O Canada

On our third day in Lisieux, Rebecca and I decided to take a day trip to Juno Beach – the landing site of the Canadian troupes on D-Day. Our Canadian-themed day started early as we mat a young couple from Surrey, BC at the bus station in Caen (we heard them struggling to communicate in English so we stepped in to translate). Approaching Juno Beach we started to see Canadian flags, both flying and on the signs pointing towards the Juno beach Centre. We were surprised to find out that the Juno Beach Centre, which featured Canadian Tour Guides (bilingual students, mostly from Ontario and Quebec), has only been open since 2003. It was started by a group on Veterans who, upon returning to Juno Beach, discovered that the only memorial that existed was a tank that had been recovered from the ocean floor in the 1970’s. Now, through the help of the government at various levels, veterans groups and the support of Canadian businesses and individuals, there is a beautiful memorial to the sacrifice paid by Canadian solders in June of 1944. There is a permanent display which teaches a bit about Canadian history and our country’s contribution to the Second World War. This I really liked since my education in Canadian History seems to be fairly limited, and because I have always found the Second World War very interesting to learn about. At the end of the display there is a room in which the names of all the Canadian Soldiers who fell during the Second World War are scrolling on the wall. It includes over 45,000 names and takes more than 13 hours to complete!

After we explored the display we went outside for a guided (English) tour of Juno Beach, which included a visit inside a German bunker (very cool!) It was almost surreal to stand on the beach, in the heavy winds and gloomy dark clouds, and to imagine what it must have been like for those men, 65 years ago, to have landed in almost the same conditions. Some men, unable to swim, drowned before even making it to land, while other were shot down by the Germans or wounded by land mines and obstacles. In the end though, it was a victory for Canada as the majority made it to land and the Germans in the bunker we visited surrendered (due to a malfunctioning machine gun). Rebecca and I continued to explore the beach a bit after our tour and went to see another bunker, stopping to immerse our feet in the English Channel on the way.
The Juno Beach Center was a great last stop for us; almost a transition back into Canada. I think it was a combination of many things that made us feel as if we were already home: the gift shop selling Maple Syrup, the mixture of English and Québécois-French being spoken all around us, the cool, windy weather, the beautiful sandy beach with crashing waves and the many Canadian flags being flown.

We have now left Lisieux and are bound for Paris: our last stop before heading back to Canada. Tonight we will enjoy one last dinner in Europe (and our last one together) before going our separate ways tomorrow morning – me to Saint John and Rebecca to Ottawa(ish). I must be honest, there have been many MANY moments over the course of the last 5 weeks that I have spent lost in daydreams about clean hot showers, my hair straightener, MacBook and cell phone, going to the bathroom without carrying a roll of toilet paper and a 50 cent coin in my purse, and driving my Corolla through the drivethrough at Subway when I need a quick lunch. Although these things will be nice conveniences to come back to, it will be very hard to say goodbye to Rebecca... who knows when we’ll see each other again (or where!) Maybe we’ll have to meet up in Asia or Africa next time.

Tomorrow looks as if it will be very long. I will be heading for the Paris airport at midnight (that’s Toronto time; 6am here), landing in Toronto and driving to Quebec City with my sister. Sunday morning we’ll be up early to drive back to Saint John, which is exciting as I am very anxious to see my sister and my entire family!

I came to Europe five weeks ago with three expectations: liberté, amitié et pauvrété. I certainly accomplished the poverty part (that wasn’t hard) – I’m going home a lot more broke than planned, yet I wouldn’t change a thing! I also made many new friends and met lots of people from ALL over the world. As for “liberté”, I have learned a new meaning of the word. One of the strangest things about this trip for me was learning to trust: in God and in other people. Countless times I ended up simply standing back while others planned hostels, found the right train or chose a site to visit. For me, that’s not an easy thing to do. There were also numerous times when neither Becca nor I would have ANY idea what we would do next, how we would get to the next destination or where we would be sleeping and the right thing also seemed to just come our way.

It will be very tough to say goodbye to adventure, new places and delicious meals, but I know God has many more exciting things planned for my future, which I can’t wait to discover!

Lovely Lisieux

It has been a desire of mine to come to Lisieux for almost 5 years now – ever since I read “The Story of a Soul” (the autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux). I can now honestly say that this town was everything I had hoped for... and so much more! After 2 overnight trains within 3 days, and a VERY overcrowded Lourdes, we were really hoping that our last stop – a three night stay in Lisieux – would be a restful one. Well, God REALLY outdid himself this time! We arrived around 10am, after about 20 hours of travelling and countless espressos. By the time lunch rolled around we were STARVING and ready to eat just about anything. Luckily, the center for pilgrims where we’re staying not only costs a mere 30E/night; it also includes 3 meals a day. So we headed down to lunch, expecting to find cold sandwiches, and were served a full 4-course French meal: red wine, salad, rice, steamed veggies, chicken, bread, cheese and caramel flan! Oh, but it didn’t stop there: when everything had been served the community of young women who live here and run the center all come out with their djembes and guitars and sang to us! These lavish meals were served daily for each lunch and supper, always including 2 songs by the sisters (and an Ave Maria at supper time).

Food aside, Lisieux is a lovely, peaceful place. We were lucky to have started out our time here with a free, 3 hour guided tour for pilgrims, given by one of the many youth volunteers swarming the town. We saw the Basilica of St Therese as well as her home, parish and convent (Carmel) where she spent her religious life. We finished by stopping to pray at her tomb in the chapel at Carmel. These were all very profound experiences for me as I have always had a strong devotion to St Therese, and seeing the exact rooms, statues, gardens and streets that she spoke of in her autobiography made it all seem so real. Yes, I know it IS real, but sometimes reading books about far away and long ago Saint can make them seem almost like a fairy tale.
The Cathedral of St. Therese was absolutely incredible. I still think the Basicila we saw in Turin is my favourite, but this one comes in a close second. Building of the basicila began just before the second world war, and was completed shortly afterwards. The paintings, mosaics and stained glass windows all told a story, and all represented something related to Therese, her life or her teachings. For example, the windows on the right were blue, to represent mercy, and the windows on the left were red for love. The mosaics at the front contained scenes from the Old Testament involving angels and demonstrating God’s faithfulness to his people (she loved angels). The scene just behind the altar showed Mary and St Therese holding open the cloak of Jesus with lambs approaching (there were leading people to Jesus). The Basilica also contained 18 side-chapels, each dedicated to a country that had made a contribution in the building of the basilica. We were pretty excited (and proud) to see the Canadian Chapel, featuring the patron Saint of Canada, St Joseph.

Since we had 3 days here we decided Lisieux would be a sort of retreat stop for us. So, on our second day here, we slept in and then decided to take the day to be apart... I need my alone time sometimes! I had a great afternoon, wandering through the woods, writing, reading and calling my sister. The only bad part came when I had a bit of a problem getting my phone card to work and broke down crying (for the first time since being away) out of pure exhaustion and frustration. After 2 hours, 2 different people’s help and a long wait outside the phone booth, though, I got to talk to Meg. At the end of our conversation a man burst into my phone booth (after arguing with the guy in the booth next to me) and starting yelling that he had been waiting for 25 minutes and was going to call the police if I didn’t hang up. Oh, the funny characters to run into in places like this...

The rest of our stay here involved daily mass, a beautiful evening prayer led by the youth volunteers, lavish meals, coffee, drinks at cafes with free WiFi and my first (yummy) Crème Brulée. Although I am very sad to leave Lisieux, I am very thankful to have had this as our last stop before heading back to Canada. It was a great way to relax and re-focus before re-entering the real world.

A Very Happy Birthday

With Turin behind us, at 7am, Rebecca and I were very excited to be off to Lourdes. Granted, we had a 15 hour train trip ahead of us, but our original plan had been a 25+ hour trip, so we thought 15 sounded pretty good. The trip through the mountains in North Western Italy was beautiful, but not as breathtaking as the views of the coast of Southern France! As we would along the cliffs, in and out of tunnels, we had amazing panoramas of the mediteranean sea. At that point I got pretty sad that we had been forced to skip our day in Nice (as originally planned). Seeing it made me realize just how beautiful it really was and how much I really wanted to go there. Well, I guess God knows the desires of our hearts. I kept TELLING Rebecca that going to Nice WAS the desire of my heart, while she insisted that our inability to find affordable accommodations in Nice was all a part of God’s plan and that our trip would be exactly what was best for us blah blah blah. Well, it looks like we were BOTH right! As soon as we arrived in Nice we discovered that our 2pm train was full (and we didn’t have reservations). The only way to get to Lourdes was on the 9pm overnight train: SCORE! We were “stranded” in Nice for 9 whole hours. So not only did we get to spend a day on the beach in Southern France, but we weren’t going to have to pay for accommodations in Nice, thanks to our reservation for a bed on the train at the low price of only 21.50E! I was ECSTATIC! We grabbed our bathing suits and tiny travel towels, lathered ourselves in sunscreen (although apparently not ENOUGH sunscreen), checked our bags, got some yummy French crèpes and headed straight for the beach! To say that the beach was beautiful would be horribly inadequate. Anyone who knows anything about me knows me knows how much I adore the ocean, so this was truly one of the most perfect places for me. I spent the afternoon in absolute disbelief that I was actually there, swimming in the Mediterranean and just looking around me again and again adoring the scenery. I could go on forever, so I’ll just say it was great.

After a meal and a fancy cocktail, Rebecca and I were finally bound for Lourdes – on our first overnight train. THAT was an adventure of a whole new kind! We were a bit surprised to have two German guys arrive in our cabin (we slept in tiny cabins with 2 triple bunk beds), but they were pretty nice and it ended up not being too awkward. After a short, shaky night sleep I awoke in France at 5am as a 23 year old and was off to catch yet another train. We conked out on reclining seats and in no time had arrived. We had NO idea how to get to our hotel, but just as we were staring at the map and debating whether to walk or call a cab, up pulled a bus, which dropped us off at the door of our hotel. We were ECSTATIC when we got into our room right away (9am). That was the best birthday present I could have hoped for: for the first time in 4 days, a hot shower!

We went to Sunday mass in the Basilique de Notre Dame du Rosaire, which was ginormos but was packed to the brim at both the 10am and 11:15am masses. Side note: approximately 5 million pilgrims visit Lourdes every year, including more than 70,000 sick. It was amazing to see the volunteers pushing wheelchairs EVERYWHERE! The rest of the day included lunch, a few espressos, a phone call home, a rosary in the grotto where Mary appeared to St Bernadette in 1858, a huge Eucharistic procession ending with benediction of the sick in an underground basilica built to hold 25,000 and then a nice birthday supper. Rebecca treated me to mussels, blue cheese salad and a yummy ice cream Sunday. We had to skip the candlelight Marian procession, unfortunately, due to two nights in a row of less than 5 hours sleep.
Monday we decided to participate in a guided 1-day pilgrimage in English. As we were chatting with our guide, an American Seminarian studying in Rome, I remembered just how small the Catholic world is: it turns out that he was Blair’s roommate at Ave Maria for a semester! After mass IN ENGLISH (woot!) we prayed the Stations of the Cross, which was absolutely incredible. The stations, made huge cast-iron life-sized statues, ascended a mountain in the middle of the town. It was a hard walk but a powerful experience. That afternoon we watched a video on the life of St Bernadette and visited her home and birthplace.

At four o’clock it was time to head back to the train station for another long day and night of travels. Three trains and almost 20 hours later we were to finally arrive in Lisieux – birthplace of my favourite Saint, St Therese of the Child Jesus. We have reservations at a convent there, for three days, and are VERY excited to have a place to stay for three whole days in a row. Lourdes was a beautiful town, with a river flowing through the middle and surrounded by mountains, but I’m really looking forward to a bit of rest in Lisieux and hoping it’s a little less crowded. Whatever this stop has in store for us, it’s our last one before we head back to Canada, a thought which brings both sadness and a bit of relief.

Where Not to Go in Italy: Turin

Ok, maybe that’s a tad harsh, Turin wasn’t THAT bad, but I certainly won’t be going back there!

One of the few happy memories I have of Turin came at midnight on the night before we left. As Becca and I laid in bed, trying desperately to sleep since we had to get up at 5:15 the next morning to get to the train station, we laughed to the point of tears as we recalled our short two-day visit to Torino. This involved making a list entitled “The Pros and Cons of Turin”, which I will include at the end of this post. It’s funny that the most “difficult” time of our trip could turn out to be the one we will most likely remember more than anything else.

Now I must clarify: nothing SERIOSULY went wrong, but nothing at all seemed to go right, either. It was the endless miscommunications, inconveniences, wrong decisions and busses-stop errors all adding up that turned into the most hilarious two days I have ever survived. It all started in Pisa, where our train was delayed by an hour, where I almost got pick-pocketed and where we learned that the overnight train we wanted wasn’t actually running the days our schedule book told us it was (see my last Blog post). As soon as we arrived in Turin we headed to the street to catch the bus. This is where things get sketchy: we had two options for busses to take us to our hostel, the “58” and the “58/”. Yeah, I know, figure THAT one out! Each route offered two options for stops close to our hostel, but it wasn’t well explained at all. Anyway we found the bus, but no place to buy tickets. We tried asking people but – SURPRISE – no one speaks English in Turin! This is where Kathryn’s new best friend enters picture: Rebecca’s English-Italian Dictionary (sorry Bec, you’ve been replaced). Anyway, it’s a long ridiculous story, involving a lonely half-hour wait alone with all of our luggage as Rebecca wandered off to find tickets (which she got from a parking meter, I think) but I won’t go into detail on that – see Rebecca’s blog for the detailed account: http://www.thebewwilderedpilgrim.blogspot.com/. Once we were ON the bus, with validate tickets in hand, I started to relax a bit and broke out the dictionary to brush up on my Italian. I figured out and recited the most necessary phrases first, including “Help!”, “We are Lost”, “We are looking for Via Modane”, “I don’t understand”, etc. Eventually I started having some fun and was saying things like “I like the baby”, referring to the cute baby in the carriage next to me who was playing with my backpack. As it turned out, our Italian language lesson came in VERY handy when, as we were still giggling about the cute baby, the baby’s mother pointed to the door and said “via modane”. We turned beat red and followed the helpful couple and their children off the bus and said “grazie” many times as they went into their home and pointed us in the right direction.

Finding our hostel, then, wasn’t too hard, even though it blended right in with all the other apartments in the neighbourhood ( we were way out in the suburbs in a residential area). When we checked in we discovered exactly what happens when you book a 20E/night hostel last minute. We were in a 4-bed all-women dorm (thank GOD we had no roommates) without a lock on the door. The bathroom doors didn’t lock either, and neither did our windows. Our windows, in fact didn’t even close! They did have beautiful sheer curtains though, beautiful... but they did make getting changed a tad awkward. The bathrooms featured a lovely full-sized bathtub with a showerhead on a hose. Ok, so no shower, it wouldn’t be THAT bad, right? WRONG! No hot water. Three good things about our hostel, in its defence: it only cost 20E/night, it had free WiFi and the complimentary espresso in the morning was actually good. I had three. On our first night we decided that since it had been a difficult day we would relax and go out for a real Italian meal (i decided to allow myself one good meal in France, Belgium and Italy and to eat as cheap as possible for the rest of my meals). We had a great meals of bread, salad, pasta and wine at an authentic restaurant swarming down the street from our hostel. It was kind of fun to point to something on the menu and see what arrived at our table: it was delicious!

Friday, our full day in Turin, didn’t have too much on the schedule but we figured we’d ask people at our first scheduled stop and go from there. We went to Mary Help of Christians Basilica (which was called something else, obviously, in Italian). It was BEAUFITUL! I think it’s my favourite Church so far – and I’ve seen TONS. We managed to communicate to a woman there that we spoke French so we had a French brochure and began to wander. After praying at the grave of St. Don Bosco we went into the Chapel of Saint Francis de Sales which is attached to the basilica, and ended up walking right in on a group of young pilgrims from CANADA! Ok, so they were ALL from Canada, but they were speaking English. As it turns out, they were youth from Salesian youth centers all over the world that were there for a mini world-youth-day-type pilgrimage. The priest from Toronto who was leading them was very nice and let us join in for a bit, which was nice because everything was supposed to be closing (Italy shuts down at noon for some reason) but everything was open for them. Once we had seen everything there we set off towards the Cathedral of St John the Baptist to see the Holy Shroud and the grave of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassatti. It was closed to we wandered for a while and found... nothing. By the time the church opened at 3 we were hot and tired and unimpressed with Turin. The Cathedral was nice but nothing too impressive (the shroud was not on display).

After this we hopped on the bus to go to the train station to reserve some more train tickets and went 15 stops in the wrong direction before getting off the bus and going back the right one. An hour later we got into line for tickets and waited an hour to find out plan C wasn’t going to work and that we’d have to change our travel plans AGAIN. Urrgghh! From the train station we thought maybe we should get some snacks for our 15-hour train trip the next day and went in search of a supermarket. We found it, bought snacks and some yogurt and rice for supper and went back to our hostel to pack, blog, and eat.

Well, eating turned out to be much more of an adventure than we had bargained for! As Rebecca was busy blogging I cracked open the rice to discover it was not very good. I kept eating it, though, until the moment I stumbled upon a little miniature octopus in it. Then two baby octopi. Then three baby octopi! I dared Becca to eat one and agreed to buy her pizza if she did. After I took a great video of her eating and swallowing the entire thing, we headed out into our neighbourhood to find a slice of pizza. Not hard, right? We’re in Italy. WELL here comes another surprise: since it was “the day before August 15th” most shops and cafes were closed. The only thing we found that was open was a Chinese Restaurant (thank God for the Chinese and their ever-present always-delicious food no matter where in the world you are). We had to use the dictionqary and pointing to order, though, and got laughed at by a little girl – I have never felt for foreign!

It was that night that we laid in bed, laughing until we cried, as we composed the Pros and Cons of Turin:

Pro – Our hostel has free Wifi / Con – It doesn’t have hot water
Pro – There are lockers for our bags / Con – There are no locks on the bathroom door
Pro – We have a book to tell us all the train schedules in Europe / Con – the book is wrong
Pro – We haven’t needed an umblella / Con – we are wetter from sweat than we were from rain
Pro – We found a “supermercado” / Con – It sold us baby octopi
Pro – The people are friendly and willing to help / Con – no one speaks our language
Pro – There are tons of markets, cafes and pizzerias / Con – they’re all closed
Pro – Italy is very Catholic / Con – they disappear for days leading up to the feast of the Assumption
Pro – Ham & cheese sandwiches and Pizza / Con – we’re both allergic to them
Pro – The bathrooms on the train are free / Con – They’re filthy
Pro – There’s a breeze / Con – Our windows don’t close
Pro – the curtains are pretty / Con – they’re see through
Pro – Becca has lots of blister packs and band-aids / Con – I have lots of blisters
Pro – iPods and mini laptops / Con – they keeping dying
Pro – We’re laughing / Con – it’s because our lives are ridiculous
Pro – making a pros and cons list / Con – living through all the cons

I am Not a Backpacker

As we were getting off the train in Pisa a friendly British man we had met helped us take our bags down from the overhead racks. His wife chuckled and commented, “I thought backpackers were supposed to travel light!” I guess that settles it then: I am not a backpacker! I brought and bought SOO many things that are just unnecessary that I’m starting to get just a little annoyed at myself. Not only that, but dragging a HUGE backpack, a suitcase and a handbag through cobblestone street in 30 degree (or higher) sunshine is not exactly enjoyable. Anyway, Rebecca and I have decided that we are not backpackers, just travellers.

With that established I will add that we are having a great time, despite a few setbacks here and there. This morning, for example, as we were leaving Pisa, we decided we should book our next few train tickets (we needed reservations for the overnight ones). When we tried to book the train from Nice to Toulouse, though, we discovered that our timetable book was wrong and that the overnight train didn’t run that night. That threw off our ENTIRE schedule and we spent the next 2 hours (since our train was delayed by an hour) trying to figure out how we could make it work. Since we couldn’t find any place to stay in Nice that was affordable, we decided that we would have to skip southern France altogether and opt for 25 hours of straight travelling to get to Lourdes sooner. I was a bit upset about this at first, but I realize now that it’s not the end of the world. We have compromised on going to a beach in North-Western France closer to the end of our trip. I guess my beach-dream will have to wait a week longer. My stress was multiplied as we boarded the train and encountered gypsies for the first time. Two girls without bags or suitcases (suspicion #1) got on the train before Rebecca and were stopping her from getting through the door to our car. There was another girl behind me who I could feel was hitting my backpack (suspicion #2). Anyway, I quickly realized what she was doing when I turned around to see her sneak her hand behind her EMPTY purse. She had opened my purse that was hanging off the back of my backpack (thankfully I’m not stupid and the only things I was keeping in there was a few souvenirs, and another purse, that wouldn’t fit anywhere else. The downside of being a shopaholic and buying way too many purses). I started telling Rebecca - loudly - to go into the car since the girl behind me was trying to pickpocket me. She, however, was just plain confused – realizing that we had gotten our reservation for first class and thinking maybe it was a mistake. An Italian lady came over as the girls left and said that she had been watching and that she didn’t think the gypsy girl took anything. She later apologized that that had happened to us in Italy. I was a little shaken up by the experience, which was magnified by the increasing doubt that we had properly made our reservation. BUT, as we speak I am RECLIINING (huge luxury) in first class and gliding past the Mediterranean Sea. Our tickets have been checked – so we’re here to stay for the next few hours.

The past two dyas have been an absolute whirlwind! We left Assisi yesterday morning and arrived in Florence at noon. Florence was just as great as I remembered. After spending WAY too much on a salad and fruit for lunch (although it was arguably worth it to eat something besides bread and cheese) we headed for the Church, Santa Maria Della Fiore, and the baptismal (which is a separate building altogether). I was glad to get inside the baptismal since I hadn’t last time, and the church was just as impressive the second time. After this we headed to see Michaelangelo’s David (me for the second time, Rebecca for her first). It was worth antoher 10Euro and an hour wait in the HOT sun – it remains my favortie peice of art. Then... shopping time! I was very proud of myself for managing to find the markets that Mallory and I shopped at 4 years ago right away. The “never-ending markets” as I like to call them. It was here that I spent all my money on earrings, purses and necklaces. Was it worth it? Absolutely!!! We attended mass at 6 and then got on the train for Pisa after a quick supper of peppers in tomato sauce (weird, I know).

Arrival in Pisa was uneventful. We walked to our hostel, where we had free unlimited WiFi – YAY! It was late when we got to sleep, but we were up early again in the morning to pack and to go see the leaning tower. When I say “go see the leaning tower” I mean, literally, that’s all there is to do in Pisa. Our 3 hours there were more than enough. We decided we name today “crazy picture day” and had a lot of fun taking crazy pics of each other. Unfortunately for me, crazy picture day also happened to coincide with bad hair day.

So, here I am: on the train to Turin (did I mention that I’m in first class?!) It’s CRAZY to think that yesterday morning I woke up in Assisi, since then I have been to Florence and Pisa, and tonight I will sleep in Turin! The scenery out my window is indescribable and, like most of my trip so far, I feel like I’m in a movie. I don’t know how I’ll ever go back to real life in just two and a half weeks.

PS. The photos above are:

1 - Rebecca laying on her suitcase and trying to force it closed this morning as we were leaving Pisa.

2 - Our of legs and suitcases was Becca and I on the bus in Assisi attempting to stop our suitcases from falling over as the bus wound around the windy streets descending the moutain.

3- Becca being very unimpressed with the long hot wait to get into see the David in Florence.

4 - Me "pushing over" the leaning tower of Pisa.

The Most Beautiful Place on Earth: Assisi

That’s right, Assisi is BEAUTIFUL! Rebecca and I arrived here yesterday afternoon extremely exhausted but content nonetheless. We are staying in a Guest House run by American sisters called the Franciscan Sisters of the Atonement (which means they speak English: bonus!) Our room features a bathroom / shower that rates a full 15 out of 15, featuring a shower with doors, a hairdryer and a shelf to put our stuff on. When we arrived and began to explore our room I started to say that just once, somewhere between here and home, I wanted to have a second pillow. Before I could get the word “pillow” out of my mouth, however, I opened the closest to find a second pillow waiting for me. I let out a scream, causing Becca to think I saw a mouse and to scream as well. Our temporary home only got better when we discovered the gardens, the breathtaking view, and the not-too-hot chapel. The icing on the cake was breakfast this morning: joyful service by the sisters and YOUGURT! This FREE breakfast wasn’t just a bun and Nutella, it had juice, cereal, 3 different buns, toast, coffee and yogurt. I was wiped yesterday and completely crashed at 8:30 – sleeping like a baby on my firm mattress and soft pillow. . Oh the small joys in life!

Anyway, enough about our beautiful accommodations (did I mention it’s only costing us 30E per night??), Assisi itself is incredible. It is built along the side of a mountain, which makes for difficult walks but breathtaking views. Some of the architecture here dates back to the first Century and there are endless little stairways, alleys and piazzas. The highlight for me, besides the scenery, was mass this morning at San Domiano Church. This is the Church St. Francis of Assisi built after God asked him to “rebuild His Church” (which he took literally, actually re-building the building where he was praying at the time: an old church that was in ruins!) Today also happens to be the feast of St. Clare of Assisi so there are Franciscans ALL OVER the place, and there was a huge procession through the city this morning to the Cathedral of St. Clare. We also visited the Cathedral of St. Rufino (Patron of the Town of Assisi, we think, whose feast day happens to be tomorrow) and the Basilica of St. Francis which houses his tomb.

Tomorrow morning we leave for Florence for the day, and then we will spend the night in Pisa. Thursday it’s off to Torino for 2 days. We spent a LOT of time here resting and planning for the rest of our trip. We still don’t have too many concrete plans made beyond Turin, but it looks like it’s starting to come together now. I’m very excited to see what else God has in store for me in the 11 days to come!

PS As I was waiting for my pictures to upload Rebecca and I heard bells going (AGAIN) outside the cafe. I commented that it sounded like every Church in the city was ringing it's bells and wondered how people ever sleep here. About a miunute later Becca asked "are those drums? Is there a band?!" She went to the entrace to have a look and exclaimed "Kathryn come quick!" There was a huge procession going on from the Basilica of St Rufino to the Basilica of Santa Chiara (St Clare)... who's feast day it is today. AND WE MISSED IT BECASUE WE WERE ON THE INTERNET! We didnt know it would be happening - too bad! She got some pictures, and a video though....

Photos: Me in front of the Basilica of St. Fransesco (St Fransis of Assisi); Becca and I outside San Domino

Rebecca's Side of the Story

By the way, now that I've joined up with Becca some of you may be interested in her blog as well (as it is about the same trip but from a slightly different perspective). You can find it at http://thebewilderedpilgrim.blogspot.com/

<-- That's Me and Rebecca... in Rome! :)