October 5, 2012
Church and the Pack Up: We get to explore Cardano al Campo
Yesterday when we took our walk into the town we went and had a look at the church. It surprised us that it was so big in such a small town. The other thing about it was that it was absolutely beautifully maintained and looked to us as if it was well used. We saw that today Sunday there were 3 services so decided that we would go to what appeared to be the family service at 10.30. As we approached the church we were certainly not alone , there were people coming from all directions and lots of children all beautifully dressed. It was lucky we were relatively early as we would have had some difficulty getting a seat, the congregation must have been about a 1000. As we entered there was a small choir singing – 4 female singers, the instrumentalists were 2 young people one on a guitar and one on a flute. The effect was great. They were conducted by a young woman with the most expressive hand movements.
At the start of the service there was a big entrance by young people in robes carrying a cross – there were 2 priests in all their robes and these were followed by numbers of 8 to 10 year olds with their parents. There were 50 to 100 of them. We gathered that a different group is featured each Sunday.
The service that of course we did not understand was easy to follow as the liturgy is basically so similar to an Anglican one. It was interspersed by items from the musicians. As far as we could tell there was no sound system for the instruments but they carried wonderfully because of the superb acoustics . It was indeed a very impressive service with the most perfectly behaved children, this is just a tiny town. Does the church serve quite a wide area?
On the way ‘home’ we went past the stadium again and another match was on with this time slightly older boys but this time we didn’t tarry long . It was certainly ‘all go’ in Cardano al Campo this Sunday and gave you a very warm feeling about family life in Italy.
Our task now was the pack up. We pulled the bikes to bits, a bit like pulling wings off butterflies , tried to protect the more delicate parts and put them in their plastic bags with about a whole roll of Duct tape holding them together. They will be due for a bit of pampering at the bike mechanic when we get home I think. Empted all the panniers and attempted to get everything into the bags. The weight should be OK as I think we have a bit less than we started with – mainly lighter packaging for the bikes. We will see tomorrow at the moment of truth when we weigh in.
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