When we got to Siena we had to walk a bit to meet up with our guide. Walking up to Siena was beautiful and very deceptive. Looking out over the city it was neat to see all the Medieval architecture. I had NO idea what I was in for that day.
The really neat thing about everywhere we went in Italy was the surprise factor. You'd be wandering around streets looking at this or that, you'd round a corner, and suddenly you'd be right in front of a huge ornate church or in a huge open square in the middle of the city, or something equally as fantastic!!
Anyway, we started walking through Siena. One of the first things we went into was a church. (An interesting thing about some of the churches in Italy is that they have some human bodies or body parts called relics.) This particular little church called the Basilica San Domenico had the head and finger of some woman. (I found it online- St. Catherine) As our guide was telling us about this she lost everyone's attention while they walked over to look at the head and finger. She just stopped and waited. Once we left this little church we started walking through the streets of Siena again. Suddenly we were walking up this VERY steep street. (all the streets were cobblestone) When I say this street was steep doesn't begin to express just how steep it really was. It was very scary because if I fell, I felt like I'd just slide back down to the bottom and have to start all over again. So we start climbing this street. It goes on and on and on. When I'd look up and see that we were at a corner I'd be relieved that we were about to hit a plateau. Not gonna happen, my friend. We rounded the building and it just kept going. I was hot and tired and walking like this made my blister on the bottom of my foot so much worse. (I had put moleskin on that morning and it just rubbed right off) One thing I learned about myself on this trip is that I get REALLY cranky when I have to walk up steep streets - especially the longer they are. When we finally got to the top of this street it's a wonder I didn't punch some random person!! I wasn't taking a lot of pictures at this point, either. I honestly cannot remember what we did at that point. We FINALLY got to the top of this city. We walked through the amazing streets (that's in retrospect!!) and suddenly came upon an amazing church called the Duomo di Siena. It was HUGE!! It was originally supposed to be the largest cathedral in the world, but when the Plague hit and wiped out 80% of their population, it was never completed. However, it was full of beautiful artwork. We even got to see people restoring part of the marble mosaic floor. I wasn't able to get great pictures because my indoor pictures are usually blurry (when I can't use my flash). But here are a couple of pictures of the outside:
After our guide had finished showing us the inside of this church we started walking again. Once again we were wandering around through narrow streets and seeing a lot of old and interesting architecture when suddenly we rounded a corner and came upon this amazing open square called the Piazza del Campo.
In the square in Sienna on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
The day we were there the whole city was preparing for the annual horse race. It takes place around the edges of the square. Over 30,000 people cram into the square to watch this race. The town is divided up into groups called Contradas. Each contrada has it's own area, flag, etc, etc. You are not allowed to move from one Contrada to another. There were flags all over the city representing each contrada. They were practicing for different events. The horse race is apparently really rough. The riders try to shove each other off their horses - whatever it takes to win the race. However, if a riderless horse crosses the line first, that contrada still wins! Once the whole thing is over the whole city has a gigantic feast.
We ate lunch at a little pizza place right on the square. It was a neat little place. Here's a picture of Logan eating his first real Italian pizza:
After lunch we met back up with our group to head back to the bus. We had 15 minutes to get back when we left. It was as steep a walk back down as it had been going up. By this time my blister was full blown and I couldn't even keep up with the group. My sweet Logan stayed back with me, he took my purse and backpack and carried them, and he put his arm behind my back to kind of propel me down the road. We FINALLY made it back and we were very late. Being late was a problem because we still had one more guided tour that day.
The next place we went that day was Pisa. Going into Pisa the streets are lined with vendors, mostly illegal, all from Africa. It was strange to realize how close Africa is to Italy. I saw a lot of African things being sold. Why would I go to Italy to buy African tchotchkes? However, square in Pisa is a beautiful little place. The square is surrounded by a wall. Inside the square is the church, the baptistry, and the bell tower - or the Leaning Tower. We had the cutest little old tour guide named Uranus. He talked and talked. He kept emphasizing over and over that Galileo Galilei was from Pisa. The first thing he took us into was the baptistry. It was a neat little place. A girl came out and started singing. The echo in that place made it sound like there were several people singing in harmony. After she finished singing David asked if we could sing in there. Jesse led us all in Alleluia. I caught both things on video, but you'll have to go to my Flickr page to see them:
Girl singing alone in the baptistry in Pisa on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Our group singing Alleluia in the baptistry in Pisa on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Our tour guide explained that the Leaning Tower was reinforced by some engineers in the early 90's and is guaranteed to stand for at least another 300 years. Our tour guide said he figured it would stand long enough that his job is safe!!! He was so funny. Anyway, the tower is now open to the public for climbing up into. It's very tall and has tons of steps, so none had the time or energy to do it! But it is beautiful!! We took the obligatory shot of Logan holding up the tower. The sidewalk was lined with people posing for this exact shot:
After Pisa we got back on our wonderful cushy bus and our wonderful bus driver, Maurizio, drove us back to Florence. He dropped us off in the city and once again we started walking and walking until we got to our restaurant. It was a really neat evening. We met up with Krystine's family (one of the girls on our trip) and Ricardo Berdini (the son of the preacher from Trieste) and his girlfriend, Suzanna. We had an interesting meal with Ricardo and Suzanna. He has a degree in music and he's a perfomer. He's also planning to make a CD. He's just adorable and has the best personality.
After we left the restaurant Logan and I walked to the square and went to the pharmacy where I got these triangular pads for the bottom of my foot! Those things worked wonders!!!! Needless to say, I was exhausted by the time I walked back to my hotel room that night. At the time I hated that day, but looking back it was yet another wonderful day in Italy!!!
On the knitting front, I've got all the square put together in strips. I've also picked up and knit all the stitches on the first strip. Hopefully, by the end of the day and I can have the strips all put together. However, I'm confused about the edging. I may have to call Rainy and ask for help. But right now I feel really crummy and I just want to feel better.
Knit On and More Later,
Shama D
No comments:
Post a Comment