In the morning we got up, finished packing, were served a final breakfast by our wonderful family of B&B hosts (Papa , 75 and son and daughter) as they showed us today's press coverage of the wedding! It thrilled them to have such wedding guests in their 1 star lodging! They even packed a bag of food for us to have on the train to Siena -- I now think, because they knew what a journey it would be!
We left the Statzione at 10:20 for 9 stops on the way to Pisa. There we changed trains -- having arrived early, and did not have to wait the hour we thought we would. Of course that meant a mad dash up and down stairs to get to the correct binari (track) dragging our ridiculously heavy bags. Off to Empoli and there we had another lucky 3 minute rush to next train to Siena (8 more stops but lovely Italian countryside) and made it to Siena only 4 hours after leaving Santa Marguerita, Liguria. On the trip we passed through Carrera, FAMOUS for marble and saw acres of countertops destined to high end kitchens in America and everywhere else.
Arriving in Siena we knew we had another $10 ; 1 mile cab ride to our hotel as the Statzione is way out of town and even with nothing to carry we would never have found our lovely hotel. Siena is an untouched midievel warren of narrow streets and alleys and we traveled down many of them before arriving at our destination.
After checking in, we took off about the town -- up and down and all over, through the main square, the Piazza del Campo, where twicea year there is a wild and very competitive bareback horserace between the 17 'Contrada' the fiercly loyal neighborhoods of this virtually unchanged 14th century city.
We left the Statzione at 10:20 for 9 stops on the way to Pisa. There we changed trains -- having arrived early, and did not have to wait the hour we thought we would. Of course that meant a mad dash up and down stairs to get to the correct binari (track) dragging our ridiculously heavy bags. Off to Empoli and there we had another lucky 3 minute rush to next train to Siena (8 more stops but lovely Italian countryside) and made it to Siena only 4 hours after leaving Santa Marguerita, Liguria. On the trip we passed through Carrera, FAMOUS for marble and saw acres of countertops destined to high end kitchens in America and everywhere else.
Arriving in Siena we knew we had another $10 ; 1 mile cab ride to our hotel as the Statzione is way out of town and even with nothing to carry we would never have found our lovely hotel. Siena is an untouched midievel warren of narrow streets and alleys and we traveled down many of them before arriving at our destination.
After checking in, we took off about the town -- up and down and all over, through the main square, the Piazza del Campo, where twicea year there is a wild and very competitive bareback horserace between the 17 'Contrada' the fiercly loyal neighborhoods of this virtually unchanged 14th century city.
In each contrada, the city lights are different, "reflecting" the contrada. This is the dolphin contrada.
Bruce in front of Il Campo site of a twice yearly horse race. We went by a photography shop which had amazing pictures of the races. They bring in dirt for the "track" which must be quite a feat as the dump trucks can not be very big and so it must take many, many loads. The horses race madly around the track and judging from the pictures, there are no holds barred and many falls. The center of the track is a mass of humanity
Walking through one of the only empty streets in Siena!
We tested the local cuisine at a locals' place -- wild boar, porcini "funghi" and grilled eggplant -- and turned in wishing we had hit this area during a better turn of weather. Tomorrow, we will view all the beautiful buildings, churches and paintings.
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