Biking Walking and Eating across Italy

 Most everywhere we walked, the poppies, brilliant red, were in full bloom.                 Here are some of the other flowers that brightened our hikes Urospermum Dalechampil Blue Flax Domestic Rose Yellow Broom Lunaria Annua Cyclamen purpurascens Cypress Spurge Leopoldia comosa Rock rose Orchis Militaris Elderberry flower Rosa Corymbifera (thicket dog rose) Snapdragon

Our last few European Vacations have been "Camino Walks".  Once we began, we walked each day from town to town until we were done.  The days logistics consisted primarily of walking to our next nights lodging, and figuring out how to get in. This trip was more stressful, logistically.  Our transportation needs required a bit more than flying there and walking.  In the course of our travels, we used, in addition to our feet: planes, trains, subways, busses, private cars, Uber, taxis, and bicycles.  The planes, trains, and busses required advance reservations.  In addition, we took in the sights.  Since this is Italy, they all cost money to see, tickets are required (often months in advance), and all sights are closed on various days of the week and and times of day.  At one point, late last year, we built a spreadsheet of all the sights, open days, plane and bus schedules, and tried to figure out how to schedule a path through time that allowed us...

 When I visited Florence 15 years ago I recall the visiting the Baptistery,  the 1000 year old octagonal building next to the main cathedral,  as being an impactful event - I still remember the remarkable gold mosaics adorning the ceiling. Baptistery of St. John So when we got to Florence, I wanted to repeat the visit, to see how a different time and perspective had changed my perception of it.  Besides, I thought Mary would appreciate it, especially compared to the famous, but less impressive, church behind it. Photo of the ceiling from 15 years ago Like just about everything in Italy, you need to pay to get in.  Sadly, you can't just buy a ticket for the Baptistery: that would be too easy.  Instead, admittance is part of a "combo" ticket, of which there are many to choose from, depending upon which 3 or 5 other pay-to-get-in sites are part of the combo.  So I bought one of them.  The confusing part for me (perhaps I can blame Google Translate?) ...

 Spello, called Hispellum by the Romans who settled  in about -260, sits on a ridge of land jutting out from the flanks of Mt Subasio, overlooking the Umbrian plain. At 1290m, Subasio is the tallest point nearby in the Appenine mountains. Starting just above town, and encompassing the bulk of the mountain is Parco Del Monte Subasio, which is cobwebbed with a network of well marked hiking trails . Spello to Assisi  Our first hike, along the Via Frances (VF on the sign posts), follows the footsteps of St. Francis on his pilgrimage route to/from Rome in 1209.  I looked for his footprints, but didn't see any.  Perhaps the overnight rain washed them away.  The path consists mainly of a single lane gravel road that runs north along the slope at the point where the olive orchards give way to the forested slopes of the mountain.  In this section, the path runs through an olive Grove.  As the olive groves gave way to suburban housing on the outskirts...

When the citizens of Spello rebuilt the aqueduct that provided water to Spello since ancient times, they included stones carved with sayings of well known people. Here are some of the stones. Can you help us translate them? He who is unable to feel amazement and wonder is already dead and his eyes are incapable of seeing. Einstein I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.  Groucho Marx Culture may even be described simply as that which makes life worth living.  T.S. Eliot In the end we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends! Martin Luther King Man is a creature that can get accustomed to anything, and I think that is the best definition of him Dostoevsky  I was sad because my foot hurt. Then I met a man with no legs.  Anonymous Sad is that little boy who does not advance his master. Leonardo da Vinci I Think about how you live (?) Demothenes The next world wa...