Blogs from Siena, Tuscany, Italy, Europe - page 28

Este ano comemorei meu aniversario viajando pela Toscana, uma das mais belas e desenvolvidas regioes da Italia. Visitamos diversos lugares, mas selecionei Siena e San Gimignano para contar. Siena é uma cidade medieval, que nao sofreu grandes destruiçoes durantes as guerras e por isso tem coisa que nao acaba mais pra ver! Na foto vemos o maravilhoso “Palazzo Pubblico”, protagonista da “Piazza del Campo”, praça que se transforma em palco do famoso “Palio”. Nao do carro, mas da corrida de cavalos. A praça inclinada em forma de concha, foi construida no seculo XII com pedras e tijolos colocados a espinha de peixe, para recolher a agua da chuva, e ainda hoje tem a mesma utilidade. O “Palio de Siena” é um dos grandes eventos folcloricos nacionais, ocorre todo dia 16 de agosto e nasce como comemoraçao ... read more

Well, it's Valentine's Day, and not much is going on. I don't have a date, but I could if I wanted to! Haha, The guys here, especially the ones that go to bars like The Red Baron are all about the American girls. I don't think I mentioned Lorenco before, but I met him on… Friday night, I think. I got him to buy me a drink, but he made me have it in the back of the club at a sort of secluded table. Luckily friends came back to check on me, and eventually I was able to get myself out of the situation. Not without a kiss though… :-P Actually, it was as I was busy losing him in the crowd that I ran into Ali, but that is a story for another time ... read more

We started the day right this time. Woke up early (still only 3 hours of sleep...I think this might be a jet lag record ) and had breakfast, stopped at only one shoe store for, guess what, boots on our way to the train station to catch a late afternoon train to Siena. Siena was recommended to us by several peeps and my Loney Planet guide. It was a very short trip, but we enjoyed the scenery and took lots of pictures. We visted the Duomo of Siena and it was crazy fabulous inside. We visited the Piazza del Campo which is just a cool little square where they hold this semiannual horse race. The preserved head and part of the thumb of St. Catherine is displayed in Siena but we decided to forgo on this ... read more

Today I had quite an experience as I tried to send postcards to some friends and family back home. I bought stamps a few days before at a tobacchi, which is like a little cigarette store that sells everything from magazines to cigarettes to stamps and sometimes food. Buying the stamps was a challenge in itself because I do not speak any Italian and had to show the man at the register my postcards and point to the place where the stamp was. After writing out my postcards, I went to the post office right across the street from our hotel. When I walked in I was so overwhelmed by the building itself. It looked as if it was an old church. There were high ceilings with beautiful paintings on them and the floor was in ... read more

As I write this we are now in the beautiful town of Siena. Yesterday we all boarded buses and headed to Assisi where we toured the church of St. Francis of Assisi, which was an interesting experience because of all of strong religious presence in the town. I was able to learn many things about the Catholic religion and St. Francis in general that I did not know before. After visiting Assisi, we got on busses again and headed to Siena. As we drove, I tried to stay awake and look at the scenes outside of the window. I was amazed at the beautiful scenery all around the countryside. There were tons of mountains with snowy tops and fields of grapes, which I assume are used to make wine! When we arrived in Siena, I was ... read more