Day 13

June 6

While I was blogging downstairs in Venice one night, a couple from England, recognizing me as an American, questioned me about the US election. With a conversation ignited, we moved on to different subjects, one of them being my trip. As I went through the list of dates and locations they mentioned they had recently come from Florence, which the woman didn’t care much for, and a side trip they had taken to a place called Sienna. Immediately entranced by its description as a fairytale wonderland, I mentioned it to Nanny. Once in Florence, when Nanny mentioned Pisa to a jewelry store owner, she made a face and also suggested that we go to Sienna instead. So on this day, we boarded the train to Sienna. This being a rather spontaneous trip (well, as spontaneous as one can get when travelling with their 72 year old grandmother) we weren’t sure what to expect. Despite the fact that the train ride was rather longer than anticipated, I enjoyed every minute of it. The view out of the grimy water stained window was spectacular, and the poppy fields made me want to hit the emergency brake button and hop off the train. When we arrived we took a taxi into the city. We were dropped into a strangely shaped piazza. It seemed to be a very old, somewhat medieval city on the inside. We had a nice lunch; I had a ham sandwich on bread harder than a rock and the best peach iced tea. We hit the shopping next, and did we hit it hard (more window shopping than the actual kind where you buy stuff). I did buy a beautiful purple and silver chain long necklace and a ring from this Persian man selling Italian and Indian jewelry out of a store. I had trouble pulling Nanny away, afraid that she would spend away all our gelato money. I also bought a pair of oversized white sunglasses and a long beaded necklace that I bargained down one whole euro. Under a drizzly but still rather blue sky we decided to head home, and the hunt began for a taxi. Sienna is mostly made up of a series of inclines and declines formed into narrow roads and stacked houses. We found ourselves on mostly inclines (go figure) and as we were unfamiliar with the territory, we didn’t know where to begin the search. Up and up and down a little and then up some more, we asked for directions, turned unfamiliar streets, and begged someone to call a taxi. Finally a small lunch restaurant took pity on us and called us a cab. We made it to the station and onto the train and I enjoyed the ride home as much as the one there. Back in Florence we ate dinner in the main piazza by our hotel. I had an entire plate of spinach cheese ravioli, most of Nanny’s salad and most of her spaghetti too (heh, no need for it to go to waste now is there?) as well as an iced tea, glass of bubble water, slice of chocolate cake and cappuccino. For some unknown reason I was ravenous. All while we were eating we could hear the sounds of easy vocals and acoustic guitar. On our way out of the square we stopped to listen. It was a street performance and the guy had a rather large audience. I bought his cd, impressed and maybe just a little euphoric from all the food in my belly. The picture is kinda funny because it turned out a considerable amount brighter than the scene actually was, so it looks like daytime. But it was a lovely day and I really like this Tuscan area.