After riding a Sorrento concert high, the Gustavus group (unfortunately) had a very early morning wake up call and departure from the beautiful, music-loving seaside community.
On the buses heading north on the first rainy day of the tour, the initial experience was waiting in a long traffic jam (which gave most passengers extra sleeping time), followed by smooth sailing on the interstate highway to Orvieto, and finally (nearly 12 hours from departure) concluding in the monastic hillside community of Assisi.
In Orvieto, a delicious three-course meal was served at an Italian restaurant where chefs come to train. (One server was an Ohio native who moved here to train for two years to become a chef.)
Orvieto sits atop a hill that looks like a muffin without the muffin top. To reach the hilltop town, one takes a Funicolare (that’s an uphill cable car).
After a lunch of fetuccini, pork medallions in plum sauce, and tiramisu, the group quickly traversed the wet, shop-and cafe-lined streets to visit the Gothic-style cathedral (Il Duomo) which took some 300 years to build.
In this massive, long-and-narrow, stone-and-marble church where a miracle/mystery was said to have occurred, the choir felt like singing and did so.
More about this later in another post. (Sorry but photos and video were prohibited in this church to prevent damage to the art, etc.)
Needless to say, after staying up late last night and traveling for a dozen hours on this cold, damp day, everyone was glad to reach Assisi and get some rest after another splendid, leisurely 3-course meal (al dente pasta with cream sauce, a cheese-and-mushroom stuffed turkey medallion with a side of buttery-garlic broccoli, and a dessert of frozen custard on a bed of chopped hazelnuts and topped with rich hot fudge).
The dinner totally made up for the fact that everyone had to haul their luggage uphill from the bus stop to the hotel!
Time for bed. (Midnight Thursday, Jan. 20, 2011)
Ciao, ciao.
Leave a Reply