Travel With Betsy

Our last day in Rome……what to do……what to do! In the last few days, we have had some experiences that would be hard to top! What an enjoyable education we have had about Rome. But, as we were coming to the end of our European adventure, we were getting tired and in need of an activity that was stimulating, yet less complex to organize and carry out than those we have had in the last few days. HMMMM……

Mike has a fascination with St. Francis of Assisi, but had never visited Assisi. As it turns out, our hotel had an arrangement with a local touring company. They offered several tours in and around Rome, and believe it or not, one of them was a trip to Assisi. Kismet! We signed up and were off for a fun day in Assisi!

I visited Assisi years ago on my first solo trip to Europe. A good friend of ours married a Spanish woman and a group of us went to the wedding in Spain. It was one of the best times I have had in my life. For days, we ate, drank, and mingled with the local Spaniards in the small town where we attended the wedding as we celebrated the nuptials of these 2 wonderful friends. I was between jobs at that time. So, when the celebration was over and everyone else went home to go back to work, I stayed on and did a month-long tour of Italy. Assisi was on my game plan.

It was an interesting experience that I will never forget. When I was doing my planning, I wanted to find a home base for myself where it would be convenient to do some side-tripping. I landed on Siena in Italy. From there, I could side-trip all over Tuscany, the area where Siena is located, and also reasonably get to Assisi, which is in the Umbrian section of Italy. After my solo time, I was meeting my sister and nephew in Florence to further explore Tuscany and take a cooking class. Siena was a great choice!

The best way for me to travel to Assisi from Siena was by public bus. I scoped it out the day before I planned to go and purchased my ticket, identified where to pick up the bus and outlined the timing for the day. Simple! Well, at least that’s how it seemed at the time…..

As it turns out, there was one bus from Siena to Assisi and one bus back. That’s it. I was a fearless traveler, so this didn’t bother me. I can DO this!

Had I known then what I know now about Italy (you know…..IT’S ITALY!….) I probably wouldn’t have attempted this adventure. But, I had gotten very good at using public transportation and figuring out schedules, so I never gave it a second thought. Why NOT visit Assisi by bus?!

The morning I planned to go, I got to the bus station in plenty of time, boarded the bus and was at the start of my 2 hour journey to Assisi! No sweat! When I left the bus, I confirmed with the bus driver (who had the worst B.O. I have EVER smelled), the pick up time and location for the trip back to Siena. Easy!

I decided that since there was only one bus back, I would be very cautious about getting back to the bus station in plenty of time to meet the bus back to Siena.

About 45 minutes before the appointed time for the bus to pick up, I went to the stop and sat down at the small cafe near the stop for a glass of wine while I waited. I waited….and waited……and waited….. 45 minutes, an hour, an hour and a half…..still, no bus. OH NO!!! What if the bus doesn’t come back, what if there was a problem. How would I get back to Siena?

All of this was running through my mind as I tried to get some information from those that were waiting around the bus stop. I saw a newspaper stand and went there to try to get some information. Surely, they would have some idea of why the bus wasn’t there. NOPE! Between my non-existent Italian and their non-existent English, I was no better off after asking than I was before.

So, I sat down on a bench next to the newspaper stand with some other people and calculated my next move. If the bus didn’t come in the next half hour, I would take the train. It would take me all night, as there were no direct routes between the 2 cities. But, at least I could get back to my home base.

In the next 15 minutes, the bus came, now about 2 hours late. I heaved a sigh of relief, boarded the bus and counted my blessings. From what I could gather, the bus was just running behind and arrived at the pickup location late. REALLY?! And, they weren’t going to share this information with someone?!

Anyway, I got back to Siena and decided to stop and have dinner in the main square, where I proceeded to have a half bottle of wine and a small glass of Grappa to settle my nerves. I had never tried Grappa. Why not!? I deserved this after the day I had just had. This imbibing led to a drunken call to Mike in his office when I finally figured out how to get back to my hotel,dial the phone and use the calling card (no cell phones in those days). The only thing I could say when Mike picked up the phone was HEE, HEE, HEE, HEE…….continuous laughing jag. HA! It’s a great story to tell at parties!

Our trip to Assisi this time was much less adventurous. We went on a tour bus that picked us up and dropped us off right at our hotel door. (In fact, that was part of the draw of this tour!) But, being in Assisi and seeing the exact newspaper stand and the bench where I waited for the bus took me back to that day in Assisi. It’s funny now….not as much then. But, hey, it’s an experience. If I could get through that, I can probably figure out just about anything.

I found Assisi to be as moving this time as I found it the last time. Despite my adventure there, Assisi has been one of my favorite and most moving travel experiences. The town reflects a chronology of the life of St. Francis. In the famous basilica, the painter, Giotto, demonstrated this through paintings that outline the path of St. Francis’ life. It is quite moving!

For those of you who don’t know, St. Francis was born into a wealthy family. As a young boy, he had a dream indicating to him that he should use his life to build churches. So, he built churches……and a lot more!

Much to the distress of his father, he renounced his worldly goods and began to focus on helping the poor and infirm. His father, as you might guess, was pretty upset and took extreme measures, such as locking him in a cell, to be sure that this kind of behavior didn’t continue. (Imagine, helping those less fortunate than you. How could someone stoop that low!?) Eventually, St. Francis’ mother freed him and gave him enough money and supplies to start out on his own. He continued his work and is now one of the best known symbols for kindness, compassion and humanitarianism in the world.

As we traveled along with the tour guide, we learned about some of the many things that St. Francis did for his fellow man, beast, and the environment. He was also a lover of animals and did what he could to protect and take care of them as well.

What a great day we had! It was a perfect way to end our trip! In a world where there are so many people ready to take advantage of their fellow man, it’s nice to know that there are some positive role models for people to follow. It gives me hope for the future.

Friday, we boarded the cruise ship and started our trip back home. (I’ll keep you posted on our activities as we have access to internet. Internet connections at sea are a little sketchy.)

We will have 15 days, mostly at sea, to reflect on all of our experiences of the last few weeks. We have lots to think about!

This entry was posted on November 4, 2013 at 10:25 am and is filed under Europe, Group Travel, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.