Jenn and Courtney's tour o' Italy continues! We got up quite early (and boy, was it a struggle) and headed over to the train station. We weren't really sure how to get to Siena -- you can take a train to the Siena train station, which is located 3 km outside of the city center, where there is a reputed mini-bus which would take us into town. You can also take a bus from Florence right into the center of Siena, but we decided we would take the train, mainly because we didn't know where to catch the bus! The train trip went well, only about an hour and a half...and then the trouble began. We could not for the life of us figure out how the "mini-buses" worked, but we bought a ticket and hopped on one we thought was heading to a Piazza in the center of town. We were wrong; the bus was going on a loop to the hospital. So, after that waste of a half hour, we got off back at the train station again. Jennie was not doing too well at this point, so we bought her a snack and headed for a cab.
After we finally arrived in Siena, things started to look up. We went to Piazza del Campo, the unique seashell shaped Piazza, bordered on one side by the beautiful Palazzo Pubblico/Torre di Mangia. (I bought a seashell shaped patch as a souvenir). Also in the Piazza is the Gaia Fountain; the fountain was pretty, but relatively unimpressive. We chilled in the square, got our bearings and headed towards the Duomo.
If the Gaia Fountain was less than awe-inspiring, the Duomo was more than I was expecting. The outside looked traditionally Gothic, but the inside was astounding. Extremely ornate, every surface showed some mark of a craftsman. We lucked out also, in that the main floor is apparently covered up for most of the year, only exposed from Sept-Oct. One of my favorite parts of the Duomo was a room displaying giant illuminated (manuscript) hymnals. I love those things!
After leaving the Duomo we set out to find the Enoteca Italiana. A hybrid between a warehouse and a museum, the Enoteca houses 400-500 different wines, representing the wide variety of Italian vini. It was fun to see the hundreds of bottles, but even more fun was the scanner they gave me! Every bottle had a bar code attached to it, and once scanned, a description was read out by an annoying british "woman". I had way too much fun with that piece of equipment, and then we headed up to the bar area to try some excellent prosecco. The day was beautiful, mild and sunny; Jenn and I relaxed on the patio drinking our cheap and wonderful wine, while communing with the cooing pigeons.
We wandered around the surrounding park and took some pictures of the city, and then decided it was time to head back. Hoping to avoid the fiasco that was our trip to Siena, we actually asked a person at the transportation station and figured out the bus situation. We bought our tix, wandered around the city a little more, and then headed out. We were pooped and slept the whole way back (mouth open, with minimal drool).
We had promised our new friend from the Lyons Fountain that we would stop by -- it was supposed to be an early night. However, again we partied too hard (but made more friends!) and were paying for it this morning. But that one of the pluses in living somewhere versus visiting -- you have the luxury of time!
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