June 12 - Lake Trasimeno and La Verna

To start, hi to all my family, I miss you all very much. Today proved to me that the most insightful  and profound days are the most unforeseen. Our day started with about one hour of a bus ride out of Assisi to the lake of Lago Trasimeno. Here we waited for the ferry to take us to the small island of Isola Maggiore in which there are only 16 inhabitants. We began our exploration of the mostly forested island with hiking to find the Castle Guglielmi. While we were successful in entering the grounds of the castle due to construction issues. While on this excursion, we found an ancient church and cemetery the local people used for their religious purposes. From the top, you had a beautiful view of the light blue water and the surrounding mountains, valleys, farm fields, and homes. The view was breathtaking. We hiked down slowly but surely in the burning sun and while the “beaches” on this island were not ideal we went swimming. The “beaches” on this island either consisted bird carcases, thousands of ants, trees in the bank, or rocks. Of these choices, we chose the rocks of course. While the rocks were painful on the feet, the water was cool and blue. As we swam we saw the castle from an angle we hadn’t seen before. It was from the edge of the water about 500 yards down shore. What do we do when we have a chaperone like Adam? We swim/walk through the water down to the castle to attempt an entry into the castle. When starting we had the whole group and half way there we dropped down to just 4 of us: Adam, Curry, Matt and I. We arrive to the castle in awe at its size and realize two of the four of us had to shoes to climb up. While this was  disappointing, just the sight and achievement of reaching the castle was incredible. After this, we floated with the current back to our hungry waiting group. We went to a local restaurant for more pasta and gelato. Following this we took the ferry, then had a long 2 and a half hour bus ride to La Verna where we are currently staying in a magnificent Franciscan Sanctuary. On arriving we were surrounded by wet green mountains and an old building nestled into the mountains. We arrived with 2 hours or so of free time to do what we please. Naturally, we decided to explore the monastery. We found an ancient cemetery and a path between two boulders covered in green moss and wet walls. As we kept exploring Adam, Josie, Curry, Mrs. Keri and I began hiking up a mountain. Adam and I continued ahead while they meditated and read. Our hike was about a mile and was up the mountain. Tomorrow you might hear this same story because we accidentally hiked this without knowing it was part of our itinerary tomorrow. As we hiked the green scenery around us was astounding. The green of the trees covered in moss and leaves left a beautiful aura around. The ground was soft but not muddy. Everything about these forests was very alive unlike the forests of the islands. There are not many words to describe how beautiful it was. Although this was true, dinner time here is very prompt and it was coming close and it seemed as thought the top of the mountain was not getting any closer with our up hill climb. With five minutes remaining before we needed to turn back in time for dinner, we saw a building. At the top, there are no words. You could see everything and with the air thick from recent rain we were in the clouds. Our view had the sun shining in rays in the distance, fog rolling in the valley below us, the mountains surrounding us, and so much more. We were in awe of the beauty of this place. At this moment being surrounded by the beautiful world, doing something I love, in a country enveloped in the history and richness of God, I felt close with him. We have been learning of the humility of Saint Francis and Saint Clare. They were both born into wealthy families, but gave it all up for god. Standing at about 5,500 feet looking out at this marvelous creation of God’s I could see why they would do what they did. I me self need more humility in my life, everyone does. They managed to have the most modesty and selflessness close to beginning of man and many of us do not have any.

Eugenia Knauss