Siena

Hey everyone!

First of all can't believe we have been away for a month today! Has flown!

Well today we caught the 1.25 bus to Siena. It rained a bit today but didn't pour at all, just an annoying drizzle!

We started off by walking to the Piazza del Campo, the main square in Siena. Here twice a year a horserace called the Palio happens to recreate history, as it was a big spectacle in the 13-14th centuries. Today though it was virtually empty and tourist free - yay :) we had a look around in the square. The buildings in Siena were gorgeous. Mostly rosebrick and very medieval looking.

We went into the town hall which houses the Museo Civico, which had a collection of medieval looking rooms that I loved. The color scheme reminded me of Neuschwanstein Castle. Some of the frescoes were about 700 years old and still in fantastic condition. Various governing bodies of Siena used to convene here, and another room showed a fresco depicting how good life was uni the 'nine good men' government that governed during Siena's most prosperous period, and then contrasted on the opposite wall with how terrible life was there during times of bad governments.

We enjoyed a nice view from the 3rd floor (tower closed due to rain) and then headed to a market we spotted from there. There were interesting antiques here. Then we had a veggie pannini - yummmmm. I am falling in love with eggplant, it's everywhere here!

Next we went to the museo Santa Maria Della scala. This was the most random museum I have ever been to. Some of it was closed for restoration and there wasn't much English so as a result we randomly walked around not understanding much of what we saw! We did enjoy the chapel and some frescoed rooms though. The rest (sculptures and lighting) was weird!!

Finally we went to the duomo which I loved because the interior was all collingwood colours ;) hehehe. I honestly reckon we've been into about 100 churches now though, and while I appreciate they are beautiful, once you see so many of the same kind (generally most churches within the same country are relatively similar) you get a bit over them! I'm still going to go into the main ones we see, but I think the Italian church novelty is wearing off!!! Still gorgeous though and as I said I can appreciate the history and architecture.

We walked back to the bus depot and had heard cheering all day and seen people with AC Siena scarves on. Siena were playing Sampdoria and from the street we could see a tiny bit of the match. For a tiny stadium the crowd were so loud!! We had also seen some kids in both team's colours marching against racism earlier in the day.

We caught the bus back and had some pasta near the duomo for tea!

Pisa tomorrow, cheesy tourist photos to come!!
Love to all,
Claire
Xoxoxox