July 2026 • Page 2 of 2 • Folksy Travel by Bill Smale

July 7, 2026July 7, 2026

Mediaeval Assisi

Mediaeval Assisi definitely a place you need to visit in Italy especially if you’re interested in Saint Francis at his live nature and animals. His tomb is here in the large basilica so you can come and visit or pay your respects or whatever.

Bus station Street Mediaeval Assisi — After you get off the bus you walk down this narrow street to a small Piazza

Narrow streets Mediaeval Assisi — Since this city has been around for many hundreds of years the streets are very narrow

Interesting opening Bill Smale — This is one of the first things you see when you enter this church. I’m not quite sure what it is but it looks like something leading down to the original structure or something meant for some purpose and it’s no longer used

Wax candles Bill Smale — If you are interested in lighting candles for some blessing you will notice that some of the churches in Italy have installed electric candles. That way you pay some money and an electric candle lights up. But many of the churches still have wax candles

Carlo tomb is here Bill Smale — This fellow I saw promoted in a church as a recent saint. I’m sure it’s important to keep things current in the Catholic Church and so this fellow is very greatly revered. one thing I did not realize before coming here is that this is the actual church where he is entombed. you’re not supposed to take a photo of the tomb out of respect. Above his remains is a glass box where you can see a wax replica of him lying down

John Paul presentation Bill Smale — I’m sure this pope is very prominent in this hallway presentation because he visited

Respect for nature — This city is organized around Saint Francis so you will see a lot of attention paid to nature. This is just someone’s yard

Road to paradise — It’s interesting to note this is the road to paradise

Rocca maggiore — This is the Fortress on top of the hill which has been here for as long as the Romans were here

Famous artist — so this famous artist had an exhibition here

Permanent design — This is his signature design and this one seems to be permanent just below the castle

South American project — This is in the mountain South America, a project he was commissioned to do

Verona Arena project — This was done in the arena in Verona

Outer space project — he got somebody in outer space to do this for him

Hidden Borsalino — There is a hidden Borsalino here

Chiesa di Santa Maria Sopra Minerva

on this site was a Roman temple to Minerva and on top of that a church was built.

You can see the columns of the Minerva temple which were rescued from the ruins

The tower — Next to the temple is the tower.

128 steps up — Before ascending I asked how many steps. The answer was 128

Clock backside — This is the first time I’ve been on the backside of a clock

Changing the guard — The former king of Italy comes to pay respects to the town as it changes guardianship from the Vatican to the nation of Italy

Beautiful view from the tower — The tower has a beautiful view

The Bell striking mechanism — Here you can see a metal ball and a mechanism which allows it to strike the bell

There are many interesting remains from excavations of Roman artifacts

Abandoned shoes — Back down in the town near the station of Assisi you can see that not only people choose their shoes but here you can see the shoes will soon choose the person

Interesting artwork — Some interesting artwork

July 6, 2026July 6, 2026

Relaxing Arezzo

Arezzo is one of those small towns in The Central part of Italy which can give you a good rest from the famous big tourist cities. I highly recommend just taking a break and try Relaxing Arezzo.

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Fruit and vegetable shop relaxing Arezzo — Everywhere you go you see beautiful tomatoes if you go to the private stands. You also see giant garlic. You may not find as fresh fruit and vegetables in the large chain markets. Venture into the private Small vendors.

Post and telegraph office Bill Smale — Before the Internet there was a telegraph and so the post and telegraph in many countries became one of the largest government services and as a result the buildings were also massive. They still have some of these in Italy which I find pretty interesting

Old pharmacy Bill Smale — I just like this old pharmacy

Red currents Bill Smale — These are very popular, red currents. They are sour but kind of interesting

Darrell Street — The narrow streets going up and down hills are really fun to visit

Old Fiat panda — And here is an old Fiat panda

Cigar shop — I was tempted to go in but I’m cutting down on cigars and my tendency is for the smaller cigars like the Toscanello

Gelato — And of course I had to have peach or mango on top of coconut on top of chocolate

Interesting building — Just an interesting building

Screenshot

Big organ — That’s quite a dual set of pipes

Sugar Shop — This is an interesting name and theme for a restaurant

Not expensive — As you can see the prices are half of what you pay in a tourist city

Speedy coffee shop — Nice name for a coffee shop. I came here for some coffee. It’s a good local place where people meet to relax and talk

Coffee shop — This was also pretty good cappuccino with a pistachio croissant

Nesting pigeons — While I was having coffee the pigeons were flying right over my head, creating some small turbulence in my face and nesting above. So they would come down, search for twigs for their nest and then fly back up here to create the nest.

July 5, 2026July 5, 2026

Enjoy Parma

When We think of Parma we need to focus on the fact that it is one of the most important cities and areas in the world. This area around the city brings us Parmesan cheese, prosciutto, Lambrusco wine (like champagne), tortellini soup, Balsamic vinegar, Baloney, Bolognese sauce (ミットソース) (Ragu sauce), Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati. What other area of the world has brought us so much?

Amazing library Bill Smale — An amazing library we were not able to enter since they are working on it

Mannequin Bill Smale — You can see how many of the statues were not marble or even completely clay. Many of them were filled with wood and sticks to create a basic form and then with a plaster over them

These are the different types of Italian mayonnaise which I found interesting

Vegan mayonnaise — Heinz was there with a vegan mayonnaise

Taking a break — It’s important to take a break at the end of the day

Hat stand — It’s nice to have a place to put your hat

Pigeon house — The pigeons have a pretty big house

Renovating a building — This building is being renovated

Old style electric buses — It’s nice to see electric buses

So a spritz in Parma has balsamic vinegar. Maybe I should’ve tried that

Asti wine — This is a nice wine for the evening even after dinner

A lot of people sitting around the Palazzo

You can tell this is Parma. They’re selling Parmigiano Reggiano And salami along with their small food and coffee shop

July 3, 2026July 3, 2026

A Day in Marseille

a friend who lived and worked in this area for several years told me there are three things to see in Marseille and then you can leave. one is the basilica on the hill, the other one is the old port and having bouillabaisse soup and the other one is maybe less interesting but probably the beach area. For me the soup was something I had been looking forward to for more than 16 years. The first time I tried to get to Marseille from Barcelona the whole country, France, shut down due to a strike against the Social Security system, if I remember correctly. So there were no toll roads or trains or buses or control towers working. So I missed my chance. But I finally made it and I will say the soup was very delicious and very interesting.

Toast in the soup A Day in Marseille — The waiter was very exciting and excited. He showed me how to eat the soup. The first thing you do is spread the cheese on top, dipped the toast in the yellow sauce and then dip the toast with the sauce in the soup, eat the toast and then enjoy the soup

The Bill A Day in Marseille — This was the total for the lunch. It was well worth the adventure

Political commentary Bill Smale — Some political commentary, cover of a magazine, paste it on the wall

Used bookstore Bill Smale — Used Book market

Good coloring Bill Smale — I like the way they just colored everything. It’s very attractive

This is the famous Basilica on the hill, one of the things you need to visit

Curve to building — I like the way they curve the building to use the space available

People swimming — People were enjoying the swimming

Armistice memorial — Attribute to the armistice in 1918, World War I

John Kennedy memorial — a tribute to John Kennedy

Interesting Shop — This was an interesting shop which sold some very strange and interesting things

Graffiti — of course people need to put graffiti everywhere

Palais Longchamp — I thought this was a museum or exhibit but there was really nothing open, just the outside and then the back area which was being set up for a concert

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