After a restless night, I had a huge breakfast and then took a quick nap. Anxious about train ride. Decided to hop on a little bus and loop around the Florence. Great way to see the city.
Checked out of Hotel Adler Cavilleri and headed to the train station. Here I go on my first train ride in Italy. It made several stops and then there I was in Siena. And then there was Christina waiting for me. I was so happy to see her. We took the taxi to my hotel Il Chiostro del Carmine It is a converted convent and absolutely beautiful. The hotel was very clean and simple. The rooms are quite roomy.
So we headed out to see Siena. I really didn't know what to expect. It didn't take me long to fall in love with Siena. The population within the wallls is about 60,000. To me it seems to depict my perception of an Italian village not consumed with tourism. first stop is Palazzo Salimbeni, which houses the Bank of Siena, the oldest bank in the world which is going bankrupt. Then we went on to visit Fortezza Medicea. Christina also showed me the Church of San Domenico (which houses PART of the remains of Saint Catherine), her school, and Piazza del Campo which is where the Palio occurs every July and August amongst the 17 contradas. We saw the oldest street in Siena, Vicolo delle Carrozze
We ran into her girlfriend, Maria, and she invited me to join her and Christina for drinks at 11:00 pm after she gets off work. lol Christina and I stopped at a lovely cafe for a cappuccino-yum. Lots of people are just walking about and shopping. There are very few cars within the walls because the streets are so narrow. Even tho' the streets are hilly everyone walks. I wish that we were set up like this at home. It really doesn't take long to walk across the city here. As always the men and women are dressed very classy and stylish. it matters.
Christina took me to Taverna di Cecco, a lovely little restaurant for dinner. Tonight I tasted wild boar for the first time. It was yummy. I had a pasta dish with a wild boar sauce. I ate every bit of it. Wild boar is hunted and not raised on farms for the most part. Who knows what these wild boars have had to eat?
I am exhausted.
