12: Excursions: Siena

For starters, let me say that my blues is kind of passing thing, coming and going in waves. Perspective is key in combatting those pesky homesick feelings.

Another remedy is travel. Enter Siena.

During orientation our advisors stressed how great a location Florence is in Italy. The central Tuscan-capital is literally a transit epicenter (by train, at least. To fly out of Florence, Pisa is the larger airport). So Laura, Carolyn, and I swing by the Santa Maria Novella train station Friday morning and catch the train to Siena. An hour and forty minutes later we find ourselves in this picture-perfect "Italian" town. And suddenly I felt better.

Siena is known for this huge horse race where jockeys from all the Sienese districts race it out for bragging rights and city-funded parties for their district. This race takes place twice a year, August and July. So, no, I didn't get to see that. But you can tell from the general set-up of the Piazza di Campo that something monumental has to happen there. Imagine a traditional piazza mashed up with an amphitheater and you'll have an idea of the shape. After lunch in the Piazza, we headed to the Duomo, which doesn't boast the most impressive exterior (still extravagant and highly detailed, though), but could arguably have the most beautiful interior I've seen.




Siena is also famous for their pastries. We tried 3: the first was a pine nut torta that had this incredible silky texture, but retained its cake-ness. The second was a nutella cake with hazelnut on top. The last was an anise flavored bun that looked like a bagel, but was my favorite by far.