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Tom & Sue’s Excellent Adventure Day 14 Cupertino & Loretto

Buena Sera:

We were up at seven after a great night of sleep, I think we could have stayed in bed longer but today we had a tight time frame. Our first stop after the morning ritual was St. Joseph of Cupertino, the flying Saint, and patron of students, test takers, the mentally challenged and aviators. His story is long but a great read and I may send it in a separate e-mail. Susan was crying the whole time she read it.

I have had a few people ask about the car we have since I have not commented about it as I did about the car we had last year, did I tell you I loved that car? This car, even though it does everything for you including massaging my back when driving, is a far cry from the Mercedes. I booked this car because it was supposed to hold 5 people and 4 bags in the boot……yeah, right; you have seen the pictures with the 2 pieces of luggage on the back seat, plus a multitude of other things.

Last year everything fit in the trunk, so this year at every stop we have to worry that someone will break in and steal the luggage. This fear was instilled at the rental counter when our agent said the theft of luggage in cars in Italy is bad and widespread. After almost 2 weeks of taking our luggage to our room and putting the other in the trunk we gave up and decided that they could have it. Now we don’t worry about the back seat luggage, especially since most of it is dirty laundry.

We had the opportunity of Mass at the shrine of St. Joseph of Cupertino. Just in case you are afraid to fly....he is the patron saint of air travelers!
We had the opportunity of Mass at the shrine of St. Joseph of Cupertino. Just in case you are afraid to fly….he is the patron saint of air travelers! You can see an image of him levitation painted on the wall of the church behind the altar.

The town of Osimo where the Basilica of the Saint stands is a small windy and very narrow maze of streets. Parking was a nightmare and after 2 go arounds I parked in a handicap spot. Knowing the routine I get out of the car very slowly hanging on to the car and got my cane out of the back. As we walked to the Basilica I looked like a total invalid until we got past the camera’s that monitor the parking. I know, after yesterday you ask how could you do that, and I say we didn’t want to miss Mass. I prayed for forgiveness and we enjoyed the Mass with a full congregation.

After we toured the shrine of the Saint and made our way to the car for our next destination, the Holy House of Loretto, the house of Mary from Nazareth, where the Holy Family lived. We had been here before but felt compelled to come back. This shrine has been visited by more than 200 Saints and Popes. We like to touch the walls in the house knowing that Jesus, Mary and Joseph must have touched them as well as so many other holy people, hoping that it might rub off. It is Sunday so it was crowded and we squeezed our way into a corner so we could pray and contemplate where we were. It was getting close to closing, for lunch again, so I snapped a few pictures for you even though the last time we were here I got a ton. Today I only got yelled at 3 times. Knowing we would be thrown out we chose to leave on our own in total dignity, LOL, and made our way back to the car.

r first stop after the morning ritual was St. Joseph of Cupertino, the flying Saint, and patron of students, test takers, the mentally challenged and aviators. His story is long but a great read and I may send it in a separate e-mail. Susan was crying the whole time she read it. I have had a few people ask about the car we have since I have not commented about it as I did about the car we had last year, did I tell you I loved that car? This car, even though it does everything for you including massaging my back when driving is a far cry from the Mercedes. I booked this car because it was supposed to hold 5 people and 4 bags in the boot, yeah right; you have seen the pictures with the 2 pieces of luggage on the back seat, plus a multitude of other things. Last year everything fit in the trunk, so this year at every stop we have to worry that someone will break in and steal the luggage. This fear was instilled at the rental counter when our agent said the theft of luggage in cars in Italy is bad and widespread. After almost 2 weeks of taking our luggage to our room and putting the other in the trunk we gave up and decided that they could have it. Now we don’t worry about the back seat luggage, especially since most of it is dirty laundry. The town of Osimo where the Basilica of the Saint stands is a small windy and very narrow maze of streets. Parking was a nightmare and after 2 go arounds I parked in a handicap spot. Knowing the routine I get out of the car very slowly hanging on to the car and got my cane out of the back. As we walked to the Basilica I looked like a total invalid until we got past the camera’s that monitor the parking. I know, after yesterday you ask how could you do that, and I say we didn’t want to miss mass. I prayed for forgiveness and we enjoyed the mass with a full congregation. After we toured the shrine of the Saint and made our way to the car for our next destination, the Holy House of Loretto, the house of Mary from Nazareth, where the Holy Family lived. We had been here before but felt compelled to come back. This shrine has been visited by more than 200 Saints and Popes. We like to touch the walls in the house knowing that Jesus, Mary and Joseph must have touched them as well as so many other holy people, hoping that it might rub off. It is Sunday so it was crowded and we squeezed our way into a corner so we could pray and contemplate where we were. It was getting close to closing, for lunch again, so I snapped a few pictures for you even though the last time we were here I got a ton. Today I only got yelled at 3 times. Knowing we would be thrown out we chose to leave on our own in total dignity,LOL, and made our way back to the car. We took time to have a light lunch of the gigantic sandwich I made last night and headed for our next hotel where we will spend 2 glorious days doing nothing, unless we choose to. We arrived around 2 and this is a 4 star property which has only been opened a short time. I checked in and got the bellman’s cart and we unloaded the car( except for one suitcase we left on the back seat filled with dirty laundry, hoping it would be stolen) We were laughing so hard at the mess we had and how full the cart was with bags of everything. I left Sue to park the car and the manager came out and took the cart to bring it in and he was grunting trying to get it up the ramp. Our room is large and the view is just outstanding with the mountains we came through to get here behind us and the Aegean Sea in front of us. This is a well needed respite after 2 weeks of many shrines and hotels. So don’t expect much tomorrow just as we don’t expect to do much. ( the beach looks good) We will send photos because a picture is worth a 1000 words. Good night and God Bless. Susan and Tom
Time for our own special sandwiches hand-made by Tom.

We took time to have a light lunch of the gigantic sandwich I made last night (beginning to get pretty good at this, in my humble opinion) and headed for our next hotel where we will spend 2 glorious days doing nothing, unless we choose to.

We arrived around 2 and this is a 4 star property which has only been opened a short time. I checked in and got the bellman’s cart and we unloaded the car( except for one suitcase we left on the back seat filled with dirty laundry, hoping it would be stolen). We were laughing so hard at the mess we had and how full the cart was with bags of everything. I left Sue to park the car and the manager came out and took the cart to bring it in and he was grunting trying to get it up the ramp. Our room is large and the view is just outstanding with the mountains we came through to get here behind us and the Aegean Sea in front of us. This is a well needed respite after 2 weeks of many shrines and hotels.

So don’t expect much tomorrow just as we don’t expect to do much. ( the beach looks good) We will send photos because a picture is worth 1,000 words.

Good night and God Bless. Susan and Tom

For more information about Osimo and Saint Joseph of Cupertino click here

For more information about Loretto click here

 

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