Bravo Sydney transport

Thanks to the elegant transport interchange at Circular Quay, it is surprisingly easy to get to the airport.

Then I had my backpack wrapped for the journey. Snug as a bug in a rug.

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Social bonding and dahlias

On the first Sunday in September in a province of Holland, there is a parade of floats made of dahlia flowers. This is called the "Bloemencorso Zundert", Zundert being a town in Holland near the border with Belgium, just north of Antwerp.
Apparently each small village spends months preparing these floats, so they can be admired and judged. It is all crazy of course, but I think it is a wonderful example of community activities that keep societies alive. I regret that there are not many events like this in Australia. We seem to have events where governments produce the event and the spectators watch passively, such as the New Year Eve fireworks and the Sydney festival. We need more community involvement.

According to the news reports, there are now overseas entries in the Bloemencorso, including from Australia. Why not do it here?

Fort Denison

A fortress built on a small island in Sydney harbour in the 19th century to protect us against the Russians.
Now it is used mostly for fine dining and parties.

Credenziale del Pellegrino

This is the Pilgrim's passport kindly mailed to me by the people at the basilica in Assisi. As well as providing evidence of being on the camino, it includes maps of the routes.

This is the plan: Assisi to Rome along this route:

This is one of the camino routes in Europe which are shown in this map:

Sydney by night

Silvery clouds during s break in the rain.

First thoughts

I will be (please God) in Rome in 5 weeks. After a couple of days in Rome, I plan to walk from Assisi back to Rome. This is part of the Via Francesco, from Florence to Rome.
I don't want to plan too much, but these are some things I have learnt about this route:

The way starts from the Santa Croce church in Florence. The first 8 days go through the Casentino nature park. 

When you leave the park, you arrive at La Verna, where St Francis received the stigmata. 

Straight after this, you arrive at the Montecasale convent, where St Francis met 3 robbers.
The path then follows the Apenine mountain range, then arrives at the Medieval town of Gubbio, where St Francis is said to have befriended a wolf.
From there you walk along a 48 km path that has been constructed from Gubbio to Assisi.

Three kilometres south of Assisi is Santa Maria degli Angeli and the Basilica.

From Assisi, the path goes over Monte Subasio and passes the famous convent Eremo delle Carceri and the nearby town of Spello, with its restored frescoes.

From here we go back to nature and the towns of  Spoleto and Bevagna.

Next the town of Montefalco lies in the hills, with more frescoes.

Then we reach Spoleto and then follows some days over the mountains.

Then follows the villages of Ferentillo and Poggio Bustone.

Then we reach Rieti, which is the geographical centre of Italy.

The next town is Stroncone. 

Soon after this, the path leaves Umbria and enters Lazio (Latium) and its olive trees. This is not a tourist area (yet) and backpackers are not provided for and there are not many hotels.

We pass Vescovio and the famous abbey Farfa.

The path ends in Rome at St John in Lateran. It was in this basilica that Francis received permission to set up his new order in 1223.

Foggy Sydney

Sydney Opera House at 9 this morning: