Blogs from Siena, Tuscany, Italy, Europe - page 6

Geo: 43.3187, 11.3305Ciao all:Friday, April 27 was moving day. We ended our 4-day stay in Firenze (Florence), packed our bags, and jumped on a bus for the medieval city of Siena, an hour or so south.But first, we had one more museum to see, the Duomo Museum that houses all the original paintings and sculptures from the cathedral for safe keeping, restoration, and public display. Two remarkable works are worth noting, among the most amazing pieces we've seen this week: Michelangelo's Pieta and Donatello's Maddalena (Mary Magdalene). The museum also had a great history and workshop space on the design and building of the cathedral and Brunelleschi's dome.Then, off to Siena, where we arrived and settled in early enough to head out for our usual Friday night pizza -- had eggplant, zucchini, and non-marinated artichokes on ... read more

My stay in Siena was an unimaginable wonder. If there is one word to describe this beautiful medieval city, it is enchanting. The elderly walked with patience, practice and prudence but in fact; no one walks quickly in this city since it is built on three hills. Its streets are winding and paved with perfectly imperfect stones that somehow all fit into each other. If one looks up, one is often pleasantly surprised by the simple beauty of flowers on a window sill or intricate engravings, plaques and stonework that can date back as far as 800 years and tell so much by way of images. So it is no wonder that you stop along the way to admire something you hadn’t noticed the day before, as was the case for me on more than one ... read more

Today was our last in Siena and our 3 month epic adventure is drawing to a close. Tomorrow we head to Rome and have an overnight stay before flying out for Singapore/New Zealand at midday on Friday. SIENA SHOPPING We had no firm plans for the day, we were just going to have a look around the central area of Siena and do a bit of last minute shopping. Whatever thoughts we might have had went out the window as soon as we walked out of the Hotel. As we left the building right outside the Hotel and extending over the surrounding area was a massive market –mainly new season winter clothing-but lots of other stuff as well. There was no chance of me getting Jeanette past it so we spent an hour or so battling ... read more

Today we left Monterosso and headed to Siena for our final stopover before heading home. GIARDINO INCANTATO We will miss our special B&B Giardino Incantato; staying in such quality accommodation in a really special location in the centre of a historic town has been one of the highlights of our trip. When we went to see our housekeeper yesterday to say we wouldn’t need breakfast in the morning as we would be leaving early, she asked what time we were going and said it was no problem they would do an early breakfast or us. It is typical of the level of service we have received. The accommodation has been fantastic, the people lovely and extremely accommodating and they show incredible attention to detail. An example of this was when we came back to base one ... read more

Pallio= Kentucky derbuy of Italy Similarities of Pallio to the Kentucky Derby; Both are horse races, both have a lot of history behind them, both have high class grandstands and both have an infield for the rest of the on lookers. How are they different? There is no alcohol at Pallio, none. Try cutting off the flow of mint juleps and miller light on Derby day and see how that goes. This surprised me A LOT! So race day… There were more parades and more misinformation on when to get there (would have been fine getting there around 3:30, I got to the sun baked square around noon). They had the same 12 horses and napoleon’s doing a prerace charge, and more cannon firing that I am sure had a meaning- but it was over me. ... read more