When Ramona and I started planning for her and Aidan to spend the weekend with us in Florence, we compared notes on what she wanted to see and didn't need to see again with what I wanted to see and didn't mind seeing again. Trout was just along for the ride because it was all new to him.
I decided that a day trip on a big tourist bus (not my usual type of tourist option) would be the most efficient way to get a lot of sightseeing done in one day and include some of our must-sees and dos while in Tuscany. The option I chose is Walkabout's Best of Tuscany Tour. It was a long day and at first Trout thought it would be too long for Aidan, but Ramona said she thought it looked great and that they had been on similar tours of similar lengths and Aidan did just fine. That proved to be a totally correct prediction of the way things went. Aidan was great the whole time.
We got up early on Saturday morning (June 11th), everyone got ready and we took a taxi to the train station where we were to meet the bus for the tour. Sidebar: There were no bathrooms on the bus, so I had to make one last pit stop in the train station. I almost got locked in because the lock on the stall I chose was not working right. After hollering, the attendant -- thank goodness for those attendants -- came and got me out.
We loaded on the busses. Ramona said that someone she knew on base had been on this same tour, said it was great and hoped we got Stefano for our guide. We found our seats and our guide got on. It was Stefano! He was an absolute delight, one of those adorable, blue-eyed northern Italian men with a stumbling command of English and a great self-deprecating sense of humor. He was somewhere around 30 and a university student getting an advanced degree in hospitality/tourism.
We took off and drove through the Tuscan countryside to our first stop, Siena. I had been to Siena before...way back in the 70's. That time I also went on a a guided tour. It was well worth it, as was this one.
After taking a series of escalators up the hill (Tuscany, remember?) to the city, we met up with a guide who did the local tour of the city for our group. She was also funny and had some lively banter about the rivalry between Florence and Siena.
Our first stop was the Basilica of San Francesco. Although I appreciate Gothic and many other types of church architecture, these are the kinds of churches I usually prefer.
Then we started walking through the narrow, medieval streets of the city with our guide pointing out things along the way.
I liked the stone on this building.
Another one had heads of many famous Italians, but Dante is always a favorite, even if he was born in that pesky rival, Florence.
You can always spot the tourists -- cameras, backpacks, looking up...
The goal of any trip to Siena is the central piazza, the Piazza del Campo. This is one of the most renowned plazas in the world. It's not only beautiful architecturally, but a central place for locals and tourists of all stripes.
Perhaps the most famous event held here is the horse race called the Palio. Go to the link for more information on that. What we learned that was a surprise to us is that there are 17 "contrade" or areas of town that can participate. Only 10 are chosen, so the potential participants cheer or groan if they are chosen or not. They do not have their own horses. The horses are chosen separately so cheers or groans go up among the 10 participants when their horse is announced.
The piazza is covered in dirt for the horses to run on. People crowd into the center of the ring (about 30,000 of them) or watch from the buildings around it. If you saw Under the Tuscan Sun, you saw some of the pageantry involved in the whole event.
The horses run around the ring 3 times and the winner is determined by which horse gets to the finish line first -- with or without its rider. The riders do not use saddles. For a general idea of this event, take a look at this video clip. There are many more on You Tube, some done like sporting coverage, some very long.
We were not there for the Palio, so it was just a somewhat normal Saturday morning.
This is the Torre del Mangia, Tower of the Eater. It was named for its first guardian who tended to spend all his money on food.
This wasn't quite an average Saturday because it was the last day of school for some kids. They went for a short time in the early morning and then were released. These ones chose to come to the fountain, fill up water bottles and douse each other.
We crossed the piazza and headed toward the Duomo.
Somebody had their tights out to dry.
The is the entrance to one of the contrade neighborhoods.
This is the entrance to the stables where the horses are kept around the time of the Palio.
Siena is definitely a medieval town.
After going through the narrow and somewhat steep streets, we came out on the piazza in front of the Cathedral of Siena. The cathedral or duomo is a great example of Italian Gothic architecture, but it is particularly known for the marble floor that took almost 200 years to complete.
Pet peeve: I'm often flabbergasted at the number of people who go on trips to other countries without learning anything about where they are going, especially about the culture. I think that's the major cause of the misunderstandings that make Americans look ugly and make Americans think that people in other countries are rude to them.
On our tour was one woman (at least 40) in very tight short, shorts and a tank top. She carried nothing with her to use to cover up. No church anywhere in Catholic Europe that I know of will allow anyone (males included) inside with their knees or shoulders showing. Usually the idiots who try to go in dressed inappropriately are simply turned away, which I think is the way it should be. Some churches provide paper wraps for those who are so disrespectful. This was one of those churches and that woman got 2, one for each over-exposed body area. One good thing about the wraps is that the whole time the person is in the church, everyone can see that they are an idiot.
Although our experience on this trip was that the European "dress codes" so many people worry about are much more relaxed than people think, especially in summer, this was one case where the person was way out of line and at her age, she should have known better.
Across the piazza is the old hospital of Santa Maria della Scala. The earliest official record of this hospital is from 1090, but legends about it go back to 898. It's now a museum, but when it was built, it was one of the first hospitals in Europe. It's original purpose was to house pilgims on the way to Rome as well as to help abandoned children and the poor. It was a hospital until 1996. If we go back, I would like to spend some time inside.
My favorites were the ones showing people. The gold marble is the rarest.
As with most churches of this era, there are many amazing works of art.
These are pictures from the library.
Gotta love that floor.
Large hymnals were on display.
Art of all types is not only beautiful, but also a fine historical research source. Until I went to college, I knew nothing of art history and not much of history at all, except Texas history, of course. My first class was a basic art appreciation one and I was hooked. Both for scene and costume design, the way we learned about how things looked and what people wore was through the art of the times.
Its not only about the art. It's about the culture which includes buildings and religion and politics and food and clothing and, and, and... The dates and battles and rulers were never of interest to me, but the context in which they existed became a fascination that is ongoing.
These are some pictures of the sides and back of the Duomo.
Now we had a blessed downhill walk back to the piazza where we explored and hung out until it was time to go back to the bus. I had already explored the bathroom at the Duomo. I knew it would be clean and nice and worth the 1/2 Euro cost. Trout, Ramona and Aidan did not take the time to do that, so we bought drinks at a bar. The ticket proof of the purchase allowed them to use the bathroom.
This is a common practice throughout Europe, especially in very touristy areas. It sounds money-grubbing to most Americans, but these places would be overrun with lines out the door if they didn't require people to buy something. Most public bathrooms at tourist sites also charge to help pay for the maintenance of the facility. If you go to a free public bathroom in most places you will gladly pay the next time.
A wedding was happening somewhere close by. Trout zoomed in on these cars like a hawk. Here he is with Aidan.
Can you see Ramona with the camera behind the car?
Our visit to Siena was over and it was getting close to lunch time. That meant we made our way down the hill and escalators to the bus. I was usually the last person to get to and on the bus. More about that in the next posting.
Our next stop was an agriturismo for a tour and lunch. It was at a farm that specializes in wine and Chianina cattle. We did a very short tour and then had a lovely lunch at long tables under an arbor overlooking the Tuscan hills. I was too enthralled to take pictures after we sat down.
At this farm, they "test" the health of the vines with roses. They plant roses that are susceptible to the same kinds of diseases as the vines, only the roses get them sooner. So if the rose gets sick, they know to treat the vines right away.
There are some itsy bitsy grapes on this vine.
The cattle were cute.
There were a couple of babies.
You gotta love a place with lizards.
The wine fermentation vats were interesting.
As were these old Chianti jugs -- there only for show, I'm sure.
Ramona thought Aidan would be put off by the cattle smell but she had no problem with the Chianina. It was the wine smell that she didn't like.
Trout made out like a bandit on the wine. He got Ramona's and my share since neither of us drank any. After lunch we were off for a very short drive to San Gimignano. In fact, we could see it from the farm. Too bad there wasn't time for a nap.
