January 21: Trip to Siena, interesting yet cold

I finally found a way to be in my own pictures! 

I've been a little behind on my blog posts but here is a quick recap of the weekend. On Friday some of my roommates and I decided to take our first day trip and we visited Siena which is also in Tuscany. We walked to the train station which we were told was close to the bus station that we needed to buy tickets from and after about 45 minutes of running around, being lost, asking for directions etc. we found the SITA station and bought a round trip bus ticket for only 14 Euro.

We woke up at 9 the next morning and hustled to the bus stop. The bus ride to Siena was a little over an hour and I wasn't quite as motion sick this time. After arriving at the Siena bus stop, we adjusted to our already familiar feeling of being completely lost. I whipped out my Let's Go travel book which I have been relying on to plan trips and we delved into the new city. The streets in Siena make even less sense than in Florence so we decided to do what we always do when we're lost and find the Duomo.

Beautiful Gothic architecture.

Next we ate at a bakery recommended by my book and were unimpressed. This book is great for orienting you in a new place but a lot of its recommendations just seem like random places that the author stopped at, rather than the best of the best.

After lunch we bought tickets to see all the sights in Siena, starting with the Museo Dell'Opera, where we saw a lot of sculptures by Pisano and climbed the Facciatone which led to the top of an old Cathedral and an amazing view of the entire city. I have a feeling that I will be doing a lot of climbing narrow staircases to look at cities during my time in Italy.We hit most of the major attractions in Siena: the Duomo, the Crypt, the Baptistery and Il Campo. While many of these places paralleled the ones we are used to passing by in Florence, what struck me as different about Siena was the eerie quiet of the city's narrow streets. Florence can feel a bit like Disney land with all the tourists constantly cycling through, but this was not the case in Siena. It was almost creepy how quiet the area surrounding the cathedral was, and all of us noticed it.  I don't know much factual information about Siena but my guide book kept mentioning the ravaging effects of the Black Plague on the city, and how Florence, instead went on to become the birth place of epic rebirth in the form of The Renaissance. I think that this might have something to do with the eerie nature of Siena.

After sight seeing we did a bit of shopping but by that time it had begun to snow/rain and we were all miserably cold. We spent another hour trying to find one of the restaurants in my guide book only to find it was closed. Frustrated and cold, we got on the bus to go back to Florence. Still starving upon arrival and unable to find an open restaurant we resorted to good old McDonalds. Surprisingly, McDonalds was much more expensive than the usual lunch spots I frequent and my fries and diet coke were 6 Euro!

I'm glad we made the trip despite the poor weather. It was reassuring to know that I am capable of figuring out Italian public transportation. Next weekend Rome!

Ciao a tutti,
Nell