We're driving towards Assisi and I see this beautiful city up on top of the mountain in front of us. "Wow, look how beautiful that is!" I say to Annie. "Dude, that's where we're going" she replies. We drive up this mountain and into this ancient city. The city is an old fortress in Umbria, which is located in the middle of Italy. I don't think I can even describe all of the feelings I felt during our visit. All I can say is, this is the Italy that I came here to experience. There is no subway system. There is no McDonald's, or other signs of American culture. The roads are barely roads. Most people don’t speak English and we are forced to use our Italian. One of the things I love most about this little town is the roads. One car can barely even fit. Try throwing in some picture-taking tourists and it gets interesting. There are random stairwells and paths that I cant help but want to explore. This is Italy.
Annie’s family spent 8 months here a couple of years ago and so we were fortunate to have a contact in the town, Barbara. She was kind enough to take us around a bit. She took us to the place where Annie’s family had stayed, to her grandma’s house, to her house, and then to an olive grove owned by her friend Luigi. Luigi’s family has been making olive oil for centuries. In the old days, the olives were squeezed between two huge stones. Nowadays, they have a little machine that squeezes out the oil. This olive oil is coming from the olives being grown in his backyard. From there, they’re squeezed and bottled. It is not like in America where it was bottled a year ago, shipped somewhere, and sits on a shelf for another six months before we eat it. This comes right off the tree. Luigi’s wife toasted some fresh bread over an open oven (with fire and everything), then she put some of the oil on it and sprinkled salt on top. It was amazing. I’m a bit embarrassed to say this, but my eyes literally filled with tears when I put it in my mouth. It was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever tasted. That plus the setting we were in and the people we were with was just overwhelming. To be honest, Annie and I both teared up several times from the sheer pleasure of our environment. As I said, this is Italy.
So, why are nuns mean? Well, let me tell ya. Annie and I were so cheerful that we would say “Buon giorno” to most everyone we passed that didn’t seem like a tourist. Many of the people seemed very happy and some even shocked that we would say good day to them. They would smile and respond. It was just a great, warm feeling. In the center of the town, we were approaching two nuns and Annie, in her best Italian, says “Good morning.” Neither of them responded or really looked at her for that matter. That's right, Annie was snubbed by nuns. About 10 minutes later, the same scene is reinacted but with three nuns this time. We were both very shocked. I mean, okay, so maybe thousands of tourists are there a year and they get annoyed by being “the nuns coming out of the church” but couldn’t they smile or something? I mean, come on, you’re in Assisi…how can you do anything but smile?
Annie’s family spent 8 months here a couple of years ago and so we were fortunate to have a contact in the town, Barbara. She was kind enough to take us around a bit. She took us to the place where Annie’s family had stayed, to her grandma’s house, to her house, and then to an olive grove owned by her friend Luigi. Luigi’s family has been making olive oil for centuries. In the old days, the olives were squeezed between two huge stones. Nowadays, they have a little machine that squeezes out the oil. This olive oil is coming from the olives being grown in his backyard. From there, they’re squeezed and bottled. It is not like in America where it was bottled a year ago, shipped somewhere, and sits on a shelf for another six months before we eat it. This comes right off the tree. Luigi’s wife toasted some fresh bread over an open oven (with fire and everything), then she put some of the oil on it and sprinkled salt on top. It was amazing. I’m a bit embarrassed to say this, but my eyes literally filled with tears when I put it in my mouth. It was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever tasted. That plus the setting we were in and the people we were with was just overwhelming. To be honest, Annie and I both teared up several times from the sheer pleasure of our environment. As I said, this is Italy.
So, why are nuns mean? Well, let me tell ya. Annie and I were so cheerful that we would say “Buon giorno” to most everyone we passed that didn’t seem like a tourist. Many of the people seemed very happy and some even shocked that we would say good day to them. They would smile and respond. It was just a great, warm feeling. In the center of the town, we were approaching two nuns and Annie, in her best Italian, says “Good morning.” Neither of them responded or really looked at her for that matter. That's right, Annie was snubbed by nuns. About 10 minutes later, the same scene is reinacted but with three nuns this time. We were both very shocked. I mean, okay, so maybe thousands of tourists are there a year and they get annoyed by being “the nuns coming out of the church” but couldn’t they smile or something? I mean, come on, you’re in Assisi…how can you do anything but smile?
Here are my pictures from Assisi.
1 comment:
Amazing picutres! Maybe the nuns are of a non-smiling vow of silence type.
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