una ragazza americana: Siena

2:00AM - the perfect time for small tasks such as blogging.

I thought I'd take a few minutes to catch everyone up with my life in Firenze, and since it is so late, I'll make it quick.

I visited Siena, a smaller town near Florence, still in the Tuscany region, on Sunday, September 20th with three of my roommates - Allie, Pearl, and Tracy. It was a cloudier day, but it was perfect weather for sitting around in the gigantic square in the middle of the town. It's called the Piazza del Campo. Every year they have a bareback horse race around the perimeter of the square called "Il Palio"... People pack themselves in the middle of the piazza to watch the race, as well as on the balconies of the buildings. Unfortunately, we visited a little late in the season to observe the spectacular event, but you know, it just gives me more of an excuse to come back to Italy. Margo keeps telling us that this trip has doomed us, and we will forever be looking for a way to come back to Italy. I believe her.

Getting to Siena was quite an experience. We looked up train times online the night before and planned to leave on the 8:10am train. Well of course, being girls, we typically left for the train station too late and ended up missing the train. After purchasing tickets for the 9:37am train we walked back home to load up on caffiene and ventured back to the station, only to get there four minutes before the train left and not knowing which platform the train was leaving from. Tracy quickly jumped on the train we were guessing might be the right one, and the doors shut right behind her before any of us got on. Of course, being girls again, Tracy and Allie both screamed, Tracy inside the train and Allie outside. The station master guy ended up waving the rest of us on, and we ended up taking the train halfway to Siena and then a coach bus the rest of the way. A strange, but interesting travel experience.

We sat up on a balcony for an hour and a half overlooking Piazza del Campo, drinking coffee and people watching. I tried to do a German couple a favor by taking their picture for them, but accidentally stepped on their pastries they just bought. oops. Maybe they'll remember their time in Siena better because of the clumsy American girl who ruined their breakfast...

Lunch was fun. We stopped in this little shop to grab a sandwich, and the guys behind the counter looked exactly like the mental image your mind conjures up when you think of an Italian chef. Curled mustaches, white chef hats, aprons... It was great. They didn't allow pictures inside the shop, and for good reason. I wouldn't want a bright light flashed in my eyes 200 times a day. One lady attempted to take a picture, and as soon as she pulled out her camera a guy behind the counter whipped out one of those a billion candlelight flashlights and blinded her. He rambled something in Italian that I could only make out to mean, "How do you like it?" It was great.

Where we ate lunch ("pranzo")

After dilly-dallying the rest of the afternoon away and stopping to talk to a fellow Minnesotan who grew up on a farm somewhere in central Minnesota (whom I neglected to ask where...) we had dinner at a canopied spot looking out toward the piazza. Perfect timing because it finally started to rain. I talked with our waiter about visiting southern Italy, and told him my great-grandfather was from Reggio di Calabria. He was from Calabria, so he gave me some good spots to visit before we left for the train station to head home. I'm very excited to explore. Hopefully I'll make it down there during my fall break in mid-October...

Siena is a great little town, and of course, like everyone else, I highly recommend visiting it if you're ever staying in Florence.