Umbria - Assisi

Driving from the Tuscan region to the Umbrian region brought a lot of change in the scenery. Here in Umbria everything is lighter, not so dark as in Tuscany. The Tuscan roofs are made of the dark terra cotta and the buildings are of stone that is the Burnt Siena color. However, here in Umbria the stone and clay is much lighter. When we woke up this morning and looked down from our hotel on the hill the whole city looked very light, with creamycolors and light taupe and pale yellow. The roofs are also a very light cream so the city gives a completely different appearance. Last night at sunset the town took on a pale pink glow as the setting sun brought out the pink that is in the rocks. The town of Assisi is getting ready for the pope to visit in 2 or 3 days so work is going on everywhere. At St. Francis basilica they are preparing a huge covered stage and even putting down wood laminate flooring for the temporary event. We toured the basilica this morning and were quite impressed by the frescoes. It is fun to see the Franciscians walking through the town. I forgot to tell that at the Etruscan museum yesterday we learned an interesting fact. We were looking at an exhibit with huge terracotta urns that were used to store grain. The exhibit mentioned that the Etruscans made sure to have urns filled with grain to feed the dormice. When I asked the curator what that meant, he said that they liked to fatten up the mice --- because they ate them. On that note, ciao!