Cleo's Corner (6.18.10)

Does Pompeii bring up any thoughts in your mind? Well, my wonderful group had many thoughts and now we are all enjoying seeing them for real. The wonderful photos of Jeanne Haemmelmann continue to help me recall what has passed by in a whizz.

A real treat for me particularly came when we visited Assisi, the home town of St. Francis Assisi. I have been using his prayer "Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace" for many years as I meditate so to be in his city was especially thrilling. Here was a man who had everything in life and gave it all up to help the poor. If you don’t know the whole poem, Google it if you’re interested. The second photo on Assisi show what we had to do to go to the toilette...we did not have the correct coins so we just ducked under and continued on our mission.

Assisi was a surprise to me. I love the village and the wonderful views and quaint streets and people. I would love to visit again when I have more time. It is in Assisi that pignoli are gathered from the Stone Pine cone which you can buy at Shaner’s Land and Sea Market on 20th Avenue in Pass-a-Grille.

Venice was, as always, a delight. I have been there two other times but never with a guide, which made an enormous difference. I had a wonderful encounter with an Italian family as I was waiting for a gondola ride. The woman and I sorta exchanged hellos in Spanish-Italian and then I pointed to her nails and said I like the color. Well...she turned to her bag, reached in and pulled out a brand new bottle of her very color and turned and offered it to me! Lovely.

The photos show the uniqueness of this lovely city. I talked to a shopkeeper who spoke English. I told her that I was glad she did and she said,“But of course, I am a Venetian, I speak five languages.“ Very humbly I reminded myself to practice my Spanish more often. We went on gondola rides with music playing delightfully in our ears as we passed history right before our eyes.

To quote Jeanne from the church website, “We left Venice early morning and headed through the Alps via Lake Grada, and then descended the alps into Innsbruck, home of two winter olympics. We enjoyed strudel, cuckoo clocks and fresh mountain air.“ Her photos tell more of the story of this lovely city. It was here that I was able to buy my first crystal jewelry from Swarovski which is located in this area. Usually it is too expensive, but here they have a low-price section and I just love the necklace and earrings I am now wearing.

We are now in Augsburg and I am resting. A cold slowed me down and gave me a chance to have a real German massage, sauna (where men and women mix naked as we baked and then cooled off under freezing showers). I will write more next week on the ending of this lovely journey but just know that making a trip like this with a group is very different from doing it alone. First of all I have not gotten lost once, and second of all I have met a group of people I may never have had the opportunity to know. That would have been a great loss for me. We are a team as we head to Oberammergau and the Passion Play. More later folks.

If you want to enjoy more photos, just click here http://www.pagchurch.org/Home.html.

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