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May 12, 2009
First WeekEND
In an effort to keep things interesting (and keep you all from waiting), in addition to weekly posts, I think I'll update after each weekend as well. There's plenty to write about...
This weekend we went to Assisi and Perugia on Saturday, and Siena and San Gimignano on Sunday. Having been to all these cities, except Perugia, I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy it as much, but I came to find that I didn't remember much from seven years ago.
Assisi was the first place we went that felt a bit touristy...lots of gift shops, people, and signs of english, like this food stand.
We first saw the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli at the base of the city, then scaled the mountain (by bus) and got to see the rest of the town. Including the Basilica of Santa Chiara and of course the Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi. Assisi is a very pretty, old mountain town, with lots of great views of the Tuscan countryside.
The next stop, after a brief break in an Italian mall for lunch, was Perugia. Gianni was supposed to arrive there at noon by bus, so I figured when we arrived there at 3, he'd be waiting. I gave him a call, and after riding the mini-metro to the top of the city, I met up with him in the piazza. We walked around a bit, the main stretch of Perugia was rather small, and waited for our bus that left at 5:30.
Fountain in Perugia
We arrived in Siena that evening, and went straight to Gianni's apartment. It felt great to sit down for the first time that day, but it wasn't long before we were off again for dinner, with Irene and a few of Gianni's friends. Later, we went out for a bit and got some gelato, but went home pretty early, I was exhausted.
View from Gianni's Apartment
I stayed the night at Irene's apartment and got to sleep in for the first time all week (until about 11). Had some cereal for breakfast, then Gianni came over and we did some sightseeing. Afterword, we made some lunch, actually Gianni and Irene made lunch and I tried to stay out of the way. Unfortunately, after calling my teacher, I found out we had very little time to finish eating and meet up with the rest of the group. We had to run a little to catch the bus, but I made it without getting in too much trouble.
The next stop was San Gimignano, a small hillside town near Siena. Here we were given some free range, so I mostly just walked around taking pictures (I'm now at about 1,000 ==> 1,000,000 words). Very nice, again I didn't remember much, but I was more than ready when it was time to head back.
Quite the capstone to an eventful week, I'm looking forward to seeing whats in store this week. Talk to you all soon...
Love, Philip
Posted by pjmin at May 12, 2009 01:08 PM