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Published: August 30th 2009
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August 24,2009
We left Renaissance Florence today for the medieval town of Siena. We had a late start because of a crash on the small strata leading down from the campground. We were happy to be in the Tuscan hills and driving down the Chianti Road scattered with small towns and wineries. The grapes are so big, you can see them tugging from their vines from the van. There seems to be a winery and tasting room on every corner. I have also noticed a lot of the gas stations have a bar. I guess Tuscany is not concerned about drunk driving. If you don’t have a drinking problem, you are just not supporting the economy. It was early so we passed by all the temptation.
The buildings and landscape are very different from that of Germany and Austria. Italy is more rustic, unorganized and unmanaged but simple and beautiful. Most people speak English so it has been easy getting around. We stopped at a small grocery store called CO-OP. This place was a cross between a Jerry Springer show and Survivor . I now understand why they say Italy runs in a chaotic, messy and unorganized manner. But,
it works for them. I saw this mess today in the grocery store. And I thought Vons was bad.
Traveling in Europe is so diversed. Italy is like the wild child of the family - the loud boy with the messy room and Austria is the quiet, petite girl with everything pretty and organized. Such extremes so close together. Fun to see and experience, but is France the middle child?
We got to Siena easily and found our campground which was only 2.5 miles from the center of town. We took our bikes into town which was downhill all the way so going home was going to be my buns of steel training for the day. The town was very old and medieval in style. I like this kind of style compared to the flashiness of Florence. There is a statue of the she-wolf nursing two human infants. This symbol and statue shows up all over Siena and is the icon of ancient Rome. It is thought to be Etruscan and dated to 1473. When the twins' father Numitor was overthrown by his brother Amulius, according to the founding myth, he ordered them to be cast into the
Tiber River. They were rescued by a she-wolf who cared for them until a herdsman, Faustulus, found and raised them.
The Piazza del Campo is a massive open cobbled square with tons of outdoor restaurants and the Civic Museum surrounding it. A few weeks before we arrived the famous horse race, the Palio, was run in the Piazza. (Another celebration of the Assumption of the Virgin). This race has been going on since 1656. About 33,000 people get inside the square while 10 horses race around them. If you have never heard of it before, it is worth Googling.
We also visited the Piazza del Duomo, the home of the Baroque church and other gorgeous buildings. You can’t miss the church as it is the only building with Renaissance styled architecture. We walked around the cobble streets, looked in the shops and had our daily gelato of strawberry and pistachio this time.
Siena seemed like a smaller, toned down version of Florence. People are more relaxed here. It was nice to just cool off in the piazza with the rest of the tourists and watch the kids play in the water fountain and soccer.
Biking back to
the campground my legs where burning on the way up the steep hills. I was proud of myself and my 50 euro bike for doing so well. We had a refreshing swim at the pool and cooked up another fine camper meal of pasta and salad and an OK bottle of $3.00 wine. Next time we might splurge on the $4.00 wine.
I got an email today and picture of Rusty at the pet prison. He is taking a bath here, which is torture for him. I think he looks thin and wondering where his mommy is. He gets paroled on Sept. 11 so he will be happy to see his Nanna.
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