Day 22: Siena Morning, Florence Night

Tuesday - June 8, 2010:

We had a spectacular view from the windows of our hotel room. It looked over this cute street lined with restaurants and shops, so the first thing we did before going to bed was swing them wide open to get as much cool air as possible. It was a great idea and kept us cool, but I was regretting it come 5:30 this morning when the street sweepers came through. So it was an early morning for SK. We got up and going (after a pitiful complimentary breakfast at the hotel) and started our day. We first went to see the Piazza del Campo (where we had eaten the night before) and learned about it. It is by far favorite Piazza we've seen thus far on the trip. This is also where I had my "Expert of the Day" on the Palio di Siena. The Palio is a horserace that takes place on the Piazza and it is bigger than the SEC football game -- hard to imagine! It is happening on July 2nd and I'm so jealous I can't go see it (we will be in Dublin). Anyways, after the Piazza we went and saw another building built by the Chigi's (they were everywhere!) and then to our last stop of the day -- the Duomo. This building was a-ma-zinggg! It is totally gothic architecture, which I found cool for a change of pace. We looked all around the church and then headed over to the museum portion of it.

{In Piazza del Campo after I gave my Expert of the Day on the Palio di Siena}

{We passed this gelato stand walking and I couldn't resist taking a picture... this is what gelato looks like at the beginning of the day!}

{Cinzia being the Expert on Palazzo Chigi Saracini}

{The bell tower of the Duomo}

{Isn't this the cutest car?!}

{The Duomo in Siena}

{Becca and I holding up the Chigi Symbol}

{Inside the Duomo}

{Some old manuscripts inside the Duomo}

{....and we are all exhausted}

{The dome of the Duomo}

Now, I'm not much of a "let me walk and see one million marble statues of the same person" kind of girl so I flew through there and headed straight to the big stuff--the top of the archway. There were dozen and dozen of steps leading up a tiny spiral staircase that led you to the top. This was the most fantastic view of Siena! You could see all the terracotta houses and roofs in the city, the brick Piazzas and the flat green fields! I was blown away by the sheer eminsity of it.

{I felt like I was in a dungeon}

{Becca about to take the climb...}

{A view from the stairs}

{Looking down on the Duomo}

{Our view of the Piazzo del Campo!}

{Our view of Siena}

{and the treacherous walk down...}

After this, we were on our own for the rest of the afternoon so a dew of us grabbed lunch and headed to the Piazza del Campo (can you tell we loved it?), sat and ate lunch. It was so peaceful! We found the lone piece of shade and parked it there. Some other girls joined us and before we knew it, we had a full fledge picnic in the piazza!

Of course we enjoyed our time there, but we left some time for shopping as well. So we popped into some stores and looked around. We didn't find anything too thrilling except for our jerseys--our soccer jerseys! We've been on a mission to buy Italian soccer jerseys before the World Cup starts and we haven't been able to find the perfect ones... Until now. After the sales lady explained the World Cup to us, 3 of us got jerseys (I got the goal keeper. Talk about pressureeee). Now we can rock them in a pub in Ariccia when the games start! Go Italia!

The bus left at 3:00 and we began our drive to Florence. The drive over itself was a sight to see. With every corner we rounded there was another Tuscan scene. I couldn't sleep because I didn't want to miss anything! Once in Florence, Enrico dropped us off infront of Hotel Centrale (we were pleased to find out that our group this summer is the first group to stay in this nicer hotel because the usual, not as nice one, was all booked. Score for Summer 2010!). The afternoon was ours to do with what we pleased so what do you think we did? Shop! We went in a few stores before stumbling upon the main open market area. This is where tons and tons of street vendors are lined up on the side of roads. You can find anything leather in any color or size you want! I was so overwhelmed, but I still managed to score a few bargains. We made it back to the hotel just in time to meet the rest of the group for dinner. This was another "group sponsored" dinner -- which means we think it's a free dinner so we order like nobody's business, but technically we payed for it in our tuition. Oh well, as long as we think it's free! So we walked to this restirorante and sat down in the back. The meal was a preplanned dinner (which I like, less decisions) so the waitors immediately brought out our first course. This first course might have been my favorite! It was a soup and Cinzia said it's kind of like a left-over soup cause it's made with left over bread, vegetables and ground meat. It has an Italian name but I can't think of it or spell it. Anyways, it was sooo good! For the second course we had pasta with meat sauce -- good but nothing too out of the norm. The main entree was something we were all excited about -- meat and veggies! Well really it was veal and spiniach, but it hit the spot. We all needed some green on our plates! Our Italian style dinner (which started at 8) was finished in style because after our dessert (a disappointing flan), we all just sat at the table and enjoyed ourselves! We stayed well over two hours -- Im beginning to get used to this Italian custom.

Our feet were killing us from walking all day and we were so full from dinner that we only had eyes for our beds when we left the restaurant! We headed back to Hotel Centrale and called it a night. Thank you Florence!

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