Here in Assisi

At last! I'm in Assisi! To be honest, I was glad to leave Rome. I think it would be easier to visit Rome in winter. It's hard work when there are a lot of tourists.
I came here by train, the person next to me was a Franciscan priest from Rome who was was going to Terna to say Mass over the weekend. Of course, he knew a lot about the places around here.
At the moment I'm having a Forst beer,next to a group of Germans.
There are storm clouds in the distance, but it's sunny at the moment.
I'll go down to the hotel where I'm staying to tell them is like to have dinner there tonight, them I'll look around town and make plans for going to Mass at the basilica tomorrow. Assisi is bigger than I expected. It's a longish walk to the basilica from here.

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Cultural differences

I noticed that in buses here, there are only 3 or 4 buttons to alert the driver you want to get out at the next stop. This means you have to ask one of the other passengers to push the button for you.

Since Australians come from English and north European stock, the idea of interacting with a stranger horrifies us, so buses are equipped with buttons at every seat.

Of course traffic here also involves the potential of close personal contact, but that is another matter.

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Pauze in Vienna

It is now 6.30am at Vienna airport. I have to wait until noon for my flight to Rome.

Play to your strength: they have the musical score of The Merry Widow printed on the wall next to the baggage collection carousel here.

The first leg from Sydney to Bangkok was on Thai Airlines, and their level of service was remarkable. The food in economy was basic cafeteria food, but there was a lot of it, with frequent drink and snack breaks. Any call for attention was answered in seconds. There was great attention to detail, such as the stewardesses wearing formal clothes for dinner, then changing to something simpler for breakfast. Impressive.

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: