Woke up with the sound of church bells ringing. Ate bread and cheese for breakfast and then walked to a local church. Discovered it cost $6 to enter. They allowed us to enter the side entrance for prayer only.
We then went to the church and museum of St Mark where Father Angelico painted each cell of the monastery with vivid paintings of the life of Christ. Father Angelico would pray before each painting and then follow the Spirit in creating images of Christ – serene, peaceful and reverent. He never retouched his paintings because he trusted that was how God wanted them.
At the Galleria dell’Academia, we stood in amazement at Michelangelo’s magnificent masterpiece DAVID carved from a single block of marble when he was only 29. Viewed many other well known works of art.
We are now on a train to Rome where we will spend the night before flying to Athens, Greece tomorrow morning. It seems like every train trip has been an adventure. Today’s surprise was when I opened a bottle of mineral water and there was a loud pop as the cap of the bottle flew across the aisle landing in another seat. We all jumped at the loud crack, including the passengers around us.
So far, we took one Eurorail fast train – was a very different experience – filled with tourists and quite a few people who spoke English. The other trains have been slower trains filled with commuters. Takes longer, but far cheaper.
We are grateful for all the ways we have met Christ in Italy during the past week. It has truly been a time of very meaningful spiritual retreat and reflection exceeding our expectations. Not sure if we will have internet as much in Greece, so don’t worry if you don’t hear from us every day.
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