Orvieto

The last week of July. It is hard to believe how fast summer is passing.  On Saturday, 26 July, we headed to Orvieto, stopping at Todi on the way.  Although it is hard to believe, I was starting to get jaded seeing another medieval town, each with at least seven grand churches that were starting to look all alike. But then, to my surprise, was the Duomo (Cathedral) of Orvieto.  What a sight--with its black and white stripes and impressive facade.  Orvieto quickly became my favorite medieval town, or at least my favorite Duomo (to see more, you can search pictures of it on google images).  

Monday was our last day in Perugia, so we spent it in Assisi, of course.  True, Assisi is a major tourist site, but given that most of the tourists seem to be on a religious pilgrimage, it is actually very refreshing.  Everywhere you look you see Franciscan monks and nuns.  They have the best scholarly bookstore for works of Scotus and Ockham that I have ever seen.  

We headed to Florence on Tuesday, where we spent the day at Villa Morghen.  Then, on Wednesday, it was an excruciatingly long drive to Paris, which lasted about 14 hours in the car.  The only compensation was seeing the Alps in Southern France.