Our next adventure was into the town of Assisi, which you might be
familiar with as the town from which St. Francis of Assisi came (I only am familiar with St. Francis, because I went to a Catholic school which was called...St. Francis. So he featured a lot in our daily lives). The roads to get there were so curvy
and swervy that both girls were feeling ill and we had to stop to let Evie walk
around even after giving her anti-nausea meds.
Assisi is a beautiful city into which one descends to reach
the famous Basilica, where some of the best preserved frescoes reside on the
walls and ceilings. To get there,
we took a back roads route through flower filled streets and stopped to listen
to a pianist practicing for a concert later that evening. We could hear her/him playing through a tightly sealed building and the girls clapped every time the mysterious pianist stopped.
I think that there were a lot of Italian grandmas in Assisi because the flowers were really beautiful.
Sampling some homemade potpourri:
A typical Italian shrine:
The girls were hungry, so we stopped for a panini:
And then to take in the sights in and around the main square:
We also stopped for lunch where, as usual, we ordered way too much food, and,
fortified by gnocchi, a gigantic pizza (which Jim couldn't eat because he had been sick and lost his appetite), two bowls of 'kid sized' spaghetti bolognese and bread sticks, we headed to the Basilica.
I had been very careful to bring a
modest dress, which reached to my knees, so I was shocked when I was asked to
‘cover myself’ as we walked in.
Apparently, not only are your knees supposed to be covered, but so are
your shoulders. Sinner that I am,
I didn’t have anything to cover my shoulders (it was HOT), so I had to
borrow a piece of cloth from the church to cover my indecency. I was FUMING (because the guy who asked
me to cover myself, did so in a very condescending way, as if I was dressed
like a prostitute) and loudly exclaimed that THIS was why I didn’t go to
church!
But then I got over it and
enjoyed the frescos and some of the relics (although I was feeling pretty
annoyed with the church at that point still). The frescos ARE Pretty amazing, beautiful colors and on the
ceilings and walls. Plus the view overlooking the Umbrian countryside was pretty incredible:
I scoffed at Jim when he suggested we take a taxi back up the hill from the Basilica...but he was right. He had been sick (someone always gets sick when we go to Italy. This time it was Jim and Millie) and the hill was really steep and extra steep when pushing a stroller and/or carrying a 25 pound toddler on your back. We stopped
for a break at a beautiful gelateria, with giant, lavishly decorated meringues in the
window and loud swing music playing. It’s proprietor was Roberto and he was
friendly, even when Evie knocked four glasses off our table and they shattered
into a million pieces. Whoops.
Then, in the process of putting Millie into the sling on my back, Jim
lifted up my dress and everyone on the street got a good look at my orange
panties. WHOOPS! Good thing that didn’t happen in the
Basilica. I would have definitely
gone straight to hell, with my exposed shoulders and my panties on
display.
Back on the home front and after they had a long nap in the
car, the girls were ready for the still frigid pool. I sat on the side, monitoring while Millie played on the
steps (twice tipping herself over and not able to get back up…it’s easy to see
how a toddler can drown in very little water. Scary). And when they were sufficiently blue, we headed back up for
a warming bath and dinner. Then Jim and I had a date at the onsite restaurant,
conveniently located next door to our apartment. We put Millie to bed and left Evie watching a video and she checked in about every
ten minutes by shouting for us from our patio. We did manage to get
through dinner and when we came back they were both sleeping and, most
importantly, still there. Mission accomplished!
