(not necessarily in that order)
Divine Mother gifted us with a stunning sunset display in Umbria last night, complete with rainbow.
This morning’s weather continued dark and rainy, which was a match for my slightly sad feelings.
And now — after a long day of driving — we’re back in Switzerland, enjoying a different though still beautiful view from our latest Airbnb. Located in Sureggio, it’s close to Ramesha’s family home in Canobbio, which will be nice for the final two weeks of our visit.
I’ve been greatly enjoying all the hugs and laughter of connecting with friends (old and new) here at Ananda Assisi.
On the other hand, I’m also feeling deeply exhausted.
It seemed rather surprising until I took a moment to list all the people I’ve connected with in the past two days: it comes to over fifty!
No wonder I’m feeling burnt out.
Today — from start to finish — was about catching up with friends from Ananda Assisi we hadn’t seen in years.
I feel like we did about a month’s worth of connecting in one long day.
We enjoyed Sunday service, laughed a lot, exchanged many hugs, shared news, and also sang. An altogether lovely day.
This is the view from where we’re staying in our friend’s Airbnb near Ananda Assisi.
In the five years since we were last in Umbria I had almost forgotten just how beautiful these hillside views are…and how it’s what you see in pretty much any direction you look.
And then there’s the quiet and sense of peace that pervades the area. Ramesha and I were speculating that perhaps it has to do with the fact that the vast majority of visitors to this area are religious/spiritual tourists — drawn to Assisi because of St Francis.
Whatever the reason, my soul loves it here.
The train trip to Genova went smoothly, but the drive from Genova to Assisi was a form of GPS hell.
No need to go into detail. Suffice it to say that instead of driving for four and a half hours, we were on the road for more like seven and a half.
We saw a lot of beautiful Tuscan countryside, but still…
In fact, Riomaggiore is pretty much a beautiful, living, breathing Stairmaster!
There are steps — literally! — everywhere you go here.
What makes them especially challenging is that they’re not your typical modern-day city steps — all evenly spaced and at the perfect height.
No, most of these steps have been around for centuries and are, more often than not, irregularly spaced and way higher than what I’m accustomed to.
It’s been rather taxing, but I can feel my leg muscles getting stronger every day, and I definitely prefer “working out” like this, rather than in a gym. 😂
It seems the spotty internet at our Airbnb is why I can’t easily upload photos and videos, so the full story of where we are and what we’re doing will wait until we get back to strong wi-fi land.
Meanwhile, my goal will be to share just one photo a day.
So, today we took the train to Vernazza — another one of the Cinque Terre. After visiting a beautiful 14th century church and walking around the harbor, we were finally ready to have our first Cinque Terre gelato.
Imagine our delight when we realized that we were standing directly in front of Amore Mio Gelato. Too perfect!
First we drove to Genova to leave our car parked at the home of Ramesha’s cousin, Marco.
After some time hanging out with him, his wife (Roberta), and their two daughters, he walked with us to the train station. Two hours later we were in Riomaggiore.
The yellow circle at street level in the photo below shows the front door of our apartment, while the other yellow circle is the window we can open and look out on the ocean, the boats, and all the people (this is an amazing place for people watching!).
I have a bunch more photos, but for some reason (I suspect it’s the continuation of Mercury retrograde) I’ve only been able to get these two to upload to my blog. 🤔
We’re here in Riomaggiore and I’m trying to share some photos but it’s not working for some reason. So here’s one from Pixabay instead.
Mine will have to wait until tomorrow.
It’s been quite a full week, with photos piling up from Thursday lunch at Graziella’s; Friday’s visit to the cemetery and church in Canobbio; Saturday dinner at Dudo and Karin’s; and finally, a super fun lunch/sing-along with extended family, during which we were treated to the traditional popular music of Ticino, performed by the duo Tacalà .
I’ll be sharing all about that, plus lots of photos, in the near future.
But the top priority right now is being ready to leave early in the morning for the next phase of our trip: Cinque Terre!