This morning we walked down to The basilica of St. Francis.
After touring the upper and lower basilicas, we prayed at the tomb of St. Francis.
A few went to Mass, while other climbed up to Rocca Maggiore.
We took a (crazy) car service down to Santa Maria degli Angeli to visit the porziuncola and see the spot where St. Francis died. I also pontes out the spot where Francis, being tempted, tore off all his clothes and jumped into a thorny rose bush. The thorns fell off and the bush has been thornless eversince. I asked the kids if they would do the same for every impure thought. We all agreed that (sadly) the answer is NO! Becoming a saint is NOT easy.
As soon as we left the town of Assisi, I realized I made a HUGE mistake. I had left our train ticket at the hotel. So as soon as I droped them at the station I had the driver take me back into town. About 15 minutes roundtrip. We had loads of time so there was no danger in missing the train, and if I had to, I would have bought another set of tickets. In the end I was out $30, and probably lost a few days of my life after that ride. I love the crazy driving, but sometimes it can be a but much.
We arrived in Florence and Jules was thrilled to see her first ‘California’ code name for gypsy.
Hotel Loggiata dei Serviti – awesome as ever.
After settling in, it was time for the trophey of the renassance, Michelangelo’s David. I must admit that I was totally nervous explaining such an important piece of work to Art History students as well as their teacher. But according to them, I did ‘great’. Yay!
To my utter disgust, the Accademia had a Robert Mapplethorpe exhibit. Not only that, but they had a famous series of four photographs, of a naked man, IN FRONT OF DAVID! What the **** were they thinking? I was not happy. I have high school kids, which is bad enough, but there are middle school and elementary school kids that come to see David as well. Plus there are those of us that just don’t like crappy art. Ugh.
Then it was a stroll and dinner.
Followed by the BEST gelato, GROM.
Oh we also saw that a movie was being filmed just outside the hotel. Some say Twilight. Plenty of security and what appeared to be fake names on the trailers. I saw no vampires, but they are filming in Tuscany. So, Twilight (true or not) plus high school girls = fun, fun, fun.
Bedtime.