Siena and other stories

Wow- I sat down today to finish writing about Siena, and realized that I actually went there almost one week ago. Sorry this took so long.

I took the bus from Florence to Siena last weekend with Sarah, one of the girls from SNC. It's such a nice place, and the city was much smaller and quieter than Florence (especially for a Saturday) which made for a nice change of scene. The first thing that we decided to do was to eat (of course...), so we went and got a pastry and cappuccino at a local shop.

We then walked to the Piazza del Campo, the large, bowl shaped piazza in Siena. Piazza del Campo is famous for the running of the Palio, which is a famous horse race in Siena. Each of the districts enters a horse and they race against each other in late summer. It's not like races in the US though, the jockey's ride bareback, whichever horse to cross first wins (with or without it's jockey), and anything goes in this race - kidnapping has not been unheard of... Crazy...

The main palace, Palazzo Pubblico sits at the head of the piazza. The Torre del Mangia, a tower built as tall as the dome of Siena's cathedral (to show the equality of church and state), is connected to the palace. We climbed up to the very top for a view of the city - 400 step, and a few were so tight that absolutely nothing could be carried up other than a camera out of it's case, and you had to duck so you didn't hit your head. The view from the top was worth it though. So we were standing there, taking pictures right underneath this enormous bell, when all of the sudden the bell rang. I think that I jumped about five feet in the air, it was so loud and unexpected - but pretty funny. We then went through the rest of the palace. It was beautiful, most of the ceilings were ornately painted, and they had frescoes, old paintings and other items everywhere. One of my favorite things to see there, was a fresco next to it's underdrawing (found during removal and restoration of the fresco). I've never seen the two parts of a same fresco hanging side by side.

We had a delicious lunch at a restaurant by the cathedral. We had mixed bruschetta (traditional tomato topping, some cabbage mixture, an amazing onion and cheese topping, and something that looked a bit like raw fish to me - honestly, I wasn't brave enough to try it and Sarah wasn't sure what it was) and each had the most delicious bowl of ribolitta! Ribolitta is a traditional Tuscan soup, originally a peasant dish, made of tomatoes, cabbage, spices, stale bread, and whatever other vegetables that people want to put in it. It was so good and filling!

Next, we went into the cathedral. Three things really interested me about that cathedral. One, everything was striped! It actually made me feel sometimes like I was in the middle of some optical illusion. Two, the entire floor is marble, but arranged in different colors to create ornate scenes and symbols. Third, the statue of St. John the Baptist. I'm starting to really like Donatello, and I walked up to this statue, looked at the style, and immediately guessed that it was Donatello's work - turns out that I was right! We also went into the crypt of the church. We didn't know what to expect, but basically you can see the remains of the wall of the original church that was there (the cathedral was built on top of a preexisting, smaller cathedral). It probably wasn't entirely worth it, but I did really enjoy seeing the frescoes that have been undamaged by years of light and pollution. The colors, especially the reds and blues, were so bright, and they were so detailed - some of them could have been oil paintings. It was nice to some frescoes as they were originally intended.

That was pretty much our day - we walked around the city some more, then got on a bus back to Florence as it was beginning to rain. It was tons of fun though!

I have a few other stories from the past week (since it's been so long) that I wanted to share also. I finally went into the Uffizi gallery, I had been waiting to get my Museum Pass. My Renaissance Art Class was there this week! The most famous piece in the gallery is the Birth of Venus, by Botticelli, but the pieces that I got really excited when I saw were the three Maesta's that they have there (by Giotto, Cimabue, and Duccio). I wouldn't have thought it, but seeing them all in the same room was really impressive.

I also am beginning to understand Italian better! I was in the supermarket the other day, and some woman suddenly asked me for help. Basically, she was trying to figure out which type of tomatoes were which price. I couldn't really speak to her in Italian well, but I could understand what she was saying to me! We managed to figure it out (with me muttering to myself in English) and I said goodbye and started to leave. She then thanked me, first in Italian and then in English (I guess she heard me talking to myself!). Not that important overall, but I was definitely excited that I am at the point where I can finally understand some of the language - not bad for one month.

One month - it's official now! Honestly, I am starting to get homesick, especially wanting to be around to see everyone in the family when they get together, but I am also having the best time. I love this city so much! Often I walk along the street and see parent's picking up their kids from school, tourists trying to find where they are on a map, someone sitting on a bench reading a newspaper, or hear cheers coming from the inside of pubs whenever soccer games are on, and I just know that I really wouldn't want to be anywhere else for the next few months.

I think that's about it for now - but if I forgot something I'll try to put it back up.