20100104 – Welcome to Siena

We caught our bus bound for Siena this morning. All signs pointed to another wet and cold day when we noticed that there was snow caked to the front of the bus. On the way to Siena, the countryside was white with snow, and the snow didn’t stop for the rest of the day.

We arrived in Siena and were pretty easily able to find the correct bus to take us to the hostel. Our room wasn’t ready when we arrived, so we ate some lunch, left our bags in a secure area, and headed back into town to see some of the churches and museums. Our first stop was the Palazzo Pubblico (Town Hall) and the Museo Civico. We had wanted to climb the tower attached to the Palazzo, but it was closed. We would simply have to obtain our panoramic view of the city from another location. The best part of the Museo Civico was a fresco depicting a picture of good and bad government. The good government side showed what a good government would consist of and then showed how awesome Siena would be if they had good government. Business was good and the countryside was orderly. However, when bad government reigned, people were murdered, robbed, and the generally unhappy. It was a pretty cool painting by Amgrogio Lorenzetti.

After that, we saw the Nuovo Duomo cathedral. We walked through the inside of the cathedral and also saw the crypt beneath it. The crypt contained some ancient frescoes, but it was also very neat to see the support structures and the foundation of the cathedral. Tomorrow, we will visit two more parts of this cathedral and hopefully climb a tower to see the city.

Our final stop was the Basilica di San Dominico. The church itself is not that special. It did have a wonderful crypt with a vaulted ceiling that was beautiful. But, the best part of this church was the head of Saint Catherine that has rested there since 1383. That’s right. The head, the actual head of Saint Catherine is inside this church on display! They also had one of her fingers and the whip that she beat herself with.

By this time, it was close to 6, and we were tired (sleepy) and tired (of being wet). We caught the bus back to the hostel, checked into our room, and headed to a pizza place to pickup some supper. We went back to the room and ate pizza while watching Deadwood.