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Published: June 25th 2007
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Siena
View from outside Siena Upon our arrival to Italy, we walked into the relatively small airport in Florence and made our way through the intense security check (a german shepherd sniffed our bags as we walked through an unguarded gate, no stamp on my brand new passport sadly). We were lost, confused, and three hours late thanks to missing our connecting flight from Paris. After several calls to people who worked with our program in Italy, we just took a cab to Christine's apartment. Once there we called her landlord and randomly met her roommates who let us into her apartment, followed shortly by her landlord. After she got settled in, we set off to find my apartment and ended walking the completely wrong direction for quite some time. It wouldn't have been so bad but dragging a heavy suitcase over miles of cobblestone roads in not fun. Finally we made it to my apartment and I called my landlord who let me in. After a long and stressful first day we took a short nap, then walked around and got a very delicious dinner with Christine's roommates at a small Italian outdoor restaurant with accordion music and everything, the perfect introduction to Italy.
Siena 2
another view, with one of the many cranes of Italy Life in Florence isn't all that different from life at home, except more exciting and with cooler stuff to look at as you walk. And you will walk. A lot. The streets are mostly very narrow with small sidewalks basically only useful for getting out of the way of a passing car or truck. Mopeds zip around constantly, so I'm reminded of my campus back in Madison. On all tourist heavy streets there are several illegal immigrants selling fake purses, watches, sunglasses, little toys, mini tripods, paintings and whatever else you might want. Some of the most entertaining moments are when they see a police officer coming and all of a sudden they're all casually walking away with a huge white sack full of purses, trying to look as nonchalant as possible.
On every street, big or small, there is at least one, usually many more, shops that will sell you any kind of snack from pizza to beer to gelato. Interesting side note, it is perfectly legal to walk through the streets of Italy with an open alcoholic beverage, but it is illegal to walk through the streets of Italy while intoxicated. Gelato is everywhere and the
Bank in Siena
One of the banks that helped make Siena a rich town farther away from the tourist centers you get the better it tastes and the cheaper it is. Near the Ponte Vecchio (literally Old Bridge, lined with jewelry shops) it can cost up to 12 euro, but only two blocks away near my apartment that same scoop would cost 2.
My apartment is in a very nice location, half a block from the Piazza Signoria and the Palazzo Vecchio, which is where the Uffizi Gallery and a copy of the David are, so it is a very interesting walk to class every morning. Christine's apartment is quite far away however. It is about a 15 minute walk from mine, but on the way I do get to walk past Florence's famous Duomo. She does have a very convenient location for several other reasons though. She lives on one of the streets of the San Lorenzo market, an outdoor market where little shops selling all the same things line up for blocks. She is also across the street from the Central Market, a two story indoor farmer's market that is open every weekday from about 8-1. Also, she is only a five minute walk from the train station, which is key
Courtyard
One view of the courtyard in Siena where they run the annual horse race, the Palio, in which each of the neighborhoods sponsors a horse and a rider because that is the only way to travel in Italy.
As far as food goes, you really cant go wrong. We've found a favorite pizza shop, sandwich shop, kebab place, restaurant (though we rarely eat at restaurants due to money that we would rather spend on a train ticket), gelato shop and grocery store. Most days involve eating lunch out at a sandwich or pizza place, then coming home to cook at night (pasta anyone?). Sometimes we splurge on a real meal, but 10-15 euro is a lot of money to spend on one meal. We have tried McDonald's once, at 6 am in the train station waiting to go to Venice, but we will have to try it again later because I want to eat a Royale with cheese with a McDonald's beer sometime. I spend most of my time at Christine's apartment because it's cleaner, closer to better food, and there's a polite ghost in my apartment that flushes the toilet far too often.
That's a little bit of what's it like living here, soon I'll start putting up more experiences we've had and places we've visited. Also as soon as I figure out how I
Siena Cathedral
A full view with the scaffolding that is also very common throughout Italy will add photos which there are a lot of . I hope you all are doing well,
Shaun
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Bob
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jewelry
Think of me on the jewelry bridge........