We attended Sunday Mass at St Ann's just south of "Old Town" Naples.
We had been here before and it's always nice to return to someplace you enjoyed before.
St Ann's is named in honor of the mother of St Mary, mother of Jesus.
It is built "in the round" with a wire mesh corpus suspended above the altar.
The Stations of the Cross, recounting the agonizing path that Jesus took from Pilate's judgment seat to Golgotha is very unusual and incorporates the same wire mesh as used to form the corpus. Here is Pilate passing judgment, with a tiny bowl for washing his hands.
This is the station that recalls the kindness of St Veronica in wiping the face of Jesus.
Tradition tells us she was rewarded with the likeness of Jesus on the cloth - in fact veronica means "true image" and may reflect the act rather than a particular person (or, she fulfilled her named destiny in this act of kindness). No one knows for sure. Note the image of Jesus' face on the "cloth." (You may have to open and zoom.)
In this station, we recall Jesus being stripped of his garments. Most modern Crucifixes show Jesus with a loin cloth, but it is likely he was crucified without any covering, since public nakedness was the ultimate shame for a Jew of that era. I am not normally a fan of figurative art, I thought these stations were particularly moving.
Jesus is nailed to the cross - a powerful image.
The only criticism I have is that if you are familiar with the stations, you can figure them out.
If you didn't already know, you might be puzzled by some of them.
After mass, we visited a Panera Bread Company who is featuring their new chicken soup.
Bob felt like it might help his raw throat - "Eat some chicken soup! It can't hurt!"
The day was gorgeous so we ate on the patio!
After lunch, Bob took a bike ride while Theresa went for a walk. Bob rode up and down the road next to the beach and, as it happened, Theresa walked some of the same territory.
Naples makes sure everyone has access to the beach with these public access walkways.
There are lot's of condos and very nice homes on the beach as well.
We picked up a real estate booklet and you can get a pretty good "starter mansion" on the beach for as little as $3-4 million! If you're willing to settle for a condo, you can get by for a mere million or so!
Naples has a very well heeled populace - at least in the winter months.
On Monday, we walked into old town (our hotel is about 1/2 mile from old town) and strolled 5th Avenue, the shopping district, on our way to St Ann's for the noon mass.
After mass, we bought some sandwiches and ate in a little park right on the main drag.
After lunch, we explored a little, deducing that since there was a East Lake St and a West Lake St, there just might be a lake, and voilà, there she was, as pretty as a picture. It was interesting to see the range of houses around the lake. There were some 1600 sq ft ranches and some very large (maybe 6,000 sq ft) "starter mansions."
What a perfect spot for a photo of two lovers - on Valentine's Day!
Tomorrow we move a few dozen miles north to Ft Meyers. UIndy is having an alumni gathering there Thursday and I'm always up for free food! (And you though I was pure Purdue! I got my MBA from UIndy in 1997 through their Executive MBA program.)
In addition, we'll have another mini-reunion of Shipmates who served aboard USS FD Roosevelt in OE Division - the ET's (Electronic Technicians). As testimony as to how much fun the other one in Starke was, two of the guys (and their wives) who went to that one are driving like 300+ miles to come to this one!
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