This morning we had to wake up early because we had to check out of La Casella by 10:00, a time when we're normally just finishing up breakfast. We finished packing up our things, put them in the car, and headed down to the desk. Aggie was there with her bouquet of flowers sitting right up on the counter. When she saw us she gave us a huge good morning and brought out the expense papers. While Poppy and Ahmee went over things I got on the computer and pulled up the emails so that Ahmee could check it and so that I could check my email. Ahmee did her thing and then I got on.
As I was typing Aggie came up to me and handed me a small horseshoe, saying that it was the only one they had but they wanted to give it to me as a souvenir (see, the night before I'd been the one to give the bouquet to Aggie even though I had not picked it out-I'd stayed in the car because it was raining). It was a racing horseshoe that had been painted black and had a red bow on it holding a card that said Goodluck from La Casella on the front and had the address and the website on the back. I thanked Aggie profusely and enjoyed looking at my precious gift. I can't take Lulu with me, I can't take the black doggie with me, I can't take Aggie with me (I think she'd rather stay there anyway), but I can take my horseshoe with me.
We got on the road shortly after this to make our way through Perugia (if the roads don't lead to Rome they lead to Perugia) Perugia was at one time during the middle ages the home to the Pope. On the way there we saw all kinds of people flocking to the cemeteries-(Ahmee finally realized that it was All Souls Day). With a combination of luck and navigational skill enabled us to find our way to Assisi. 
Once in Assisi we stopped, parked, and then went in to eat and to have some famous chocolate. We got hot chocolate and it was incredible. While I savored it I thought, "I've never had such rich chocolate in my life!" Later I'd have some that was thicker, but not richer. After eating we walked across the street to stand and stare at a church that would not allow us entrance. We decided that we were not in the right area and got back in the car to head farther up the hill.
Low and behold the older town of Assisi was farther up. We ended up parking in a huge parking garage and walking/riding the elevator up to the top. From there we walked to the center of town. Our objective in Assisi was to find the Basilica of St. Francis and to do what we did in Cortona and countless other places, window shop. We followed signs up into alleys and into the living section of town where we then decided to head back to the main piazza and get a map. After we got the map we were able to make our way directly to the basilica. 
As we walked down the hill it started to drizzle and then rain. My shoes and the bottom portion of my jeans got wet. I could feel my socks getting wet as I carefully stepped down the hill past shop upon shop that all sold the same things. I disliked Assisi then in that moment as I walked down the hill to the Basilica of St. Francis. That feeling didn't leave.
Once in the Basilica of St. Francis (passing through the courtyard that contained oddly shaped rocks, to what we later came to find was the lower portion of the basilica) we met yet another mass. Inside the church mass was being held directly in front of the door. We moved to the left, gawking at those holding mass, at the ceilings that were covered in mosaics and paintings, and at the chapel we were allowed in. The darkness of the Basilica coupled with my poor eyesight (still had my glasses on) made it impossible for me to make out the details of the colorful paintings that adorned the walls and ceilings (which were quite low by they way). I could only make out the things that I could get within touching distance of.
Since we weren't allowed to take pictures (had a guard wearing a speaker at the entrance-every time he saw someone taking a picture or talking he'd say over the speakers, "Shhhhhhhh.... No photo no picture."), I decided that I would have to see the interior through the guide Ahmee had gotten. I read every bit of that pamphlet and I made sure to go over the pictures over and over again. Even through a haze one can see a thing of beauty. This basilica dedicated to Saint Francis, who believed in equality amongst "brothers"-meaning equality between rich, poor, men, women, and all other things of gods creation (famous Botticelli painting of him preaching to the birds), contained many different things that were from both the wealthy and the poor. 
Saint Francis' tomb was just a flight of steps away from me. I went down and saw the area that wasn't filled with people. In the center was what looked like a very thick pillar to me (at first) when I looked again I saw that this pillar had a stone coffin contained within it that was high up, out of people's reach. I knew that if I walked around this pillar that I could see the Saints clock, his horn (gifted to him by a wealthy ruler from Egypt), and one other relic. I wasn't interested in these, and I wasn't interested in sitting down and praying to the Saint like numerous people were doing (even saw a woman kiss the base of the pillar). I simply wanted to see how decked out the tomb would be, and how flocked it would be. I'm not going to go into whether or not I'm religious and what I believe. It would take far too long, and it would simply cause pointless debate. I found that around the pillar there were flowers, many, many bouquets of them, but little more decoration than that (tis a good thing-it displays his style). After I saw the tomb we wanted to head back up to the central piazza so that we could work our way back to our parking spot (the map had 4 different parking areas we could go to and we didn't want to waste time searching through them). Once back up at the central piazza we drank more hot chocolate and sat with my back to the view of the commotion of the touristy city. I always enjoy watching people, but I was getting a headache by then. I realized that my eyes were becoming strained from the week of squinting so I sat so that I couldn't invite my eyes to strain and fail to see things that I wanted to see, like I'd done in the basilica. I talked to Ahmee and Poppy and after Ahmee got up and walked around with the camera I quickly finished up my hot chocolate (which was more like pudding it was so thick) and went out with Poppy to find her. This took all of 10 seconds and then we were on our way back through the alleys to the parking garage, to the 2nd level, to the car, and out the gate only to be halted by the machine where a man told us we needed to pay upstairs. Poppy parked, went up, paid for our ticket, came down, and then we were on our way. By then it was starting to get towards the last couple hours of sunlight. We knew that we didn't have too long before it got dark and that then it would become very difficult to find a hotel. We found a hotel from the highway that had huge green letters saying Hotel de Patio. This Hotel was easy to reach, had a grand entrance, and had a room for us. It was great! We pulled our things in, looked at a fashion magazine that we saw in the lobby, and then went to dinner. After dinner we went back to the room to sleep.
Famous Botticelli paintings....
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