Siena

It was time to leave Rome.  I loved the city, but still had a whole trip ahead of me to experience, so I headed to the main train station to try again to catch the train up to Tuscany.  This time, the trains were running, so I jumped on mine and began the trip up to Chiusi, where I had to change trains to continue on to Siena.  When I arrived at Chiusi, the train for Siena had just left a bit earlier, but there was a bus going about an hour later that I caught instead.  Upon arriving in Siena, I realized that the station was not exactly near the center of town.  In fact, Siena sits up high on a hill, and the train station was at the bottom of it!  Now, I have no problem walking to where I need to go, but about a mile uphill with two backpacks when I'm not exactly sure where I'm going...not a chance. So instead, I followed directions to the city buses that take you near the town center.  This nice older Italian woman helped me, and between her non-existent English and my barely-there Italian, we got me a ticket and on the right bus!  When I reached the town center, I went looking for a place to stay and came upon a cute place called Piccolo Hotel Etruria on a small side street right near the main Piazza del Campo.  I headed out to look around, remembering some things from when I was here once before.  Piazza del Campo, the huge square lined with restaurants where people usually sit or saunter around, was covered with snow and ice due to the recent weather.  The snow wasn't actually falling in Siena, but it was definitely cold!  I walked around the square and found myself a small slice of sunlight in the form of a stand selling fried dough balls sprinkled with sugar.  They reminded me of the mini-fried doughnuts you can get at the fair.  I don't know what they are called, but they will go down in my Rolodex as Little Pieces of Heaven! :) They were delicious, and I made sure to make a daily stop there all five days I spent in Siena.

I spent my first full day in Siena just walking around and seeing the sights it had to offer. I started at the Duomo, which is quite impressive inside - lots of marble work, frescoes, and stained glass windows.  After, I walked through the museum attached, looking at the sculptures and paintings, then heading up a tower to get a great view of the city.  Before me lay hundreds of snow-covered rooftops leading out to the countryside beyond.  I went back down and checked out the Baptistry before heading over to see St. Catherine's house.  She is the patron saint of Siena and a pretty big deal around here. In fact, up the street is the Santo Domenico, a large church that houses her mummifed head and thumb, among other paintings, sculptures, and beautiful stained-glass windows.  Back down at Piazza del Campo, I wandered through the side streets and eventually made my way up to Piazza San Francesco, where I walked through a little courtyard in the Convento di San Francesco and realized that I had stumbled upon the college here in Siena.  I wandered around some more before grabbing dinner.

The next day was a pretty fun day as I had booked myself a Brunello wine tour for the afternoon.  In the morning, I went over and walked through the Civic Museum in the Pallazo Pubblico in Il Campo, which houses some famous frescoes.  The tour guide came to pick me up in the early afternoon and I met Christine, the other person on the tour with me, who is from Beijing.  We chatted as we drove out to Montalcino, the region known for its Brunello wines.  Our first stop was a very small town that literally took five minutes to walk from one end to the other.  Then we continued on to Montalcino, which is up on a hill.  We walked around a little bit before heading to our first winery.  It is run by the Padeletti family, and has been in the family for hundreds of years.  We took a small tour and then it was time for tasting!  We sampled three different red wines and ate some bread, salami, and prosciutto.  The wines were very good, and we talked with our host for a while before heading out to the next winery.  This one was called Abbadia Ardenga, and we met the owner, Mario.  He was a cute, older man who only spoke Italian, so our guide translated for us.  Mario ended up being quite a mischievious sort who liked to joke around.  He had me drink wine right out of the barrel and then teased us as we were touring around!  We went into a small room that looked like it could have been his garage and tasted quite a few different wines.  They were really good, and Mario even gave us a shot of grappa to drink.  We had a great time with Mario, but soon it was dark and time to head back to Siena.

I was determined to go to San Gimignano since so many things I had read said not to miss it, so the next day, Christine and I took the bus out to this small cute hill town.  It's known for its tall towers.  There used to be seventy of them, but now there are about fourteen. We wandered around, taking in the sights and the views, and eventually stopped in a cafe for a glass of Vernaccia, a white wine the town is also known for.  We made our way back to Siena and walked around a bit before grabbing dinner at a great family-run restaurant, where we randomly met an Italian guy who is a horse trainer living in L.A. and who will be at the Del Mar races later this year!  Small world.

I spent the rest of my time in Siena just walking around, stopping in stores and cafes and getting a feel for the town.  Having seen Tuscany before in its spring/summer glory, it has been interesting to see it in the winter.  While it's not quite the same as seeing the rolling green hills, full trees, and grape-laden vineyards, the snow-covered hills, bare trees, and empty vines still have their own bit of Tuscan charm.  Next stop...Florence.