Siena

May 25, 2005--We got off the train in Siena and took a taxi. It wasn't what we expected at all. It was like a town inside of a town. And the taxi wound around and around. By the time we got to Il Casato, we felt completely disoriented. We checked in and then had to climb three flights of stairs with all our luggage and got lost in the maze of stairs and hallways. But we finally found our room or I should say our "suite". It was better that we expected!! We had two rooms and our own balcony plus a beautiful view of the city and the Torre del Mangia. The windows were huge. We opened them and pushed back the shutters. The air was fresh and we had a gentle breeze. The swallows were darting everywhere. It was a wonderful welcome. The bed was firm and comfortable. There wasn't internet access so we went to look for a cord but with no luck. Walking around we found an internet cafe, emailed the kids and then found a good bakery that we went back to many times. I have no idea the names of the cookies, there were so many, but Kevin's favorite were the shortbread with chocolate. That night we ate at a local place. Kevin had pasta with meat sauce and I had veal in tomato sauce.

The duomo in Siena is beyond words. The walls and columns of black and white marble are striking. Kevin loved the inlaided marble mosaic floor, that represent the Sybils and various scenes of the Old Testament. He was very excited to actually see them in real life. Huge decorated hymnal pages were also on display. The dome was breathtaking. Painted blue with golden stars, it reminded me of the night sky in Siena.

Siena was founded by Senius, son of Remus. All over town there are statues of Romulus and Remus. We went to the church of St. Catherine, patron saint of Siena. We saw her head and finger, relics that are displayed in the church. The church was quite depressing and it didn't look like it was very well kept.

The second night we went to another Osteria. I had pasta and vegetables. Kevin had pasta and beans. We skipped the second course that night. We had gelato after lunch and dinner everyday. Our favorite is still Amarena.

May 28, 2005--We decided to take a bus to Rome on Saturday. We took the bus instead of the train because it saved us 50e. It was a nice ride but getting dropped off in Rome was a bit overwhelming, considering we didn't know where we were. (Rome was not on our itinerary, we went on a whim.) After we got off the bus we located a map in the gift shop and tried to find our way but finally decided to take a taxi for 20e. Thankfully Kevin remembered to asked what bus and train station we were at or we could have missed our bus home. After being dropped off at St. Peter's we immediately found the end of the long line to tour the Vatican museum. We stood in line for about one hour. We met another cute couple from Argentina. They spoke English which made it easy for us to have a conversation. While waiting we saw alot of gypsy girls holding and feeding their babies on the curb of the street.

After we finally made it inside the Vatician Museum we saw some Raphael's, and other various pieces. Another line snaked around to the Sistine Chapel which was the last thing they lead you to before you exit the museum. The Sistine Chapel is truly beyond words. It was so bright and it hurt my neck to look at it. I would of loved a lounge chair, but it was standing room only. The guards really control the tourists in there. You're not permitted to take pictures but people did anyways. The guard were continually saying over and over, "Quiet please, no photos please." I read the book "Michaelagelo and the Pope's Ceiling" by Ross King while I was in Italy, which really helped me to understand the scale of it all. Michaelangelo was in his early thirtys, when he painted the Sistine Chapel.


St. Peter's Bascilica was more than amazing. Everything matched! I say that because alot of the other cathedrals had two and three different styles going on and to me, looked a bit hodgy-podgy. But St. Peter's flowed beautifully. We got in line to see Pope John Paul's tomb. He had just passed away about a month before and so we changed our plans and took one of our Seina days to come to Rome. His tomb was simple yet peaceful. We saw other pope's tombs as well. As we exited the cathedral the bells chimed!! This was all so interesting since all of this had recently been on TV. Before going into St. Peter's we ate at a little pizza place. We bought a scarf for Anna with poppies on it that Kevin picked out. Scarfs are sold everywhere to cover bare shoulders and legs before entering the cathedral.

After St. Peter's we walked to the Pantheon, which was in a quaint square. We sat and ate gelato there. The Pantheon was the inspiration for Brunelleschi's dome. It was originally built as a temple to the gods of Ancient Rome. The word Pantheon actually means "temple of all the gods." It has a single opening which pillar of light reaches to the heavens. The Catholic church now holds masses there. We then walked to the ruins and then to the Coloseum. We only spent a total of six hours in Rome, but saw most of what we wanted and took a taxi to the bus (10e) and got back to Siena at 11pm. We walked to the Piazza del Campo (the place of the famous horse races held each July, called the Palio), sat outside, ate more gelato, and gazed at the enormous dark blue sky and the millions of stars that were out that night.

The next day we were served breakfast in our room. We ate on the balcony. Then we caught a bus to San Gimignano, which was about an hour ride. We saw fields of poppies and lots of bike riders on the way. When you walk thru the entrance of the walled medieval town, famous for it's towers, the road is lined with little shops. We stopped and bought Peter an orange, blue and white striped silk tie. We also bought cheese, olives and bread and found a bench and ate our lunch with a beautiful view of the countryside. We had a nice time, and took pictures. The town is obsessed with daggers and ninja weaponry. If you've ever seen the movie "Tea with Mussolini" you might be interested to know that part of it was filmed in San Gimignano. On the way back to Siena the bus plopped us off in the middle of a town called Poggibonsi. We didn't know if another bus would come or what! So we sat there and chanted "Poggibonsi " for about 20 minutes and finally another bus did show up--thank heavens. (Actually it's a really fun word to say over and over again.) We got back to Siena at about 4pm.

Our first day in Siena we kept hearing drums. It went on and on most of the day, so we decided we would go see what was going on. We started up our street which was a steep hill. When we got to the top we entered the gates of the University of Siena and followed the sound of the drumming. We turned a corner and there were about six young kids practicing the drums with their teacher. We laughed, thinking it was some big parade that we were missing.

Kevin and I really miss Siena. The place definitely grew on us. We loved the church bells ringing, the birds darting, the yelling in the streets at night, the little drummers, the mopeds zooming up and down, the bands playing until the wee hours of the morning and especially sitting on the Piazza under the big dark blue sky. It has a charm and we hope to go back someday.