Sleepy in Siena (Jan 26)

We awoke in our Siena hotel room with the alarm at 6:30am. We were both exhausted, so although we had planned a day trip to Florence today, we decided to wake up when we were good and ready and spend today in Siena and tomorrow in Florence. It turns out that we weren't ready until 9am. We slept for 12 hours!!! Jen was still sick, so to allow her to rest Andrew had given her his pillow so she could breathe, and he used her HUGE scarf as a pillow. It's the first time we slept through the night in over a week.

After our showers, we strolled the streets of Siena looking for breakfast and creating a new plan for the day. There are only a few streets in Siena that are wide enough for cars. There are only narrow stone streets with buildings sticking out of them, no sidewalks, no pavement. It felt like we were in a movie. Here is a photo of the huge square, Piaza Il Campo.


We made our way to the Duomo, the cathedral in Siena. It was impressive outside, but even more so inside. There was a marble Michelangelo statue of Paul, a Donatello bronze statue of St. John the Baptist, Bernini's St. Gerome, and the Piccolomini Library (see photo) which tells the life of Pope Pius II who was from Siena. The floor of the Duomo is marble with scenes from the bible, the most impressive of which was "The Slaughter of the Innocents" when King Herod had the male Hebrew babies murdered.

When we left, it was raining again, so we found an internet cafe then went back to our room to plan more of our travels. At dinner we were seated with an Australian woman who was living in Italy for a year after her divorce. We are guessing she was in her 50's, and she had some great stories to tell. She was not loud or trying to show off, and only told us about things when we asked questions. Her next stop after Siena was to work on farms/vineyards. You work, and your room and board are free. She had also volunteered to record data for a dolphin research project for a while! Great dinner conversation.