Tutte le strade portano a Roma...and we went via Assisi.

January 21st:
Onward to Roma for three nights. After breakfast we departed from Florence and drove through the beautiful regions of Tuscany and Umbria. We stopped at Assisi for a guided tour with Ruggiero who gave an informative but concise summary of the main happenings of Assisi's history. It was one of the guided tours I enjoyed best. Anyway this tranquil medieval town perched halfway up Monte Subasio is heir to the legacy of St Francis(1181-1226). The bus driver drove to the top car park and then we took two escalators to reach the main starting point of the tour.

San Francesco was born here in 1182 and his spirit hovers over every aspect of the city's life. In his late teens he decided there was more to the world than material possessions and chose to pursue a life of chastity and poverty. He founded an order known as the Franciscans and this group attracted a huge following after his death. It was the usual story of one having to die before receiving the recognition they deserve, not that he really wanted any of this attention I am sure. Santa Chiara, a disciple of his, was not to be outdone and founded the Franciscans' female order. We also got to see Basilica di Santa Chiara her burial place. We looked around Piazza del Comune and later entered the Basilica di San Francesco which was very serene. This basilica dominates the city and receives huge numbers of pilgrims throughout the year. One would never know that the town had suffered serious damage when it was hit by an earthqake in September 1997. Side chapels had been created in the lower church to accommodate the growing number of pilgrims in the thirteenth century. In a small chapel we feasted our eyes on various momentos of San Francesco's life including his very modest dress and also a few presents including a horn that he received from a great Muslim king during his travels.

Whilst we were in this general vicinity some people were setting up for some kind of charity concert and there was a large film crew... from Thailand I think, not sure. I enjoyed looking at the frescoes on the Life of St Francis. We then had thirty minutes to do a quick bit of shopping and looking around by ourselves. At one-thirty we had lunch at Caratteristico Ristorante in Via E.Brizi.

It was then back on the bus travelling for Rome. We arrived in Rome at hotel Torra Rossa and then had dinner at Al Moro. After this met up with Stefano, our new guide for the next few days, to do a night tour of the great city from the comfort of the coach and a little on foot. After a number of red wines and an oversight to using certain facilities in the restaurant Cecilia found herself in a predicament all of her own. However, due to lucky circumstances and a very resourceful bus driver she was able to park her seat on the white enamel of the very posh Baglioni Hotel. The majestic buildings of Rome at night are certainly worth the look. We gazed upon many beautiful sights in the ancient centre including: the Colosseum, the Fountain of Trevi, Santa Maria Maggiore, the Victor Emmanuel Monument(more commonly known as the birthday cake), and the Vatican walls, looking at sites which ranged from the renaissance to the baroque. In the third photo you can see Goretti strutting her stuff in front of Rome's largest fountain, the Trevi. Goretti kept me in high spirits the whole trip. I never ceased to be amazed by her humour or by the driving skills of the bus drivers. They can expertly manoeuver their large tour buses through the narrowest of streets. We were all back at the hotel by midnight.

Venice: gateway to the Orient

January 15th: Gondolas, palaces and masks...so much to look at in only six hours! Another early start, a quick shower and yet another battle with the hairdryer in the room which looks a lot like a vacuum cleaner which works in reverse. Twenty minutes later, hair finally dried, it was downstairs for a very quick breakfast. We caught our bus outside the castello at 8:00. Nonna was actually there on time but Carmelina was late telling Adrian as she got on the bus that she had "decided to join her club." Then it was a three hour bus trip to Venice.

Upon arrival there were caught a water taxi across to the main city centre. Today I spent the day with Rosanna, Belinda, Maria, Fiona and Rosemary. Rosanna had a strategic plan of attack for the six hours we had there. Venice is certainly a beautiful city. I didn't know where to look first...up, down, left or right. Tall towers and duomos loomed everywhere and then there were the breath-taking watery scenes. Rosemary and I had our cameras out snapping away as soon as we put our feet on dry land. A toilet stop was our main priority however. We finally found a McDonalds(yes, they have taken over the world) and could then relax.

After a quick withdrawl at a bancomat first stop was the Doge's Palace(Palazzo Ducale) which was impressive. This was the official residence of each Venetian ruler(doge) and was founded in the 9th century. It was also the seat of the republic's government, housed bureaucrats and contained the prisons. After we put our backpacks in the bagroom we spent two and a half hours there looking at the luxury of the time and feeling the coldness, dampness and despair of the prisions which were deep beneath the palace. The torture chamber was a place where suspects were hung from their wrists from a cord in the centre of the room. The Sala del Maggior was a magnificent hall where the council members met. It wasn't hard to imagine up to 1700 of them in that area. The hall is lined with gigantic paintings depicting battle scenes of the times and Tintoretto's huge Paradise fills the end wall. I think this is one of the largest paintings in the world. We took quite a few photos on the Giant's Staircase looking out past Mars' posterior. I was also impressed by the bocca di leone(lion's mouth) which was used to post secret denunciations. This is the second photo above. Maybe we need one at Hotel Giardino!

At 1:30 we met with Antonella as arranged earlier that morning and six of us took a forty-five minute ride in a gondola; an experience not to be missed and well worth the twenty Euros. With six in the gondola the guide would ocassionally use his foot to push off a wall here and there just to keep up the momentum. Apparently the gondoa has been a part of Venice since the 11th century. With its slim hull and flat underside it is just perfect to navigate the narrow and shallow canals.

It was then time for a quick stand up snack, un panino con formaggio and a coffee. We then set off for the markets in the Rialto area. The Rialto takes its name from rio alto meaning high bank and was one of the first areas of Venivce to be inhabited. We found some exquisite little shops selling jewellery, the majority made out of glass and spent up pretty big time on small gifts for friends and relations. I also took the opportunity to photograph masks in shop windows and around the markets as I am going to have some mask-making sessions with my students this year. I bought a small one to take back with me as an example to show the students. Rosemary found an interestng leather one. Goretti and Adriana bought very lavish handmade ones. As it grew dark we all met near the water taxi were ferried across the waters and caught our bus as planned at 7:00. Three hours later we were back "home" at the hotel.

Sempre diritto: in Bologna

January 14th: Okay today I learnt a lot of things but mainly I learnt that "Sempre diritto" means "straight ahead"or "it's somewhere up ahead", or "I really don't have a clue but if you walk long enough I am sure you will find it."

Another early morning rise as we had to catch a train to Bologna. Kevin(Silvia's husband) was our guide for the morning and we wound our way through the streets of Prato to the Central station which is a twenty-five minute walk from the hotel. Goretti and I swore that the route we had taken on the previous Sunday would have been a short cut compared to this trek. The train pulled up some time later and we all hurried into the carriage, the wrong carriage, number 7, which was really just like a can of sardines. The coffee man couldn't move his trolley for some ten minutes. We spent fifteen minutes weaving through bodies and luggage until we got to the 3rd carriage where we had reserved seats. Kevin diplomatically regained our seats for us. The trip took about an hour.

A coffee break later we walked into the historic centre and entered Il Duomo di Bologna where were given a spiel about it. Kevin delivered his talks in both Italian and English. Normally I don't get too excited about churches but when viewing the Compianto su Cristo Marto (a section which is shown in the above photograph) I actually felt and understood some of the anguish which the people after the crucifiction of Jesus. This scene was done by A Lombardi. The one in San Petrono(the first photo) byNiccolò dell'Arca o Niccolò d'Antonio d'Apulia, o da Bariy... evoked a similar reaction from me. As you can see they have as many problems with names as I do remembering all the students in the school!

We then moved on to Plazza del Nettuno where the bronze Neptune atop of the fountain(see first photo) makes quite a bold statement. It was sculptured in 1566 by Giambologna. The four angels you can see represent the winds and the four sirens the continents known at that time.

It was then onto the tenth largest church in the world, San Petronio. The interior was most impressive with the huge, pitched arches dominating the main features, markedly Gothic. It is one of Italy's greatest brick-built medieval buildings. It was originally supposed to be larger than he first San Pietro in Rome but apparently the funds were diverted. A meridian line runs through the church.

Last stop was the University of Bologna which is the oldest in Europe. We sat in a very ornate lecture theatre with a marble slab in the middle where dissections were performed. Goretti decided to do a dissection of Aussie on the slab(see above left photo), her koala bear who goes everywhere with her in her day pack.

Kevin finished up the talk in front of the Twin Towers of Bologna (torri degli Asinelli e arisenda)where families took refuge in times of feuding or war. The taller of the towers is 97.6 metres. These towers are two of the few remaining towers begun by Bologna's important families in the 12th century. One towers had been truncated due to the fact that it was starting to resemble the Leaning Tower of Pisa and could have possibly toppled onto the other. Both certainly make a statement and make for interesting passage of traffic.

Then it was off for a quick snack with Goretti, Deb, Adriana and Cecilia. We looked at the markets and went to the tourist office to get a map. We spent a great deal of the afternoon walking sempre diritto in search of the elusive record store. After a few laps of the town centre we found a music outlet. I bought the DVDs Il Postino, Prima damme un bacchio and Io non ho paura.

Then it was back to the station where we had a few problems finding the right binario(platform) for our departure. It seemed that the train left from binario one, two and six! The express to Rome was running two hours late so we wiped that one off the list. A train official yelled at Adriana that it wasn't number one. So after some directions in German off we went in search of the elusive binario two. After a few more directions and misdirections we found it right up the end of the platforms tucked up behind number one. Anyway we took the regional and were back in Prato one and a half hours later. We dropped our gear in our rooms and then went across the way for a snack, something of a ritual lately. We ordered soup and pizzas. Then after a few beers and chamagne it was off to the land of nod after watching a movie called La finestra di fronte in Goretti's room. Now I would like to go buy this DVD as I thought it would be a good one to have in my foreign film collection. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz Time for bed, Goretti nodded off in the last ten minutes of the film.