Siena

Yesterday we took another field trip to Siena in Tuscany. I have to be honest---I was not super excited about this trip because I didn't really know anything about it and when I looked it up on Google Images, it looked like every other town we've seen in Italy so far (they start to blend together after a while). But the town was gorgeous and very, very green! It sort of reminded me of Michigan at first, but then I saw the view of the city center.

No so much Michigan anymore. We also visited two Cathedrals, I don't remember the name of the first and I'm too impatient to look it up on this slow internet connection, but it was built first and honors Catherine, Patron Saint of Italy. It also displays a relic of her: her head and thumb. A little creepy, but cool.

Next, we walked around the city a little bit. Siena is about halfway between Orvieto and Florence in terms of size, wealth, and Americanization. They have foot locker and no Starbucks, but they do have signs on the main road counting down how many minutes away McDonald's is. The main square of Siena is best known for its yearly horse races in which horses race for glory and pride, not for money and no bets are placed on the race.

Next we toured the city hall where we learned a lot about the history of Siena...at this point we were all starving and fading so I can't really remember enough details to recount here. Afterwards, me and a few others ate lunch at this excellent Trattoria and I had great ravioli.

Lastly, we toured the main Cathedral of Siena which looks a lot like the Cathedral in Orvieto except more Disney-esque. The inside is also beautiful and features artwork from Donatello and Michelangelo. It also has beautiful frescoes on the floor, but they are covered up for most of the year for preservation and are only uncovered in the months of August and September.

After our tour of the Church we headed back to Orvieto. Saturday we start our weekend trip to Naples/Pompeii/Paestum so I'm sure I will have tons to say about that, stay tuned!