Popeners, Orvieto and Asissi
Our last two days in Rome were filled with fun and exploration. We started off Wednesday by looking for the infamous Popener, which is essentially a bottle opener with a picture of the current pope on it.
Now, this was not an easy mission. The Vatican HATES these, and as a result, there is only one store in all of the city that sells them. We finally tracked down the store after some helpful texts and phone calls from our Whitworth friends and directions to the store from jazz professor Dan Keberle (Thank you to everyone who helped us!) However, the search was not over. They were very hidden in the store, and we only found them because Emma happened to look at the back of some bottle openers. On one side was a picture of the Colosseum, and on the other side of a VERY select few was a picture of the pope! Next to these keychain bottle openers was a big bin full of magnet ones, the ones we wanted. Again, all of the bottle openers had pictures of Roman monuments and sites on them, except for a select few Popeners that were hidden out of sight at the bottom of the bin. We were ecstatic and bought two each.
On our last day in Rome, we escaped the hustle of the city on a tour to the two Umbrian towns of Orvieto and Assisi. The early morning start was also a good trial run at waking up early since the next day we would have to wake up at 3:30 am for our flight home.
Our first stop was the cute, windy town of Orvieto. The only way up to the top of the town was by tram, and once we got to the top of the mountain, the first thing we saw was a gorgeous church. The sides were black and white striped and the facade was intricately decorated with gold-leaf.
After looking at the church and the view of the valley, we had free time to explore the town. Emma and I loved walking around the very empty streets and thought that it was really nice to not have to fight against crowds like in Rome. We also happened upon a gorgeous pottery store and bought some hand-painted, traditional Italian pottery!
We left Orvieto and went immediately to lunch where we had a four course meal! We started with bruschetta with various toppings on them, then we had pasta with a tomato sauce, then breaded chicken with salad and then finally dessert! We made sure to enjoy our lunch with a glass of Orvieto Classico, a signature white wine of the area. The lunch was just what we needed, and we felt extremely well fed for the rest of the day’s adventures.
The last stop on our tour was Assisi. Those of you familiar with your Catholic saints may know Assisi because it is the birthplace of Saint Francis of Assisi (Saint Francis was my favorite saint back in my Catholic school days because he liked animals and seemed to be nice). The drive up to the town was particularly stunning because Assisi is carved into the side of a cliff. I love views like this because you feel like you are getting a look at the real part of Italy, away from the hub of a major city.
We started in the church of Saint Claire and went down into the crypt to see where she was buried. This crypt is unique because they have her casket and body on display. Yes, you read that right. And her body. Granted, it was covered in wax to preserve the remaining bones, but it was a little bit of a shock for both of us. Emma was a real sport because, as she said many times throughout the trip, she strongly believes “dead people belong outside in the ground or should be burnt. Whatever you prefer.” I can’t say that I disagree after seeing St. Claire’s body.
Then, our tour group walked all the way throughout the town until we reached Saint Francis’ church, stopping at various sights along the way that were significant in the Catholic faith. Emma and I got a chuckle out of the fact that we were most definitely the only Protestants in our tour group, and every one else was very Catholic and obviously deeply moved by these sights. A few people were even crying!
We ended our beautiful day out back in Rome at about 8 pm. The trip was such a nice break from the busy cities we had been to and allowed us to catch a breath of fresh air. We especially loved the beauty and simplicity of both of the towns and could see ourselves visiting again on another trip to Rome.
The next day, we woke up very early for our flight home and are now both happily back with our families. Our trip was not something we will likely ever forget, and I am so glad to have shared all the travel experiences we had with such an amazing friend and travel companion.
Thank you all for reading our blog along the way, and thank you for the well wishes and prayers. We have loved writing this for you and for us as a way to remember our trip as we get older. We are both looking forward to going into our last semester at Whitworth but are extremely thankful to have had some time away from college to travel and enjoy a snippet of Europe.
