The next day for breakfast I also meet Lloyd from Australia, he wants to go to the sanctuary as well, and we're happy to share his company. We set off a bit later than planned, but we're not too concerned; it's a lovely day and we make our way to the cathedral where we're to meet Flavia and her boyfriend. Lloyd is a bit worried about money, last time he wanted some money from the ATM, his card was rejected. Marcel is worried about the girl he went out with last night. He doesn't want to see her again, but she really wants to see him, so he's sure there will be text messages and rejections ahead - and he's not feeling so good. We look everywhere for Flavia and her air force retired boyfriend. After he finished working there he decided to continue to wear the same clothes and in the spirit of the place and trying to not accumulate too much earthly goods, Flavia is happy he does, and it also makes it very easy to spot him in a crowd. But we can't find him or Flavia anywhere. Now I'm worried too, I really don't like standing them up since they're being so nice to take us in the first place. We send Lloyd off to sort out his money situation, and Marcel and I look out for them again and try to come up with a plan regarding his date.

We decide to go ahead on the trip anyway, and we try to push away the guilt of being too late by telling ourselves that Flavia and her boyfriend are probably having a great time anyway. We ask our way to the right exit from Assisi and walk up the mountain in the warm, sunny weather - talking about this and that. More specifically that Lloyd would probably be more happy in Germany than in Australia because he is so orderly and loves cleanliness, and what we should do about Marcel's girl. When we've been walking for a wile we sit down to once and for all find a solution. Lloyd takes out his day planner and start writing down our suggestions for the SMS Marcel is dreading so much to send. Marcel is walking around, pulling his hear, insistent to not hurt the girl's feelings. I'm sitting on a stone wall coming up with suggestions making sure that a woman's feelings is not overlooked and that honesty is important as well. After a while we have come up with the perfect wording and Marcel sends it away. He doesn't hear anything back from her which is a relief...

When we make it to the sanctuary we are half expecting Flavia and the man in air force green, but we can't spot them. The place is full of people, including our most dreaded group of Italian scouts, the group from our hostel. We sneak past them and we're inside the sanctuary. It's supposed to be quiet in here, but as we already know, this is Italy and quiet is impossible. Here, quiet means 'talk more softly than usual'. We enjoy our walk in the forest and look at the altars and find a spot to contemplate and enjoy the sunshine. We go our separate ways and when I'm quite done I go outside to wait for the guys. After a while Marcel shows up, but when we've waited for a really long time, we assume he went back early. On our way back to Assisi and as we get closer to our hostel our guilt returns and we talk about what we are going to say when we get back. We pick some flowers along the way to soften her mood. The other woman that works in the hostel made some very strict chopping gestures last time someone did something wrong. Like sitting down at the wrong table... We're not looking forward to this at all.

When Flavia sees us, she makes the chopping motion and we know we're in for a real lecture. We give her the flowers and she melts. We talk and she is happy that we went to see the sanctuary, that was the important thing. We wonder what happened to Lloyd. He had walked even further up the mountain to find another place but he hadn't found it. By the time he got back he was exhausted and needed a nap.

That evening the scouts were gone and we were happy to great some knew people. Two German guys were cycling from Germany to Rome, and Pablo from Brazil and Justin and Jim from America made the evening fun - Jim thought us how to play a new card game, Egyptian rat screw. It was great fun. Lloyd emerged eventually and all of us had dinner and talked and played cards. I was better than Marcel.