A Peaceful Sunday in Arezzo

Sunday, 2/23/03
It's 2pm and I am on a bench in an absolutely beautiful park at the top of Arezzo. The cathedral is on my left and the fort is on my right. Due to the train strike I had to ride the bus to Arezzo today for church. It got me here over an hour late, since there were no earlier buses.

So I didn't get enough sleep, I was going to be late to church, and I had told the Elders I wouldn't be there because I was going to Pompeii. Good recipe for skipping, but I didn't. And I am really happy. Today I met Anna, a 14 year old member of the branch who learned English from watching the Cartoon Network. She is really cute, and introduced me to several people after church. I met President Cascone today too, the one I talked to on the phone. He's from Sicily, and speaks English fairly well.

The next train going back to Castiglion is at 3:10 so I decided to explore the city and Elder Bond gave me directions to this park. It has wonderful views of the back part of the city and the fort. I just explored every foot of that fort. It's fascinating. There was one deep, dark tunnel that I only went part way into, though. It consists of a huge wall, a building and a field (I think they play soccer there) inside, and cave-like tunnels under the wall. Outside the entrance is a pine tree that is growing almost parallel to the ground. I just walked right up it, and was still only 2-3 ft off the ground. I love trees like that. I'm going to see the cathedral now.

I'm home now. The cathedral wasn't open but I walked around some more, looked at a few signs marking scenes from Life is Beautiful, then I walked down the main road and watched the carnival that they have every Sunday in February. I took the bus home.