Final Pilgrimage Meeting (Tues 09 Sep)

Based on the new itinerary

I really should have written something before now.  But this semester is turning out to be more day-to-day work than I anticipated, considering I am teaching mostly on-line classes and not face-to-face, to accommodate being out of the classroom for effectively two weeks.  Of course, it was supposed to be entirely on-line, with no face-to-face, but early in the summer I was told we must offer at least one f2f section of the World Civ survey for incoming freshmen.  And that means I’m not entirely out of the classroom this semester, which would have been weird anyway.  I have a plan to cover the material during the period of my absence, so everything’s hunky-dory there. 

Nevertheless, in typical Absent-minded Professor fashion, in anticipation of an “easier” semester, I had already decided to put all that “free time” to good use in much-needed overhauls of two of my classes … and that’s turning out to be more complicated in the case of one of them than I really expected.  It’s amazing how much of my material throughout the semester is integrated – content, exercises, and so forth – so that changing something here necessitates adjusting something there … and there … and there … and discovering that to do this at some point later in the semester necessitates me having done that sometime earlier to properly set it up.  No wonder you hear the tales of the older professors whose lecture notes haven’t changed in forty years!

In any case, almost two weeks ago we had the final (of two) meetings of the group going on the Pilgrimage to Italy from the Minor Basilica of the Immaculate Conception.  Finally we found out hard information about our anticipated itinerary, which was the main information my wife and I were wanting, so we could start making specific plans for our “free time” – mainly lunches since breakfast and dinner are included in the package.  The Rick Steves book is about to get some heavy use scouting out recommended eateries, which my wife has had great success in doing in the past.  I’m not going to bore the reader with all the necessary administrivia that we were given as well – baggage allotments, etc. – as well as meeting the Magnificat Travels representative who will be accompanying us, but here’s a run-down of what is planned for us (with the customary caveat, “subject to change”):

Mon 20 Oct

03:00 Mass in the chapel of St. Mary’s School, Natchitoches

04:00 Depart for Dallas via coach from the parking lot of St. Mary’s

10:45  Depart Dallas Delta Flight 2310

13:53   Arrive Atlanta

15:57   Depart Atlanta Delta Flight 240

Tue 21 Oct

07:30  Arrive Rome FCO

            Travel to Assisi (approx. 2:21/213 km N of Rome)

            Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels

            Hotel Giotto, Assisi

Wed 22 Oct 

            St. Francis Basilica

St. Clare Basilica

            Walking tour of Assisi (San Damiano?, The Hermitage? – these were on the original brochure)

            Hotel Giotto, Assisi

Thu 23 Oct

            Day trip to Orvieto (approx. 1:28/91 km SW of Assisi)

            Mass at the Cathedral

            Walking tour of Orvieto

            Hotel Giotto, Assisi

Fri 24 Oct

            Travel to Florence (approx. 2:26/221 km WNW from Assisi to hotel, which is itself about 0:39/51 km W of Florence … presumably we will only go from Assisi to Florence, then to hotel at end of day to avoid needless backtracking)

            Academy

            Museum

            Uffizi Gallery

            Hotel Royal Palace, Montecatini

Sat 25 Oct 

            Walking tour of Florence

            Travel to Rome (approx. 3:05/322 km SSE from hotel to hotel, but same presumption as above)

            Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls

            Hotel Cicerone, Rome

Sun 26 Oct

            Mass at the Basilica of St. Mary Major

12:00  Angelus with the Pope in St. Peter’s Square

            St. Calixtus Catacombs

            Hotel Cicerone, Rome

Mon 27 Oct

            St. Peter’s Basilica

            The Vatican

            Hotel Cicerone, Rome

Tue 28 Oct

            Basilica of St. John Lateran

            Basilica of St. Peter in Chains

            Trevi Fountain

            Farewell dinner

            Hotel Cicerone, Rome

Oct 29 Wed

09:15  Depart Rome FCO Delta 241

15:33   Arrive Atlanta

19:00  Depart Atlanta Delta 1911

20:25  Arrive Dallas

Oct 30 Thu

01:00  Arrive St. Mary’s School, Natchitoches

I have, of course, been spending a great deal of my (vanishingly small) “free time” doing research so I’ll have a lot of good historical information pre-written that I can just import into my daily blog of the trip and don’t have to waste time doing that on the fly.  I’ll have better things to do … fine wine, fine Italian cuisine, limoncello, Tuscan sunsets, fine wine, and so forth!

Less than a month to go!

Ciao!