Rome > Siena > Florence > Venice > Munich > Brussels > Amsterdam
I realized that I was WAY behind on these, so here’s the next installment from our trip in March. (Is it really almost July already? It can’t be!) As always, click any photo to see the larger version on flickr.
| March 18. We missed the train to Siena from Rome by about three minutes – the train was at the far, far end of the station and as we were quick-walking to get there, it pulls away. Ugh. Next one was in two hours, so we spent a little time people watching outside the police station which proved to be good entertainment. We ended up on the 10:58am train which arrived at Siena (via Chiusi) at 3:20pm. Somehow, I had neglected to write down the address to the hotel on my master-sheet, but thankfully a very nice cab driver knew exactly where to go, the B&B San Francesco. It’s tucked in a tiny alleyway near the Basilica of San Francesco (St. Francis). The room we booked came with a toilet and shower (somewhat of a luxury for European hotels on a budget), check in was easy, and the folks at the desk spoke enough English, and I had apparently remembered enough Italian that we figured things out just fine. We got to the room, dumped our bags, and ran out after taking a quick peek at the view (to the right) – Incredible. |  |
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| We booked it on over to the Tuscan Wine School, making it there just in time. Doug and I had decided to do the small wine school class in the city rather than a full wine tour of the region mostly due to time constraints. If we had spent the full two weeks just in Italy, it would have made sense to do a full day wine tour, but I really wanted to go back to Siena (the city where I spent four months for a semester abroad) and spend time in the city proper instead of just being there for the hotel. Anyway, the class we took was the Tuscan Wine class, and I can tell you, having already spent four months (granted, years ago) studying Tuscan Wines in great detail, that this class was SPECTACULAR. I learned a few new things (my studies were more casual, perhaps), and the range of wines presented was absolutely perfect. The teacher, Maria Luisa, was very knowledgeable and spoke English perfectly though we did share a few words in Italian after she found out that I studied there nearly 10 years ago. The tasting ended with Cantuccini and Vin Santo, two of my all-time favorite things. |  |
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| We wandered off to the Piazza del Campo for dinner – pricey, but it’s quite the experience to sit in that piazza under the moon and take in a meal (photo at right). After that it was off to the Dublin Post for a beer seeing as we had missed getting beer on St. Patrick’s day, and Doug felt it was his duty to have at least one beer. They had a great selection (as always), and overheard a number of English conversations (lots of exchange/study-abroad students in Siena). Then it was back to the hotel to collapse. |  |
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| March 19. Breakfast at the B&B San Francesco was included, so we helped ourselves to an AMAZING spread in the common kitchen/dining area. They allowed us to leave our bags at the hotel in the hallway while we were out sight seeing for the morning. Since it was in a hallway, we decided to lock up the backpacks with our PacSafesjust in case – it’s not that we didn’t trust the staff of the hotel, it’s just a travel precaution (and really, if anyone wanted to help themselves to some dirty socks, they were more than welcome). Anyway, we went to the Duomo Museum and climbed the facciatone (big facade) (131 stairs). The facciatone is the remnant of a very ambitious plan to expand the Duomo (cathedral) in 1339 which would have made it larger that St. Peter’s in Rome. Unfortunately, the plague swept through shortly thereafter leaving them with no workforce and no money to finish the project. The view from the top of the facade is rather spectacular and well worth the climb (photo to the right, top).The same ticket that permits entrace to the Duomo museum (if you do the city-attractions ticket), also allows entrance to the Bapistry, Crypt, and Cathedral. Doug jokingly called the cathedral (Duomo) the zebra church (photo to the right, ) – the entire inside is made of black and white marble arranged in stripes. It’s really quite a sight to behold. The floor is marble as well, and while mostly covered up, a few open spots show the incredible detail of the marble murals. I’ll let you go poke at the flickr set (linked below) for those photos, otherwise I’ll be posting every photo from Siena here in the blog. I just love it that much.We did lunch at a little place called La Vecchia Taverna di Bacco. INCREDIBLE. I think I had this gorgonzola cream sauce gnocchi which was just to die for. Siena in general is pretty expensive, so you just can’t look at the bills and be shocked, but I didn’t think this place (on a side street) was too bad for lunch with wine.Post lunch, we decided to burn off some of those calories. The big tower in the center of the photo at the right/top is the Torre del Mangia – 400 stairs to the very top. That brings our stair counter to 531 for Siena. The view of the piazza below, and the countryside is always incredible (photo to the right, bottom), and well worth whatever they’re charging for it (and the time spent in line as well). |    |
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| We finished off the tower at the bottom with Frittelle di Riso (fried rice balls, photo to the right). In honor of San Giuseppe (St. Joseph), a little shack is set up in the Piazza del Campo and sells fried rice balls covered in powdered sugar. It was something I remembered from my study-abroad days, and LOVED back then. Doug really liked them too, so we enjoyed one last paper cone full before going back to the hotel to grab our bags.Back at the hotel, we collect our bags and head out to the bus station. At the end of the little vicolo, there’s a small square with a fountain. A table was set up, and one of the youths at the table calls out to us (something I didn’t catch at first), so we curiously walk down to see what’s going on. He pegs us for Americans and hands us more Frittelle and cups of prosecco, “For San Giuseppe! From the Contrada del Bruco!” (Bruco = Caterpillar) Siena has these contrada, or neighborhoods, that each have some pretty fierce pride. There’s an annual horse race in the piazza, and each contrada raises money, cares for a horse, chooses a rider, flag bearers, etc. It’s a pretty elaborate thing, and I suppose it would be like Eagles fans vs Cowboy fans, but with 17 neighborhoods each in competition with the others. They have little festivals and special feast days and whatnot throughout the year, and it’s sort of like an extended family in a way for people who live in the contrada’s boundaries. Anyway, short cultural history lesson aside, it was pretty neat to be flagged down like that, and we thanked them and wandered off to the bus station. We grabbed our tickets to Florence, deciding not to get on the VERY PACKED first bus and grabbed the second one instead. It’s just an hour’s bus ride to Florence, and is MUCH easier by bus than train. |  |
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Official Stair Counter: 1082
Slideshow of photos from Siena