The early morning motor coach to Siena was very comfortable and relatively short, only an hour. I spent the time listening to Abigail Washburn and reading the third book in the Nightwatch "tetralogy" or what I prefer to call a quadrilogy, Twilight Watch as I had finally managed to finish Day Watch a couple of nights ago. Upon arrival, we walked down to San Domenico, the home of St. Catherine's head and finger (the rest of her body is in Rome). We didn't go in at that time, and there wasn't time later in the day but I might be able to get back there later in the trip. The image below is of San Domenico and was taken from the top of the Palazzo Publico's tower which is in the center of town, but more on that later.
We took a walk down from San Domenico towards the Palazzo in search of coffee (for some) and breakfast (for others, including myself). I had a great little sandwich with salami and mozarella on this really great bread and ended the meal with a little doughnut, a ciambelline (below). It was like no other, cakey and light, sweet and delicious and fresh.
After breakfast, we met at the Palazzo Publico to tour the rooms with their gorgeous frescoes, including the Effects of Good and Bad Government. Photography was not allowed. This tended to be the case at most of the locations we visited today. One of the few exceptions was our next stop, the beautiful Siena Duomo... but lunch was first. On Lawrence's suggestion, some of us went to a restaurant behind the Palazzo, which ended up being an excellent choice. The food was delicious (I had the pici with boar sauce again, as I find it very delicious and a bit of a novelty) and the waiter was very charming and had fun flirting with Erica, our TA.
We headed for the Duomo, passing several gelaterias on the way, but stopping at none. Ann was very excited that the complex had, apparently, changed their ticketing policy, so the five euro tickets would get us into the Duomo itself, the ospedale in front of it, the crypt, the Nuovo Duomo, (an incomplete building that houses the Duomo museum) among others.
I'm not sure why, but the Siennese have a thing for black and white stripes. Both the interior and the exterior of the entire cathedral are completely covered with them. The ceilings are a deep blue with stars and the dome itself is covered in squares with diagonals that pull you up towards the arc. There's a library wing housing song books written in shape notation with large writing so the choir could read it from a distance. The walls and ceiling of the library itself were covered with some amazingly beautiful and well-preserved frescoes depicting a variety of scenes.
Afterwards, we went into the museum (again no photos allowed) and climbed up some very narrow spiral stairs to the top of the Nuovo Duomo structure which afforded an amazing view of Siena. That was followed by the crypt and it's collection of Relics, and the Ospedale di Santa Maria della Scala which had a stunning collection of life-sized wood carvings of Mary and Gabriel representing the annunciation.
Despite Ann's reticence and Nick's unwillingness, they, Will, and I headed back towards the Palazzo to climb the 400 steps to the top of its tower. It was exhausting and a constant climb up, and up, and up, but I made it, and I took the first image in this entry from the top of its 87 foot platform with only the tower's bell and weather vane above me. The view and the breeze at the top were perfect.
Dinner was at a pizza place on the piazza in front of the Palazzo and was overpriced but still good. I had a pizza with sausage, olives (whole!), and mushrooms. I walked around alone, exploring, and searching for the gelateria, Grom, which I'd heard had the best gelato in town. After a while, I managed to discover it and it was well worth the search. I'd meant to get lemon and raspberry but in my excitement I ordered lemon and strawberry instead but it was still amazing. The lemon was bright and sharp and refreshing and not very sweet, like good lemonade. The strawberry was fruity and delicious. I apologize for the blurriness of the image but I was very excited to try it, and didn't manage to get it properly focused.
While eating my gelato and wandering around Siena, I discovered a band called the Sciacchetrà Street Band. They were wandering around town playing. They made a little parade and did more than just play, they danced and moved and grooved and were really into their music, which was great. People swarmed to them, taking photos and enjoying, or looking at them like they were nuts. Either way, it was tons of fun. The picture below shows them, literally "getting down".
After following them around for a bit, I decided I might have gotten a bit lost and, while getting myself un-lost, I managed to get pooed on by a bird. Oh well. I figured out where I was and got to the meet-up point in plenty of time to get back on the coach to Santa Chiara. The ride home was a serenade of songs inspired by the bus driver's playing American oldie party songs like YMCA, which led to a mish-mash of oldies, 90s pop, and Disney songs sung by the group. I opted to listen to music on my iPhone and play games.
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