Friday 28th in Siena

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Rosella, Peggy and John sat around much of the morning and chatted about life and family and travel before Francesco (Rosella’s dear friend) came by to pick her up. What a gentleman, driving from Bastia to make sure she got back safely. We loved the time we have had with Rosella and look forward to getting together in Umbria in the near future … and having Francesco prepare his special chinghale ragu!

Peggy and John went out to eat on the way to Santa Caterina’s sanctuary. The chosen restaurant was Ristorante Grotta Santa Caterina and when we arrived at 12:15 it was half full with a Chinese tour group. Needless to say, the staff was welcoming and we settled in a corner and ordered scaloppini and cinghale with thick noodles. Within a few minutes another tour group of 30 Japanese came in and settled for a meal. Despite the tour groups the meal and the service were very good.

On to Santa Caterina’s Sanctuary which was very moving and a satisfying culmination of our visit (many times) to Santa Maria Sopra Minerva in Rome (where St Catherine’s body is entombed). Now we have visited the rest of her here in Siena. Afterwards we wandered the streets to the Benedictine’s church and back to our flat for a rest. John went out for a visit to the Franciscan’s church and wandering some of the back streets (he came to dead ends twice). It is a beautiful city, especially away from the main thoroughfare and the Campo. After collecting Peggy at the flat we wandered the streets, stopping for a drink at two places where we could watch the crowds as they wandered the streets during passeggiata. We returned to prepare for the rock concert that started at 9PM and ran until midnight with huge woofers and lights and such RIGHT OUTSIDE OUR WINDOW.

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