May 26, 2011 "Every moment and every event of every man's life on earth plants something in his soul." -Thomas Merton

This morning we slept in until 10. I think that my problem is our blackout blinds that keep out all light….which is what makes me want to get up in the morning.
Our bread has gone stale but it is really all we have in the apartment so I had stale bread with nutella for breakfast. I had to make sure that I wore an outfit that covered my shoulders and legs because I went to religious sights today. It was the hottest day so far so the extra clothing made it that much hotter.
I went to the school so I could update my blog. Then Ashley and I sat in the shade by the fountain to do homework. I worked on my reading for my Art class and took notes.
Around 2 we met Jill at the apartment and had lunch. I had the same leftover pasta I have had all week, except this time in order to spice it up I put worcestershire sauce on it. It make is very tasty.
I then met my class at the main fountain at 3. The 6 of us headed down to the Mini Metro which is a very tiny train that runs above the city. It is about the size of a car and goes very fast. We took the Mini Metro to a train station where we got our tickets and boarded the train. The view of Italy passing by was stunning. Fields of every shade of green and little towns with red and orange roofs stretches as far as the eye could see. We took the bus to Assisi

and walked up to the church of Saint Francis. We crossed the large square to the towering church and waited in the shade for our professor. There is no talking within the church so we had to wear headphones and my professor used a microphones directed to our headsets.
The church was built for Saint Francis shortly after his death in the early 1200’s. However, sure to its large and lavish nature it was not kept by the Franciscan order because Franciscans believe in simplicity and poverty.

I was breathless upon entering the church. Every inch of the walls and ceilings was covered in fresco paintings. This was the building with the most fresco paintings before the Vatican was built. The entire center of the church is a huge church and then the groves on the side contain small chapels.
There is a lower and an upper church. The upper church was constructed by artisans from Northern Europe. This is known due to the large amounts of stained glass which is not typical of Italian art. The upper church does not have any small chapels. Famous painter from all over Europe would come to paint sections of the church. The paintings depict different moment in Christ’s life, Francis’ life and important religious moments. Some scenes are depicted multiple times by different people. This is interesting because of everyone’s different ideas of events. In particular, we looked at different representations of the crucifixion and Francis receiving the stigmata (Christ’s wounds). I have a paper sure on Tuesday comparing and contrasting the 2 paintings of Francis receiving the stigmata.

We then went down to the basement to see the tomb of St Francis. It is a simple praying area with the tall tomb in the center.
When we left some girls stayed behind to explore but since I will be coming back with the school on Saturday I decided to go back.
I grabbed something to eat at the train station so I stayed behind when Ashley and Jill went to eat. I journaled and did some homework. We plan on getting up early to go grocery shopping since we have no food in the apartment. Then I have class from 11:15 to 2:45. Ciao.