Sunday, November 9, 2025 - On Our “Way” Assisi to Spello - 8.05 miles - 936’+ 1386’

Up at 6:30am. Our typical breakfast of hard boiled eggs, bread and tea. As John Muir would say, Hearty fare for brave mountaineers.”  Don’t know about the brave or the mountaineers, but the breakfast fills the bill. 

We have been in this apartment for three nights which might lead to clothing and gear sprawl, but we have been conscientious about keeping our stuff consolidated. It was a quick few minutes to get everything stuffed in my pack and ready to go. We cleaned up the place and left our landlords €12 for the city’s €2/person/day tax. 

I had in my pack today’s lunch and dinner and tomorrow’s breakfast. It is Sunday and our past experiences in Europe taught us that most, if not all places, are closed on Sundays. We didn’t want to be caught unprepared and therefore hungry. 

We were out the door about 7:45, stopping to take a photo of us before our apartment door. It is sad to be leaving Assisi, but not really. We got to see everything we wanted and are looking forward to the walk and the towns ahead. 

We stopped at the wall enclosing the city for a final photo, then through the arch and on our way. 

The weather could not be better, 45° and sunny with no wind and an expected high of 62°. We started out in long sleeves and fleece pullovers while enjoying the cool air on our faces and filling our lungs. We are heading SE so the sun is on our faces, and in our eyes. A small price to pay for such glorious weather. 

We started out walking through Assisi’s suburbs, traversing Mt. Subasio on residential roads carved into the hill. Huge oak trees provided shade. Eventually we left the suburban area and entered the olive groves, walking paved or gravel one lane access roads. A car passed us on average maybe every 20 minutes? The view off to the right was down into the valley below while Mt. Subasio flanked our left high above. 

At about 3 miles we met another walker heading the other direction. We discovered that you can say “buongiorno” to people you pass, but if you do they might mistake you to be Italian and answer back in the same manner, thereby hiding what nationality they really are. If you say “hello” people recognize you as being from someplace else and will more likely respond in English or their own language. 

So it was with Lucas, who we met and said hello to and he responded in kind and turned out to be from Vienna. We talked for about 15 minutes. We were the only other walkers he had met in 7 days.

We stopped for lunch of bread and cheese along with an apple to share about 10:45am. 

About two hours later we met a group of four women, mid 40’s. They were just vacating a park bench that we were desiring. Sally asked where they were from. They responded, with big smiles, that they were “women of the world”. We laughed and chatted with them for 15 minutes and then sat down as they moved on. 

Another hour of walking and we entered our destination town, Spello. Our room was at the opposite end of this ridge top town. We walked down the narrow main street of this medieval town original built by the Roman’s in the 1st century. 

We stopped in the main piazza, Sally seeking a coke. A cute, bubbly women at an outdoor cafe invited us to sit at one of her tables and got us cokes. We ordered a pizza. While waiting for it to cook we noticed a crowd on this Sunday afternoon inside and out of a grocery store. A little exploring and we found why. Not only was it the only place open, but they made and sold sandwiches for €2.50. As we waited for our food we realized the bubbly woman grabbed people off the plaza and stuck drinks and food in front of them before they had a chance to discover the bargain 20’ away across the street. 

Our pizza came and it was good and only €12, but expensive compared to the deli/store across the street. 

We wandered down another 100 yards to Maddalena Street where we turned right and continued down about 30 yards and two bends to find our place for the night. The door was open and the cleaner was hard at work so we returned to the main drag to wait the 10 minutes until she was done. Sally walked back up to the grocery/deli to get a Coke for the morning and then we entered our place for the night. 

We kicked back for the first couple hours, just resting. Then we went out to explore the town just as night was settling in, 5:30pm. We tried to get our credentials stamped someplace in town, but all the businesses that were open did not have stamps and gave us blank stares. We tried the church. No one of authority was visible. We wandered to the lowest part of town and found vendors selling nearly everything imaginable from their amazing transformer vans. 

Back at our room we started to cook dinner of fried vegetables, tomato sauce and noodles. We had two burners on the induction stove on, two space heaters to warm the place and a few lights. I plugged in the hot water pot to boil some water for tea and POP! the power went off. Luckily they had an emergency light for this eventuality. I had seen the fuse box earlier in the day. I tried resetting all the circuit breakers, but to no avail. I called the manager. She called the owner who instructed me to use the second key on the apartment key ring to open an electrical box outside the apartment and reset a breaker out there. That fixed the problem. Now that we knew the limitations of the electrical system we carefully monitored what appliances we employed. 

With dinner done, we retired upstairs to make reservations for a few days ahead and then write and do more research. 

Tomorrow is a long day and we want to have some time in the large city of Foligno to see the piazza where Francis sold his father’s cloth to finance the building of San Damiano. We decided to take the train from Spello to Foligno first thing in the morning to cut three miles off our day tomorrow. 

Lights out about 10:00pm. I didn’t find sleep until about 1:00, but I think I might have dozed a few times. 

Outside our place in Assisi as we leave town. 

Sally in the gate of Assisi 

Outside the walled city of Assisi

Chuck points to the color bands along the route to guide us

So many walls along the traverse to Spello 

Leaving the city limits of Assisi

Typical of the entire route today

Assisi gets smaller as we walk further away

Olive groves line the path continuously

Every road intersection has a sign like this to point out the way

Miles and miles of beautiful walking

Our four “Women of the World”

Pizza in Spello

The “road” down to our apartment

Inside our apartment in Spello

The upper floor of our apartment

Streets of Spello

Another view of our place in Spello

Saturday, November 8, 2025 - Chasing St. Francis and St. Clara

Yesterday we got an introduction to “Assisi’s home boy” as Rick Steves refers to him, St. Francis. We also learned a little about St. Clare. Today we were to fill in the details of both their lives by visiting the other localities in the area where they worked or lived. 

First stop was down in the valley below Assisi, the Basilica De Santa Maria degli Angeli-Porziuncola, the 10th largest basilica in the world built by the church on the spot where Francis built a small chapel and did a fair amount of his work, and where he passed at the age of 46. Its kind of weird, but also a tribute to Francis that they built the basilica over his original chapel, leaving the chapel intact, which now sits dwarfed inside the basilica in the transept. The exact spot where he died is also preserved, just behind the chapel. This we had to go see for ourselves.

We caught the 7:30 city bus from Piazza Matteotti, at the top of the town, down the twisting road back to the train station. From there we walked the ten minutes to the basilica. There is a lot of exterior renovation going on, which we walked by to get to the west facing entrance. The basilica is in a newer urban area with shops and parks along the street. It is about a mile across the flat bottom of the valley to the basilica so it is surrounded by flat ground. 

The most striking visual when you enter is this small church standing inside this massive basilica under the dome. A church in a church. Nothing says give up materialism like building the tenth largest basilica on top of the one the saint who shunned material wealth built that is 15’ 20’. 

Elsewhere in the basilica there is a fair amount of paintings on the walls and ceilings, but there are still many white panels on the walls and ceiling aching for a budding artist to fill them. 

We were there pretty early, yet there were probably 30-40 people inside. We walked up to the small chapel to find a group of white robed monks chanting in unison. Maybe I’ve seen the Da Vinci Code too many times, but a group of white robed men chanting in unison is unsettling to me. 

We walked behind the right corner of Francis’ chapel and found the gated area marking the exact spot where Francis died. Two Franciscan monks were there, paying their respects. 

We wandered around the inside of this massive basilica looking at the side chapels and reading a bit of their history, taking note of the confessionals in use. 

About half an hour had passed and the number of people had greatly increased, especially the number of brown robed Franciscan men, now numbering about 50. We headed to view the rose garden. Unfortunately, we had delayed too long and were now stuck behind a tour group of about 50, choking the narrow passageway. We patiently shuffled along with them, passing when it seemed appropriate.  Most of them were summoned into a side chapels of note, giving us a chance to pass. We worked our way through the maze of hallways and finally exited out to the front plaza. A potty stop off to the left and a photo op of the front of the basilica and we were hoofing it back to the train station to catch the bus back toward Assisi. 

Mental lapse time: I had just had my bus tickets stamped when we boarded the bus. They are good for 90 minutes. Less than 90 minutes had passed. Sally and I walked across the street from the train station to same news stand as Thursday and bought bus tickets. Didn’t need to. €2.60 I’ll never see again. 😟

I asked the bus driver if this bus could drop us off at the road down to San Damiano. He said of course. San Damiano is the church where Francis had his first miracle, God spoke to him through the crucifix in this partially destroyed church, telling him the church needed repair. This was the first church Francis put back together. It is also the church St. Clare lived  in for 40 years and died in. From this spot she worked with the “Poor Clares”, her group of women. 

Watching on Maps on my iPhone I saw we were approaching the road down to San Damiano so I walked up to the driver. He stopped the bus at the intersection even though there was no bus stop there and let Sally and I off. We walked the half mile down the steep hill, arriving at about 9:30. The church didn’t open until 10:00. During the next half hour as we waited about 100 people gathered.  There must have been a large tour group from a church because they started a liturgical dialogue for about 15 minutes. I am as uncomfortable with that as I am with chanting men in white robes. 😕

We were near the front of the crush of people and were about 10th in the door when it opened. The first room on the path through the church is the chapel Francis rebuilt. Many of the first older women entering scurried past us to obtain a seat here. We moved ahead on the path laid out by the church, ahead of the crush. We passed thru eating and sleeping areas and areas of study. Upstairs we found a Franciscan monk who stamped our credentials, then past the exact spot where Clare passed, then it was down to the cloister, around it and out the door. We wanted to see the original church, and we had. No reason to linger. 

It was a tough climb back up the hill, and we reentered Assisi through the eastern lower portal. We returned to our apartment and had an early lunch. Next on the agenda was to visit Francis’ “hermitage”, an important retreat for Francis and his disciples about 1200’ up the side of Mt. Subasio. 

We took a ten minute taxi ride up, toured this “mountain retreat” for half an hour and then walked the 3 miles back down on the road. 

The retreat has been enlarged in the intervening 800 years since Francis’ death, but is still quite primitive. Each of his disciples had a “cave” that they slept in. They were very small with tiny openings we had to squeeze through. It was the kind of place I would have loved to play in with my friends when I was a kid. Hidy holes and secret passages everywhere. The newer parts are all made from stone. Very impressive. Still used today. 

It took us less than an hour to get back to town. We walked to Piazza Comune for a beer, a Coke and a pastry and to people watch from our table outside in the square. Saw a table at the same place we were that had a group of 6 high school boys and 3 high school girls. Equivalent to a group of US kids at McDonalds only much higher class to be in the piazza outside, but the body language, flirting and uncomfortable looks for reactions to actions and statements were the same. Entertaining to watch. 

When we returned to our room Sally took a nap. I cooked boiled eggs for tomorrow’s breakfast and Monday’s breakfast. Tomorrow is Sunday and we are not sure anything will be open so I am carrying lunch, dinner and breakfast to get us through tomorrow. 

We promised ourselves one meal out in Assisi. Tonight or never. We went out early by Italy standards, about 6:00pm. Had a nice dinner on the Piazza de Comune. Inside. Too cold to eat outside. Lasagna, salmon salad and grilled vegetables. Lasagna made with pork was excellent, as was the salmon salad. 

Back by 7:45pm. Sally did more research and I went to bed hoping to finally get some sleep. I did. Slept from 8:30 to 6:30. So nice. 

Church within a church

Church within a church

Spot where Francis died

Francis was only 5’4” - Life sized statue

Basilica exterior

Chapel Francis rebuilt - Damiano 

Steep hill down to Damiano - Group of Franciscan Monks

Hermitage of today 

Place where Francis slept in his cave

Exit from the cave area

One of the Franciscan brothers caves

The Hermitage 

Gate back into Assisi

St.Francis’ basilica at night

Friday, November 7, 2025 - Touring Assisi

Today was tour Assisi day. I cooked a breakfast of fried, thin sliced potatoes, onions and hotdogs and scrambled eggs with onion and yellow peppers. Yum!  We were out the door and hoofing our way up to the high point in town, piazza Mattiote. Here we did what we have done many times before, insert ear buds and follow the instructions and information in a Rick Steves audio tour. Always interesting with the perfect mix of just enough information to introduce the town without too much detail. Each is a walking tour of the town and they work well to give one an overview of the city being visited. 

We found the walking directions a bit more confusing than others we have enjoyed, but by rewinding and listening carefully we were able to following the path he described and experience Assisi as a whole. 

The tours usually have about a 40-60 minute run time, but with stopping to see things, read details or discuss what we are learning they usually take us 2-3 hours to complete. Today we started about 8:20 and decided to pause our tour at about 10:30 to walk down to the St. Francis Basilica to obtain our credentials for our walk to Rome. 

We dropped down to the lower piazza on the side of the basilica to the information office to ask where to obtain our credentials. They pointed us to the arched entrance to the left of the lower basilica entrance. Here a man listened to our request then picked up a phone and spoke briefly on it. About four minutes later a friar came out to greet us and walked us to the pilgrim office. He unlocked it and we followed him in. Here he filled out our credentials and gave them the official stamp of the St. Francis Basilica. We talked to him for a few minutes. He was from Honduras and had been here for six years. He figured to be reassigned in the coming year. We took a photo with him and then he had to leave to give a sermon. We visited the restroom and then began our Rick Steve’s audio tour of the basilica which starts on the lower level. We spent about two hours touring the basilica, really enjoying ourselves. Waves of people would pass by us as tour group after tour group, led by their hushed speaking guides spoke quietly into their microphones for the benefit of their paying customers, not unlike us with our audio tour. 

While in the lower basilica a very kind and friendly priest asked if I could take his picture in front of the relics of Francis. I declined as I had just been scolded by a docent about taking photos. He smiled and understood. But, a few minutes later I saw all kinds of people snapping photos near the relics. Did they just object to photos of Frances tomb? I motioned to my priest that I would be happy to take his photo. He smiled and handed me his camera. After the photos he blessed Sally and me and asked about our children, then our grandchildren. This took a bit of hand waving gyration and Spanish/Portugese language juggling. In the midst of it all I thought how kind this man is, I should reciprocate and ask about his children. I did. Sally burst out laughing as did the priest. I immediately recognized that my curiosity overpowered my reasoning and laughed with them. He had us take a photo of his instagram account so we could come visit him in Brazil. And just like that, we parted. 

After our tour of St. Peter’s Basilica we walked back to our apartment for lunch. We are not very inventive when it comes to lunches-bread and cheese with a piece of fruit.  Sally took a short nap and I tried to compose my blog starting with a summary of my impressions of St. Frances and his position in this community, the church and the world at large. Everything I tried to write came out a jumble. I realized I was, if not confused, at least conflicted about my impressions, opinions and conclusions. Too much input and too little time to assimilate. Perhaps, more reflection is needed. If only I could go on a long walk and have a chance to contemplate. . . 

After our long lunch break we returned to the main square of Assisi to pick up our audio tour where we left off. When we interrupted it this morning neither of us looked to see how much time we had left. We were both surprised when we looked and saw only eight minutes to go. Those eight minutes took us to a tiny church that used to be outside the city, an area populated with a plethora of cats. 

We ended the tour back on the main street to St Frances’ Basilica, but instead of turning right toward the basilica we turned left and headed back to town and our apartment. 

The apartment Sally found is a gem. Newly remodeled, clean and modern on the third floor with a nice view out over the valley. Of particular interest is its location of only about 100 yards from the main square and less than 30 yards from three food stores, all small but with everything we need. Puts us right in the heart of Assisi. 

We spent half an hour sitting on a bench in the square people watching, having fun guessing nationalities and looking at the fashions. 

Back in our apartment we cooked noodles and vegetables for dinner. After dinner we called the Caldwells to say hi and then headed back to the square for a treat and to people watch some more. We got back home about 8:45. Sally did more of what she is amazing at-research. She enjoys it and always finds interesting facts and things to go explore. I vowed to go to sleep early tonight, and left Sally to explore our possibilities for tomorrow.  I thought I should be tired and I felt tired, but I didn’t fall asleep. This happened last night too, but I blamed it on a couple cups of tea I drank at dinner. Today I was careful to avoid stimulants altogether but still I did not sleep. Jet lag. It’s a bummer. 

Assisi

Old Roman Amplitheater

Typical Assisi street

Well tended home

Baptismal font used by Saint Frances and statue of the man himself

Actually crucifix that channeled god’s voice to tell Francesco to fix the church

St. Francesco Basilic

Friar that gave us our credentials

Lower Piazza at St. Francesco Basilica 

Inside lower level

Priest who has no children 😃

St. Francesco returning from war

Us - St. Francis Basilica behind

Piazza Comune After Dark

Piazza Comune

Thursday, November 6, 2025 - Rome to Assisi by train and bus

Maybe I am more small town boy than I think I am. After our three hour romp through downtown Rome last night, I came away amazed at the size and scope of what humanity has created. I guess I have no imagination, or no organizing skills. How can this many people be crammed into this small an area and all their needs be met? Abundant and affordable food? Check. Pure drinking water? Check. Human waste and garbage properly handled? Check. It puts me in awe of the human ability to organize, manage and execute systems to meet the people’s needs. And it is done without central control, but as a collective of agencies, businesses, and individuals solving problems, designing and manufacturing devices and implementing systems to provide for the communities needs. In a way, it gives me hope that once we recognize a set of needs and problems we can solve them. Now we need to wade through the tidal wave of ignorance and misinformation, recognize global warming, bigotry, hate and our over consumption and put our ingenuity to work solving the problems obviously facing us. 
Anyway, Rome again made an impression on me. 
For some reason I slept well last night. 4 solid hours 8:30pm to 12:30am (while the rest of Rome is partying) then awake for 3 hours, then 4 more solid hours of sleep, 3:30am to 8:00am. It really put a dent in my fatigue caused by jet lag and no sleep. 
We shared a peanut butter sandwich I had brought from home for breakfast, and a cracker and piece of cheese from the airplane flight while we did more plotting and planning for the days ahead. I called to reserve rooms in Trevi and Poreta. It is funny here. When you call to reserve a room, they don’t take your name. They just say okay, sounds good, then Ciao and hang up. We are assuming they can do this because they are not busy. We will know more once we start on our way. 
Once out the door and down from the third floor (in the U.S. it would be the fourth floor. Here they don’t call the ground floor the first floor. Numbering starts with one on the floor above the main floor) we found a pastry shop two doors down. We bought something that was like a chocolate chip muffin that we split for breakfast, then headed off toward the railroad station for our train to Assisi. 
We were very early for our train. At the north end of the station we stepped across the road to visit the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels and the Martyrs, designed by Michelangelo and built on top of ancient Roman baths. We stepped inside and marveled at its vastness and opulence although the massive outside appearance was more impressive.
After our quick tour, we headed for the train station to learn what we could about which of the over thirty tracks our train would leave from. We wandered through the lobby reading the schedule boards and discovered we were so early our train’s departure had not been scheduled yet. We walked the breadth of the station, passing by platforms 29 to 1, then out to a ticketing machine to see how the price we paid buying them online from home compared to buying them here just before departure. No difference. Good to know. 
As our departure time approached we saw our train was leaving from platform 2 east. We asked an attendant and she pointed us through the gates by Track One and told us to walk alongside that platform to find 2 east. It was good we were a little bit on the early side because it was a good ten minute walk down to the 2 east platform. We found our train, boarded and found forward facing seats. The train began to fill up and exactly at the 11:45am scheduled time the train departed. 
A man in his mid forties sat opposite us in our “booth”. He had an electric scooter, helmet and backpack along with tons of tattoos on his arms and hands. He talked on the phone for the first 45 minutes of the ride and eventually fell asleep. 
The train’s route paralleled the route we will follow walking back to Rome, although a bit north of it. From the windows we could see the nature of the countryside we would be traversing. As we neared Assisi, the train passed through four of the towns we would spend nights in, Spoleto, Trevi, Foligno and Spello. We detrained at Foligno, walked under the tracks and boarded a second train for the last 20 minutes to Assisi. 
The train drops its Assisi passengers in the lower part of town that sits in the broad valley of the Fontanella River. To get to the hillside Assisi we are all familiar with one boards a bus for the 15-20 minute ride up the hill.
Rick Steves says to scoot across the road to the news stand to buy your tickets for €1.30 or pay €2.00 in exact change to the bus driver. The smallest denomination we had was a €5 bill. I walked across and paid €2.60 at the news stand (the savings was spent upon arrival at the top of the town on a Coke for Sally).
While waiting for the bus we met two ladies in the crowd that spoke English. One of them was planning to walk the Camino de Santiago in the spring. We started answering her questions about the Camino while in line and continued the conversation up the hill in the bus.
At the first stop of the bus the ladies started to get off. I explained that I thought we should wait as we were no where near the top of the road and the town center. I went to ask the driver. He only spoke Italian. What little Italian I had learned in my Italian classes from seven years ago have long since exited my brain. The only landmark that I could name that was near our apartment on top was San Rufino. I tried to ask if this bus would go there or should we get off here. He said something I didn’t understand but gestured I should stay here. Here as in here at this bus stop or here as in this bus?  Couldn’t tell. Went back to report to the ladies my findings. They had reentered the bus. I explained I didn’t know. The cagy bus driver could see my confusion and to help us make the right decision closed the doors, barring our exit so we couldn’t get off and started driving. 
10 minutes later he dropped us off where I wanted to be. As we were stepping off the bus he pointed at the San Rufino church and yelled “San Rufino”. I yelled back a big “Grazie” and we plotted our route to our apartment on Apple Maps. I had cruised over this site the day before in Google Earth extensively, so it felt like I had been here before. With a quick stop for a Coke for Sally we descended to our lodgings on Vin San Gabriella Dell Addolorata. We used the code the landlords had emailed us to enter the building, walked up two floors to the top and again used the code to enter our apartment. 
Wow!  What a beautiful place. Tastefully designed and furnished with a view out over the valley below, it was perfect. A great place to spend the next three nights as we explore Assisi and recover from jet lag. 
We rested an hour, then I emptied my backpack and we walked the mile or so south to the town’s grocery store where we bought breakfast, lunch and dinner food for the next three days. It was nearly dark when we arrived and totally dark by the time we exited the store, my pack full of food. We had a pastry and coke at the bar next door, then walked back to our apartment in the dark, Sally using her headlamp to make sure she could see her footing well and mine to alert the drivers on this narrow road with skimpy sidewalks that we were there. 
The walk was beautiful, the streets lined with trees and the sunset putting on a colorful display on the way to the store and the street lights casting a warm yellowy glow to everything on the way back. Again, I marveled at industriousness of my fellow human beings, marveling at the endless rock walls and stone buildings we passed by. If you consider every stone was cut and placed by human hands the scale of the endeavor is staggering. Truly a marvelous town. 
We prepared Spinach Tortellini with vegetable stir fry for dinner and caught up on Steven Colbert via Andy’s VPN server located in Kirkland. 

With that we headed to bed, hoping the jet lag gods would grant us sleep, for although our watches and phone proclaimed it to be 10:00pm, our internal clocks still said 1:00pm in the afternoon. Sally fell right asleep. I spent a wakeful hour writing this blog post hoping sleep would overtake me. It is now 11:45. Time to knock off and get some sleep. 

Hotel Sonya in Rome

Statues and impressive buildings of Rome

Statues and impressive buildings of Rome

Riding the train to Assisi

Hill top town of Trevi

Roads and stonework buildings in Assisi

Inside our apartment

Inside our apartment

Tree lined roads and rock walls

Paths and walls at night

Road and walls at night

Walking the Way of St. Francis

Tuesday, November 4, 2025 thru Wednesday, November 5, - SeaTac airport to Rome

If you are new to this blog, a warning. I write this for my future 80 yr old self to help me remember what our trips of past days were like. Lots of detail. Not much of a story line. Experiences common to all travelers across time zones. A strong stimulant is recommended to maintain attention. Good luck;

Sally’s alarm went off at 6:30 this morning, waking her and letting me know it was time to get up. It didn’t wake me. As is my body’s habit, I had been awake since 3:30am alternately resting in a sleeping position and getting up to use the bathroom or attend to some detail my overactive brain conjured up instead of sleeping. 

We had all preparations completed early enough last night to watch a couple episodes of “The Diplomat”. This morning it was showers, omelet for breakfast, preparing sandwiches for lunches and tidying up the house. 

Bill and Pat arrived at 8:27. We loaded into their new Prius and were up the driveway by 8:34. Sally and Pat chatted in the backseat while Bill and I did the same in the front seats. There was no slowing of traffic for the whole route and we arrived at the airport about 10:20.

Last night I received an email for Lufthansa telling us to be extra early because of the government shutdown and delays at the TSA stations. Arriving at 10:20am for a 2:00pm flight seemed excessive, but we were being responsible. There was no line at TSA Pre-check and we were on the subway to the south gates by 10:30. 

Interestingly, there were no bins at the TSA Pre-check station, yet they wanted us to empty our pockets . . . into what?  Luckily, I was carrying an open bag I could dump my pocket’s contents into before going through the scanner. In my rush I missed my passport in a zippered front pocket and a hanky in my rear pocket. The guard stopped me when he saw the deformity in my front pocket and had me take it out. I complained about no trays to put my stuff in. He said, this is precheck. Don’t need trays in precheck. Well, where am I supposed to put the billion things I carry in my pockets?  He told me in my bags. It’s safer in there. Hey!  I’m a Caley, my father’s son. Do you know how much stuff we Caley men carry in our pockets? My father’s shirt pockets strained under the weight of pads of paper, pencils and pens, a calculator, a small metal ruler, his cell phone and a couple pieces of candy. He always had a pocket knife in his pants pocket along with other important stuff. Bring back the trays to Pre-check!

Sally and I sat for three hours by gate S15 before sitting for 9 hours in the plane. We used the time to do that which we should have done in the previous weeks, carefully study where the Way of St. Francis took us and what accommodations were available en route this late in the year. We had a rough plan, but we refined the first five days, even calling the Hotel Trevi in the hilltop town of Trevi to ask about rates and availability. From searching booking.com and our calls we are beginning to get the impression that reservations may not be necessary in this off season. We will know more once we get to Assisi and explore that area for a few days while we recover from jet lag. Tuesday night is spent in the plane getting to Frankfurt, Wednesday night we will spend a grew blocks from the train station in Rome. Thursday, Friday and Saturday night will be in Assisi and then we start walking. Night one in Spello, about 8 miles along the Way. Night two in Trevi, a 12 mile day. Night three in Poreta, an eight mile jaunt. Night four in Spoleto, another 8 mile day. Each town has some piece of St Francis’s history in it. I listened to a 12 part, six hour lecture series on the history of Francis on the 9 hour flight to Frankfurt, so I have a little background to go on. The more we read and plan, the more excited I am to get walking. We will walk from one hill top, walled town to the next. Our guide book has good info about what towns have food and which we will have to carry food into. Choices to stay are very limited and range from hotels to monasteries. As Indian Jones says, “I’m making this up as I go”. 

We always buy the cheapest flight tickets we can find regardless of airline. This trip we were aboard Lufthansa, an Airbus 340. We have been blown away by the flight crew. One of the men moved us out of the center block of four across seating into business class, an aisle and window seat.  We didn't ask for it, he just saw us sitting in a full row and asked if we would like a little more “air”.  He had Sally go “try on” the seats. She approved so he beckoned me forward, then quickly dropped back to help me move our bags to a closer overhead bin. He gave us half a dozen pillows so we could get comfortable to sleep. Once seated, he brought us two mixed drinks, again not asked for.  All this while we were still sitting at the gate in Seattle. Once in the air the kindness continued. 

We are traveling fairly light. Besides the clothes I have on, I have a fleece pullover, a puffy coat, rain pants and jacket, one pair of extra socks, one extra underwear, mittens and a hat. Sally packed a dress, 2 tops, a pair of sweats, an extravagant 3 underwear and an extra pair of socks along with her jackets and rain gear. We brought sleeping bags in case we stay in monasteries. 

Never tried a walk in November before. A little trepidation about rain and cooler temperatures, but looking forward to not baking under the hot spring, summer or fall sun. 

We landed in Frankfurt about half an hour late, 9:35am, pinching the time for our connection to our next flight scheduled to start boarding at 10:20am. The plane parked on the tarmac and we had to ride a bus to Terminal A.  The ride seemed to take forever but we were finally disgorged at 10:05.  A quick second to check the flight schedule, “on time” at gate A21, then a sprint up the stairs to customs. The line snaked back and forth with 50 people in front of us and 4 agents checking passports. We are not going to make it. The woman in front of us was in the same predicament and started asking the people in the switchback ahead of us if we could cut in front of them. They said yes, and we got to the customs agents by 10:13. Once through we hoofed it down the concourse to A21 by 10:17, allowing us time to visit the toilet before we marched onto the plane in the third boarding group and plopped into seats 12A & B. Whew, that was close. 

Did I mention the weather was perfect?  Not a cloud in the sky. We flew south, passing over the Alps.  The top 3000’ had a layer of new snow sparkling in the sun, contrasting beautifully with the verdant green valleys that run deep into the range. It was magnificent. As soon as we crossed the alps we could look down to the Po River Valley and see it flowing eastward to the sea. There we saw Venice and its causeway off to the east. Over the Apennine mountains and we landed in Fiumicino. 

We chose to ride a bus to the Termini train station in Rome rather than the Leonardo Express train, mostly due to price. Train-€18.00 each, bus €9.00 each. We sat in the front most seat to have the best view and enjoyed watching the driver weave this monster tour bus through the narrow highway lanes and crowded downtown streets. 

Once at Termini we walked to the Hotel Sonya, about 1.3 miles away and registered for the night. The last half mile was wearing on us due to lack of sleep. Other than a few short cat naps, we had been up for over 24 hours straight and were fading. Once in our third floor room we flopped into the bed and took an hour or two nap. 

Awake at 4:30, we searched with mapping programs for a hiking shop where we could buy trekking poles. We found one about 1.4 miles away, not too far from Piazza Navona, a place we hoped to visit. 

It is amazing how vibrant this city is after dark. The two of us could not walk side by side due to the crush of people on the sidewalks and streets. Using Apple Maps tied to my watch we navigated across town to the mountain shop and found trekking poles for €50. 

By now we were getting hungry. I had mentioned finding a Dońar Kebab for dinner and Sally was all in. Searching the map we found one a 6 minute walk from the mountain shop. They had Kebab sandwiches so we ordered one chicken and one lamb. They were not what we had hoped for, but they filled our empty bellies. These were made shish kebab style, roasting the meat on a charcoal burner under the vent hood in the kitchen and then putting the pieces into a hoagy style roll and draping it with sauces. Sally’s lamb meat looked super pink when she bit in. She chose to pull the meat out and just eat the roll, veggies and sauces. Mine had some strong and unfamiliar flavors. I could get used to it if I ate it more often, but at least the chicken pieces were cooked through. 

Dinner done, poles in hand, we navigated to Piazza Navone, then the Pantheon and finally Trevi Fountain on our way back to our hotel room. It was now prime Roma dinner time and the streets were packed as were the tables at every restaurant. We were beginning to drag again. We made it back up the hill and into our room, plunked down on the bed and prepared to sleep. 8:30pm here translates to 11:30am back home, but we were able to fall asleep. 

Great first 30 or so hours. After hiking both the PCT and the CDT where 600 miles for a month of walking is the standard, it is mind blowing to fly those same monthly distances each hour and be on the other side of the planet in less than 24 hours. Mind blowing. 

On the bus to Rome from the airport

Our room for one night in Rome

The Kebab place, Sally waiting for her undercook lamb sandwich

At Piazza Narona in front of the fountain