Our second day in Siena, and it the Italian rain gods still feel the need to drop water on my head. Today, however, we decided to fully prepare for battle with the elements. I put on my heavy winter hiking socks, two pairs of pants, 5 layers on my upper body, my scarf, hat, heavy winter gloves, umbrella, and a book bag emptied of anything that could be ruined by the water. We also learned that by carrying the book bag as if it were a pregnancy training device, we could better protect it from water. By no means did any of these things make the weather comfortable, but they did make it manageable.
The very first thing that we had to take care of once we arrived in Siena was to find out what the bus schedule would be for the 6th. We need to get to San Gimignano, and it turns out that the 6th is a festival day in Italy for the epiphany. Everything is sort of shut down and the buses run on a very irregular schedule. Sadly, it seems that every person we ask tells us a different story.
We went to the Museo Dell’Opera next, a museum dedicated to the history of the Duomo cathedral. This museum has a tower that you can climb up, for an excellent panoramic view of the city. It was raining and miserable out, but the view was worth it. I only wish that the weather had been better, so that I could have gotten more awesome pictures. We also some more reliquaries in the museum. The Reliquario di San Clemento Martise seemed to have all of San Clemento’s bones in it!
We had some lovely coffee drinks in the Piazza del Campo, and then visited the last of the 4 sites attached to the Duomo, the Battistero. This last segment wasn’t as grand as the other parts, but Jeremy and I did have some fun with mirrors designed to look at the ceiling of the battistero, which was painted with lovely frescoes. Ignoring this purpose, we played with the mirrors to find out if we could capture our faces in the mirrors with my camera. Yes sir, good fun.
The rest of the day was a bit of a checklist. Our main objective was just to, as the Lonely Planet described it, “Wonder the streets spending nary a Euro.” We visited a small pasticceria (pastry shop) and purchased a “Cavalluci.” This delightful treat contained a number of fruits and nuts in a very dense treat. We visited “Las Casa di Santa Caterina,” and probably saw some more of her bones. If you recall, this lovely ladies head has been on display in the Basilica di San Dominico. We reenacted a play at the Fontebranda (the talking fountain), bought some olive, raisin, and almond bread, sampled olive oil and wine, and then caught the Number 15 back to the hostel. AND, we didn’t need help finding our stop this time!
It’s only 4:30 now, and tomorrow morning is going to be pretty laid back. Tonight, we will go to the same pizza place we ate at last night. Jeremy was finally able to order American pepperoni on his pizza and he is excited to try it again. In Italy, we have had “Diavolo” pizzas before, which has a spicy salami, but this was the first to resemble American pepperoni. Every worse, when you see “pepperocini” on the menu, it means peppers! Anyhow, the pizza was good and cheap, so we will be there tonight.
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