Siena

(The Duomo)

(Piazza del Campo in Siena)

9 April 2008: We did Siena as a quick day trip, arriving the earliest so far on our travels and leaving mid-afternoon. Sean keeps mentioning that driving keeps getting tighter and tighter these days. I’m sure the fact that we drove and parked IN Siena, rather than being at a campground and walking/taking transit didn’t help his impression!

I started off getting on the internet and booked the next portion of our trip, so now it’s official. We ARE going to the Philippines and Thailand after returning our camper in Amsterdam and going to London and Hong Kong. We have had hesitation. Europe has been a lot more on our budget with a higher than expected cost of living mixed with an all time high exchange rate. There have been other issues too, like numerous computer issues, trying to take care of other unexpected problems back home and not being able to access our “travel money” bank account. I’ve had the thought of returning back to the states to take care of business, with the hopes of resuming our trip from there. But, we are going to try to keep truckin’!

From the internet point (what they call it here), we proceeded to the Piazza del Campo. There are seventeen neighborhoods in the city if Siena, which tend to be very competitive. Once a year, there’s a lotto for ten of these neighborhoods to race a horse in this little piazza (square or plaza) with tight turns. I saw a postcard with this race in full swing and can’t imagine being in the middle of the crowd! There were no horses in sight when we were there, but there were many cafes and restaurants around the perimeter and it was lunch time. We sat outside and watched in awe at the mostly Siena-colored old brick buildings that surrounded us. Just like most of Tuscany, there were also a ton of tourists, especially a lot of young students, walking by and hanging around. There was also a guy who had a comic/clown act to watch. He’d either spray people on the head with a water bottle or lightly brush their hair with a paint brush and then turn away when they noticed. Or, he’d toot his whistle at them and stop them in their tracks. Of course, like everywhere else, he’d hold out his can for money at the end of his act.

After eating lunch, we went a couple blocks down to the Duomo (their cathedral, apparently one found in almost all Italian cities, as Catholicism is so strong here). Built in 1229, it is made with black and white marble. It has marble inlayed floors with beautiful scenes which I find are incredible works of art alone. But, it also houses masterpieces created by artists such as Donatello and Michelangelo. We were probably the fastest visitors there ever, as Kailani was starting to run amuck quickly.

We also did some shopping. After watching what three kid movies we brought for about the hundred time, Caitlin finally brought us a DVD with Ratatouille and Over the Hedge. Unfortunately, Ratatouille won’t play anymore. It somehow got scratched. With a 2 year old in close quarters…hmmmm. I never even got the chance to see it. But I’m trying to hold out to get it, hopefully in Hong Kong for a dollar. Anyway, we were walking by a CD/DVD shop and finally broke down and bought The Bee Movie, for 20 Euro/$30 USD. Ouch! At least it plays both in Inglese (English) and Italiano (Italian). I was a bit nervous about that at first! I also got a pair of “walking shoes”. I don’t know much about Geox, but there were billboards on every block of this town and they felt comfortable. I’ve been wearing Uggs nearly every day for the past month and half and it was time. I’ve been slipping all over the place walking up and down hills and cobble stone streets. Sean also picked up a new pair of shoes. Originally, he wanted to get some before we left California, but we ran out of time. He was less than thrilled when I “poo-pooed” his trying on Sketchers for 60 Euro ($90 USD) because it’s a US brand and you could probably find them at a discount store in the states for $30 USD. So, I took him to Camper when we were still in Barcelona, mentioned by Rick Steves as the equivalent to Clarks in the US. I thought the name of the shoe was fitting to our current lifestyle too! Although both a actually made in China, with all the walking that we are doing, it definitely pays to have good walking shoes!