filled with decoration and paintings.  Amazing.   We also visited the prison, a stark contrast. 

After that we decided that we did not want to see another museum, so we took a boat back to our apartment, stopping at the Rialto market to buy vegetables. After a nap, we got on the first boat and found  ourselves at dusk on a boat to Murano, where we had a nice dinner. The system of water buses is extensive, and we bought a week pass. 

Saturday we rode the boat to the cemetary island, where we found the graves of Stravinsky and Ezra Pound. Then we rode the boat to Burano, the island famous for lace. Burano has very colorfull houses, absurdly picturesque is what I called them. We had lunch, and then went to the lace museum. 

Sandi in Burano

It was sunny and nice in Burano, But headed back in deteriorating weather. A big storm blew in, with horizontal rain. We got wet even inside the boat. 

Michigan City for Sandi's family's vacation

Sandi asked me to join her family at their family vacation in Michigan City Indiana.   She rents a large house in a resort community near the beach.   This is their family's second trip to this resort; it is within driving distance to everyone.

I flew out on Saturday June 27th.  The trip was straightforward; I flew to Chicago Midway and took an airport bus to Michigan City.

On Sunday Sandi and I went to the local Polish church; the services were in English, although I noticed that they did have some mass books in Polish.   We figured that it was an eight hundred seat church, with perhaps two hundred people at mass.  In the evening we walked on the beach about two miles to the lighthouse; we walked back on the road.

On Tuesday we went to the beach in the afternoon.   I swam out into Lake Michigan until I was over my head, and swam back.  It was a bit cold.

There are six adults and five kids in the house.   The adults include Sandi's two girls, and their husbands.   The five kids included three boys, each one year old!  Two of the boys are identical twins.  Needless to say the house was a bit noisy, with toys scattered everywhere.      The two men kept trying to fish, but without a lot of luck.  I decided not to fish.

On Wednesday morning we walked more than two miles on the beach in the opposite direction.  We saw lots of mansions on the beach.  We walked back on the road.

On Thursday I flew home, uneventfully.  The family stayed one more day, and drove home on Friday.

Chaco Canyon for the Summer Soltice

I had been wanting for years to go to Chaco Culture National Historical Park for the Summer Solstice. I am a huge fan of Chaco, but had not done the solstice. I persuaded Sandi that this was a good plan. She invited her friends Julie and Doug to come along in their motorhome. I made campground reservations, as well as reservations for the sunrise event.

On Thursday we met them in Morrison, and headed south of US285. We had we went over Crow Hill and Kenosha Pass, and had lunch on the road. We continued south towards the summit of Poncha Pass, when we heard a call on the two-way radio that they had a problem. We turned around and found them off the side of the road. Their engine had quit, and we could not find an obvious problem. We were unable to locate the main fusebox on their 1997 Bounder motorhome. Ultimately, we gave them a ride back to Poncha Springs, where we made a lot of phone calls. However, no one could work on it until next week. We left Doug and Julie in Poncha Springs, waiting for the tow truck, and headed onwards. We crossed the San Luis valley, over Wolf Creek Pass, and stopped at Riverside campground near Pagosa Springs. The campground was very nice, along the San Juan River. We took a brief walk along the rapidly moving river, and ate dinner in our RV.

Friday morning, we got up and headed to Chimney Rock National Monument. We dropped our RV at the bottom of the hill, and signed up for the 9:30 tour. Our tour guide was volunteer, but good, and showed us the area near the parking lot, and then took us up towards Chimney Rock itself. Chimney Rock is considered to be a Chaco outlier. We learned a lot about Chaco culture and architecture.   I volunteered to try grinding corn like the indians did.   It is not easy.

After our tour, we headed out to Chaco Park. The weather was hot. We had lunch in Durango, found the natural grocery, and ate in a very nice taco restaurant. After a brief stop in Aztec, we headed south towards Chaco. The road in was pleasant except for the 10 miles of dirt. Sandi wondered if the vehicle would hold together after being shook up on washboard. We arrived after 5 PM, filled the camper with water, and headed for our campsite. Parking the rig was more troublesome than usual; Chief Ranger White suggested that we try the other side of our campsite, and he was right. Sandi grilled a steak and some vegetables. We attended a very interesting star talk, focused on the myths involved in Chaco and Indian Culture. The speaker, Steve, had a degree in theology, but was a Jungian psychologist, and quite interesting. He retired from clinical work and ended up as a summer ranger in Chaco.

On Saturday, we took a hike up the canyon. Sandi did not want to climb up to the mesa, so we opted to head up the canyon to the petroglyphs. We got back in time to watch the indian youth dancers from Laguna pueblo. I was a little disappointed, as I had seen really good dancers at Cheyenne Frontier days, and the huge Pow Wow in Albuquerque. We had lunch, and then took an afternoon tour from Steve to Chetro Ketl ruin. I had not seen that before. After the tour of Cehtro Ketl, we were hot, and elected to go back to our car rather than see more petroglyphs. We sat in the shade of the camper awning until evening. We met a very interesting gentleman who was publishing a book on archeo-astronomy, which is all about the alignment of buildings and petroglyphs with various astronomical events, such as the solstice. Sandi cooked a good spaghetti dinner, and we admired the stars.

Part of what we did on this trip was to give away the reservations that we did not need. The campground was completely full, and the sunrise event was completely booked. I told the campground host when we arrived that our friend's RV had broken down, and that they could give their site to another party. We heard later that the party who got the site was very grateful. We met a young couple taking a year off and touring the USA, and we took them in our truck to the sunrise event. We decided to leave on Sunday, rather the the planned Monday departure, due to the heat. Since we decided to leave early, we notified the campground host of that as well.

On Sunday morning, we lined up at 5 AM to go to the sunrise event. It felt early. There is a window on the great kiva at Casa Rinconada ruin which traces a rectangle of light on the wall of the kiva, lining up perfectly with one of niches on the solstice. We all stood around and watched the wall, and each other. The rectangle of light shone briefly on the wall, until it was obscured by clouds on the horizon. So the event that we all lined up to see did not happen that morning.

After sunrise, we went back to the campsite to pack up and leave. We headed back to Colorado, and ended up camping in a forest service campground on the east side of legendary Wolf Creek Pass. We wanted to camp at a higher elevation, where it would be cool. The campsite had recently been logged to remove dead trees, killed by pine beetle, so it looked rather bombed out. On the other hand, no one else was there, so we got our pick of sites. Sandi wanted a campfire, and the logging slash provided an endless supply of wood for the fire. So the campground had both good and bad points. I was happy to be able to show Sandi a forest service campsite, which kind of completed a circuit of types of campsites, since we had stayed in a nice commercial campground the first night, a national park campground, and a forest service campground the last night.

We drove home on Monday.

Sandi loved camping with four walls and running water. I love Chaco, and plan to return, but probably not in the summertime. The temperature was above average for June, and really inhibited walking around.