Siena

Siena today was amazing. I didn't realize how different it would be from Firenze until we arrived. The bus ride was about 45 mins long and we had to walk from the bus into the city because they limit the traffic in Siena. We started off with a two hour tour of the city, learning about the 'neighborhoods' (owl, wolf, forest...I couldn't decide which one I would want to belong to). Each neighborhood competes in a bi-annual horse race, the Palio and the winner gets braggin rights or something and a period of fasting. This year's winner, from the August 16th race was the owl neighborhood, so I think I'd want to be part of them...
The town itself was so quaint and unique. Unlike Firenze, every single building was old. The steep streets and twisting corners would almost inevitably lead to a view of the Duomo (not to be mistaken with the Duomo in Firenze, obviously), the Piazza del Campo or the Tuscan country side. It was breathtaking. Of course I took hundreds of photos so consult the web album to check it out. We ended our tour in the Piazza del Campo and went to find lunch. Despite the rip-roaring high prices of Europe, we managed to find a decently priced meal. Five of us went to a small ristorante, each of us got a pasta (I got penne all'arrabbiata...SO good) and we shared a litre of the vino rosso di casa (red house wine). The bill for each of us was only 6.30 euros! In my opinion, molto economico!
The next part wasn't so economico...we wanted to go inside the Duomo and we thought we would get a student discount (3 euros) but they don't like to give student discounts in Siena...so we ended up paying 10 euros for entry into the entire building (cathedral, baptistry, crypt and museum). We decided to get our money's worth so we went into everything except the museum (b/c of time). Everything was gorgeous. The facade, the marble inside, the frescoes, stained glass windows. Beautiful. I was a bit dissapointed with the crypt because it was essentially a contemporary sub-terranean space that had bits and pieces from the original crypt. I guess I was partly expecting some tombs or something...
Without sounding like a bad jewish girl, I find it a bit sad that these churches are no longer in use. They were built hundreds of years ago and managed to stay functional until someone decided to close it off as a religious location and turn it into a tourist site. Everything is roped off, people are pushing and shoving, and you have to pay a ridiculous amount to see all the beautiful art. I don't know why I was so bothered by this today. I understand the need for tourism but I feel that they could atleast have limited hours and try and maintain the original intention of the building.
Ok, rant over. Back to Siena. Following the overpriced church we wandered the tiny streets and stopped at the famous Siena Pasticceria, Nannini and bought the Sienese cookie, Ricciarelli, which is a soft, almond cookie covered in powder sugar. It was SO good. Obviously...not suprised that I like a baked good.
We left Siena around 4 and the entire ride back I attempted to capture the beauty of the Tuscan landscape using my incredible new camera but was plagued with bad timing and misplaced trees. I got a few good shots but I can honestly say that in order to see the beauty, you need to come and see it for yourself...
Tonight is trip planning night, accompanied with wine, of course...I think tomorrow I might actually try and go to a museum/church. I'm not sure if i've mentioned this but NYU gave us these AMICI cards which provided us with free, unlimited entry into almost all the museums and churches of Firenze. Meaning we can cut the line and not pay the 12+ euros to get in. INCREDIBLE...it's National Jewish Culture day so we're going to go get a free tour of the Synagogue, which is in the same neighborhood as us (Santa Croce). We'll see how that goes...