Saturday morning, we decided to take a trip to Sienna via train. I really just wanted to stay in Florence, but I'm so glad Dave convinced me that we needed to explore more of the country side. We had a great trip!
We were able to buy our tickets, catch our train, and more importantly, in Sienna buy a bus ticket, get to the right stop and walk to the city center.
Sienna is a tourist destination. I shouldn't be too impressed with our bus efforts; we followed our best rule of thumb: follow the crowd. The streets were packed and then we realized there was a race of some sort going on. Signs told us it was Miglia 1000; there's a lot of history there and cool cars, so it gets its own post.
Below is a picture looking through a street into the city's main piazza.
We roamed through the city streets. We found il Duomo and toured it; we were quite impressed by it. Most of the pictures in this post are simply shots of things that we found interesting. One of the things we talked about as we meandered through Sienna is that we never traveled abroad during college. Neither of us wanted to then, so it isn't like it's something we wanted to do, but couldn't. However, in watching the younger full-time MBA students who have no children at home, we saw a different experience. By Saturday, we were tired and missing Gavin. We hope to be able to allow Gavin to travel and see the world while he's young. And, we hope to take him with us on other adventures. He's still just a bit young. I can't imagine a trip with a little boy who doesn't sleep well in strange beds and routines.
It rained a bit on us. Notice the umbrellas in the piazza in the picture below.
There had been a wedding at this church. There were two kids out sweeping up rice.
After the winery tour and lunch, we boarded the charter bus, which took us to San Gimignano. We were dropped at the edge of the city and walked to the center of the city. I had to giggle as I stepped from the path to allow a group of silver-haired retirees pass as I took Advil to get ahead of the pain in my knee.
We wandered around a bit taking pictures of the narrow, curving streets. Dave also took some cool pictures of doors and door knockers. I'll do a separate post with some of those photos.
San G once boasted 72 towers in the town. Families built them as a sign of their wealth. The plague of 1348 and a diversion of a trade route led to the decline of the town. Of the 72 towers, only 14 remain today.
Part of Piazza del Duomo is seen below. As narrow as the streets are, they are not closed to automobile traffic. As we were inside a shop just outside this picture (to the bottom left corner, add one building), buying a belt (Dave wishes he had bought a second the quality is so good), a car drove by a bit too close to the outside cafe tables pictured below under the tents and scraped the metal rails of the outdoor dining area.
We climbed to the top of Torre Grosso for these views of the city and the surrounding country side.
I'm not really sure why this statue is posed to jump from this tower.
Dave dangled over the edge just a bit to get this shot of the flowers growing in the wall of the tower.
I was grateful that the climb up the Torre Grosso was made easier by such wide stairs.
Torre Grosso from the Piazza below.
I just think this sign denoting a hiking trail is funny. I love that the lady is wearing a scarf around her hair. I know that's what I do when I go hiking. There were a few other signs that I found funny; again, I should have taken a picture. And some of the funny signs were not so humorous once the meaning dawned on me. For instance, near the elevators, there was always a sign pointing to the stairs. The figure is clearly running; I kept thinking, "Oh, the Italians think you have to run up the stairs." Then I realized it was pointing to the stairs as an emergency exit. Duh. I do find it interesting that running can be conveyed so easily with just one image. Maybe that's a testimony to the simplicity of my artistic talents.
Friday was deemed a "cultural day" and spouses were invited along for the fun. Our first stop was the Antinori Winery for a tour and lunch. Then we went to San Gimignano to walk around the city a bit.
The vineyards were beautiful. Mauricio, our guide and one of the resident sommeliers, was trained at UC Davis, had a great accent, and shared a lot with us. You can listen to a bit of his talk to us below. I felt funny videoing the entire thing, but I wanted to capture a part of it. He talked about the temperature difference on one hill versus another, water needs of plants, grafting, and Costco's place in the wine buying business. The fear instilled by Robert Parker's reviews of wines was also mentioned.
After chatting in the vineyard, Mauricio took us around to the cellars, in a building designed by Galileo.
Here Mauricio shows us one of the vats for storage and talks about cleaning the tank.
After the tour, we went in for a lunch and wine pairing. The first course, olive oils. You heard me. As I tasted the three different oils, I kept thinking that I do my best to avoid oil and fat and now I'm eating it in a spoon. But, when you eat olive oil alone, you do taste the differences.
The next course was thinly sliced and grilled vegetables, drizzled with a balsamic reduction.
The main course was hand-made ravioli with the most delicious pesto. I'm trying to make that pesto here at home. I'm not succeeding.
Dessert was individual chocolate souffles covered in powdered sugar and a delicious strawberry sauce.
Next they brought out these small desserts: tartlets, cherry tomatoes wrapped in grape leaves and dipped in dark chocolate, and biscotti. All very tasty--even the chocolate covered tomatoes.
We had a great time. If you're in Tuscany, drop by. If you're in Costco, pick up a bottle of wine.
The other part of my rambling around Thursday brought me to the Piazza della Signoria. The tower above is part of the Palazzo Vecchio.
A statute of Cosimo I; one of the Medici rulers of Florence.
The fountain of Neptune is in the square to commemorate Cosimo I's naval victories.
The most interesting thing about the piazza is that on the eastern side, stands Loggia del Lanzi, an open loggia that houses incredibly famous statues just out in the open.
Above is Menelaus bearing the body of Patrocles, a Roman copy of the Greek original.
Below is Hercules and Nessus by Giambologna.
The Rape of the Sabine Woman by Giambologna. (Later in the day I saw a plaster cast in the gallery where Michelangelo's David stands.
The Perseus by Benvenuto Cellini.
Another statue in the piazza, outside the Loggia is this, Hercules and Cacus by Baccio Bandinelli.
Friday evening, I took Dave back to the Piazza and the Loggia to look at the beautiful sculptures.
