What's up with the water works?

Leaving Sorrento was a sad affair. I took one last walk to the cliff and view of the bay before leaving. And then I cried. What up? It reminded me a bit of when I got to Interlaken, Austria years ago. I was tired, a bit stressed, loved the city and the view was spectacular. I'm realizing that I love that size city. You can feel like you are just one of the locals. In Sorrento I already established my local morning espresso bar... me "Buon giorno signore, uno cappuccino, par favore." them, "Buon giorno, singnora." ... drink... me "Ciao, grazie." Simple and effective. My day always started right from there.

On to Assisi.
I decided for a change of pace that I'd try staying at a monastery. (This is the "pray" part of my journey aparently.) Didn't get in until dark. The train station made Assisi seem like a ghost town. This also reminded me of Interlaken, Austria, as I arrived there after midnight and it was strangely quite. I took a cab because I didn't have the energy to figure out the bus and mess with my bags. Ha! Every three seconds the meter increased 5 cents. That's about 8 US cents. For a seven minute drive, I paid $20. Crazy.

My room at the monastery was as you would assume: no pictures, no TV, no hairdryer, no phone, not a single luxury. The view was wonderful, as were the windows and the toilet paper! That in itself made up for the teensy-weensy shower. The B&B part of the monastery is not their first priority, so there is no conceirge, no internet, no daily maid service. I came for the experience, if you are wondering. My single bed had a warm quilt and extra wool blanket, which I needed. They offered a simple breakfast and very surprisingly, a bar - not just espresso bar either. It was put to use too. I expected a monastery to be quiet and peaceful, but this is Italy. There were loud goings-on every night. I was trying to figure out who the heck was making all the noise. It wasn't the priests. I did hear them singing my first night there. That was so worth it. As best I could tell, people came to hang out at here. Most of the noise-makers got in their cars to leave. What a life when the monastery is the local hang-out.

I cannot possible say enough about Assisi. Beautiful, spiritual, historic... wonderful. The whole thing (not where I was at the train station) is on a hill inside the old city walls. Again, I started tearing up the moment I crested the hill and came through one of the huge gates. Unlike Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast, Assisi is all one color - stone. A local artists told me that there are over one hundred churches within the city walls. This place isn't big, but some of the churches are huge. The Basilica of St. Francis of course is the money maker. It's the most beautiful church I've seen outside of St. Peter's in the Vatican. More about what a cool dude St. Francesco (literally, Frenchy) was when I get a chance to write again.