Saturday, March 7, 2009

Italy: Assisi, Spoleto, and Heading Home!

With fresh batteries in her camera, Marina was all ready to spend a busy final day in Italy. It started before dawn in Assisi, where she listened to the monks chanting in the catacombs at St. Francis Basilica. She thought the catacombs were cozy, because they were warmer than the cathedral. It was a cold day.
85-St Francis Basilica

Here is the entrance arch at the Basilica.
86-Basilica Arch

Do not adjust your monitor. Those white flakes you see are snow!
89-Snow In Assisi

She found this beautiful fresco of St Francis on one vine covered building.
90-St Francis Fresco 92-Roman Temple

The Roman Temple above is now a Catholic Church. When it was converted, all pagan symbols were removed. In the closer view below, you can see the Corinthian columns.
93-Corinthian Columns

This lion fountain was in Assisi's main square.
94-Main Square Fountain

From Assisi, they stopped at a ceramics studio. All the artwork on the pottery is hand-painted.
97-Ceramic Vase 98-Ceramic Studio

After the studio, they headed to Spoleto. This is the Spoleto Cathedral. They had planned to walk to the Roman Aqueduct from here, but the Aqueduct was closed, as were many places in Spoleto. They had gone during the off-season, so many buildings were having repairs done.
100-Spoleto Cathedral

A street in Spoleto. Marina liked the bridge that connected the buildings.
102-Spoleto Street

Back on the bus, she was able to take some pictures of the Aqueduct.
103-Aqueduct

The last Italy sunset of their trip. She took this picture outside of Rome.
104-Last Sunset

It sounded like their tour director, Margaret, did a wonderful job of showing them the sights of Italy. Below, Marina says goodbye to Margaret.
105-Marina and Margaret

Because they were flying on a clear morning, Marina had the opportunity to take some pictures from the air. She took this picture as they flew over the Alps.
108-Alps from Air

I hope you enjoyed taking this virtual tour of Italy with me! All the pictures and some extras are on my Flickr page. There are 108 pictures in the Italy Trip album, edited from the 1000+ that she took! I added notes for anyone interested. If you happen to look through the album, let me know how I did with putting it all together.

4 comments:

Keeley said...

Oh what a wonderful trip! How marvelous that she was able to have the opportunity to take it! =) What great memories she'll have. =)

Sandra B. said...

I can't wait to do something like this with my daughter!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful pictures Marina! You have a good eye.
Love, Aunt Linda

Paula Vince said...

Wow, how absolutely breathtaking!
I read a novel called "Chasing Francis" that I'm sure you and Marina might like. It's about a burned-out American pastor who went to visit Assisi and trace the footsteps of Saint Francis, hoping for an epiphany.
I agree completely with your last strip. I get really nervous by those "How do you do it?" questions from newbie or would-be homeschooling families.

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