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This is a picture of the hotel we occupied, the Hotel Posta Panoramic. It is a beautiful family owned hotel in the mountains of Umbria. The back view from the hotel overlooks the Umbrian Plain. This view is from further down the street looking back towards the city, and you can see both the plain and the mountains. Here is what we saw when we looked out the back window of the hotel's restaurant. What a view!

This fountain is on the piazza in Assisi, where we spent much of our time. The water flowing out of the fountain is spring water from the mountain. Folks would wander by and fill their water bottles with it. It was quite good.

Here I am, standing on the walkway leading up to San Damiano, which is the monastery where Saint Francis first received his call to "rebuild My house," after which he renounced his father's wealth and began rebuilding the local churches. Directly behind me (in the first picture) is an olive tree (it was bearing fruit), and some magnificent tall cedar trees. The motor scooter in the far background belonged to a small, fat nun who would periodically hop on it and go zipping off down the walkway. I couldn't resist taking her picture. This monument was built into the wall in the plaza of San Damiano. Click here and here to see some other views of the trees and scenery around San Damiano. In addition to touring San Damiano, we also spent some time at St. Francis' mountain hermitage, where he went to get away from the hustle of the city. The hermitage is now a monastery. It is also the place where St. Francis preached to the birds, and here is a picture of the tree where the birds gathered to hear his sermon. Notice the brace--this tree is very old, and the Friars have had to patch it together to keep it from breaking up. Apparently their gadgetry works, as the tree is still growing strong.

This picture was taken by Hadi Siddiqui, one of the BSC students who accompanied us on our trip. This is a panoramic view of the piazza in Assisi. On the right side of the picture, you can the see the columns of the Temple of Minerva which was originally built in 29 AD. It is now a Roman Catholic church. Our hotel was located just up the street that runs in front of the temple. On the far left side of the picture, you can see a few tables with people sitting at them. These belong to the Café Minerva, the gellateria where we spent a great deal of our free time.

The building you see here is the basilica of St. Francis. I was walking back up the mountain after touring the basilica when I caught this view of it. You can see the beautiful Umbrian plain in the background. Some folks were parachuting over the mountains on this particular day. What a view that must have been!

One day, a group of us took a taxi to Spello, a very small town just a few miles from Assisi (here is a sample of the architecture of some of the homes there). But, what was most fascinating was the still standing Roman gates to the original city. This picture was taken right as the gates came into view. We then walked up the road that you see going up to the right, and, looking back we saw this view of the gates. And this was taken even further up the road. As you can see, the view in Spello is as beautiful as it is in Assisi. One of the differences, though, is that Spello is known for the frescos that are done in the sides of the houses. The one picture I took of a fresco isn't all that clear, but here it is (I have no idea who "W. M." is). I also took this one of a wall monument. The small restaurant where we had lunch had a magnificent view of the countryside.

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