Farewell Siena

Friday, May 13, 2016

Today is our last day in Siena.  We decided to spend the entire day here.  When we first arrived on Tuesday the weather forecast was terrible for our days here.  Rain was predicted for every day.  So far we have been lucky.  Let's hope our luck holds out.

We walked up to town via the nine escalators necessary to get there.  It is a very steep hill!  We were going to go to the tourist information office first, but we got distracted by some things.  By the time we got there it was 11:30.  The only walking tour left at 11:00.  Just our luck!  We were next to the duomo, so we picked up tickets to go in there.  We will save them for later.  First we went to Santa Maria della Scala.  It is a former hospital, which ran from the 9th century to the 1990's.  Included in the ticket was an archeology museum.  It was all very interesting.  We then decided to go to the Campo.  It is so much fun to people watch there.

We were practicing taking selfies, because we can.  I photobombed one that Marie took -

After walking around town a bit we went into the duomo.  It is most impressive.  We were in there at just the right time.  First there was thunder.  Then the rain began.  We waited for it to subside before we left.  

We left too soon.  We were trying to find the restaurant where we ate Tuesday night with Darcy and Doug.  I had looked at restaurants online in the morning and determined that it was Ristorante San Dominico.  We set Google maps to take us there.  Right.  Siena is a very confusing place to find your way.  Even with GPS.  We had to take shelter a couple of times from the large pea sized hail.  

We finally found the restaurant.  Thankfully they were opened, because as soon as we were seated the skies opened up again.  We had an early dinner.  I ordered one of their house specialties, Pici senesi cacio e pepe, or Pici senesi pasta, cheese and pepper.  It was very good.  Marie and I split a dessert.  We had Bacio di Siena, a chocolate-shelled, cream filled cooled treat.  A Sienese specialty.  What better to have on our last night?  Well, wine of course.  I had a half bottle of Vernaccia.  Just the right amount.

Because the walk back to the hotel was almost 3 kilometers away and a half hour walk ( if we don't get lost in this crazy place), and because of the uncertainty of the weather, we took a taxi back.  Time to get ready for our move tomorrow.  We are going to stay 4 nights in an Agriturismo east of Florence.  It isn't too far away from here, but it will be very different.  The drive there will take us through Chianti.  I have a lot of small towns I hope to explore on the way.  I hope we have better weather than today!