Siena, Italy. That was the city of choice today; actually, there was no choice, Bob had this trip planned out already. Today dawned actually pleasant for once in Fiesole, but, too bad for us, we took a bus at 8 am and headed for Siena. The ride out of Fiesole and Firenze was so stop and go that my motion sickness almost did me in. I tried napping when we finally hit smoother traffic but even that didn't help. By the time the hour to hour-and-a-half bus ride was over I was ready to call it a day.
When we finally got to Siena and were able to disembark from the Coach bus we rode in, we waited for our tour guide and I was able to recover. Like six coach buses pulled into the parking lot we were waiting in in the half hour we waited for our tour guide. That didn't bode well for the tourist places we would be visiting today.
Chiara was our guide in Siena. She was a sight to behold. Purple coat, shoes, pants, purse, and umbrella. All purple. We were unable to lose her in a crowd.
Our first stop for the day was the Basilica of San Domenico, also known as Basilica Cateriniana. This is the church were St. Catherine and the Dominican nuns worshiped and prayed. Inside the basilica, there is a portrait of St. Catherine, painted during her life. The portrait now hangs where St. Catherine used to pray everyday. Also inside the basilica, there is an altar housing St. Catherine's head and another altar housing her right thumb with various other artifacts. We were unable to dally long in the basilica due tot he large number of tourists groups, but I went back before the end of the day and looked around some more. I also went into the gift shop and purchased a few items that may or may not become gifts so I will not tell you what it was that I bought. We were unable to take pictures inside the basilica.
After departing the Basilica of San Domenico, we headed down a street that crossed the street that leads towards Florence. There is a Y-shaped street in Siena where one arm leads towards Florence and the other towards Rome. Anyway, when we made it to the street that leads towards Florence, the Palazzo Salimbeni was in front of us. This palazzo is where three former family homes now house one of the first banks. The buildings are really gorgeous Renaissance style homes.
Walking down the street we came to a sculpture of a she-wolf suckling the infants Romulus and Remus. According to legend, Siena was founded by Senius, son of Remus, who was in turn the brother of Romulus, after whom Rome was named. Statues and other artwork depicting a she-wolf suckling the young twins Romulus and Remus can be seen all over the city of Siena (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siena). I took a picture of the statue that will be posted later.
We continued on our walk, past the Piazza del Campo (which I will discuss later) and onto the Cathedral of Siena. The Cathedral is just gorgeous inside. I took a ton of pictures, which is great because I couldn't even begin to do the Duomo of Siena justice. Right before we got to the Cathedral, it started to rain. Most of us were hoping the rain would quit by the time we exited the Cathedral, but it didn't.
When we left the Cathedral we walked back to the Piazza del Campo. This is the site of the twice-yearly famous horse-race, the Palio, held around the edges of the piazza. It is also featured in the newest Bond movie, Quantum of Solace. I have a few pictures of the Piazza, but basically it is the principle public space in Siena, situated between the three hills that Siena is built on.
We ended the tour in the piazza and headed for lunch. All of us decided to eat at this really nice restaurant int he piazza and each of us enjoyed that meal greatly. After eating most of us went our separate ways. I walked back to the Basilica of San Domenico to look around some more by way of the road to Florence. We really only had about an hour after eating lunch to tour. Also, it was raining off and on so it wasn't the greatest day to see anything.
The bus ride back was not fun because it was again the stop-and-go movement that didn't help my upset stomach. We made it back to Fiesole around 4:30 pm.
We had dinner at La Reggia again at 7pm. Dinner was interesting. Thankfully, it didn't rain once we were back in Fiesole so the walk up the hill was as okay as it can be. The first course consisted of twirly pasta with meat. The second course was roasted potatoes and sliced turkey. Dessert was a huge flop/failure. They served us the creme caramel thing and panna cotta, neither of which any of us enjoy at La Reggia.
Upon returning to Villa Bonelli, some of us started to play cards again. Eight of us got involved in two separate games of Hearts while enjoying the fine wines from around the area. A group of people are thinking about going to Pisa tomorrow but I'm sick of being wet and not seeing anything so I'm staying in Florence. Ania, Allyson, and I are going to walk into Florence and just basically get lost for the day. We want to go to the San Lorenzo market to where they have the meat market. I would just love to see a part of Florence that I haven't seen before. Maybe we'll walk across the Arno River and explore that side of the city. But, if I'm going to be walking all day tomorrow I'm going to need some sleep. Buona notte!
P.S. Burnt Sienna is a pigment color used in painting. It is also the color of many of the walls in Siena. The name is derived from the Renaissance city, Siena, and is short for terra di Siena, "earth of Siena" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sienna).
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