We travel by train to Empoli. And from there we go to Siena. The entire time of the trip was a bit more than expected. About 2 1/2 hours. When we get to Siena, we must hike from the train station into town. I pull out my map on my phone. Adam's love of maps, and enjoyment in all of my technology encourages him to seize my phone for the entire day. This means, he is again, the navigator. (This leads us to climbing up a hill, we really didn't need to climb up. I would have followed the old lady in the purple dress. She seemed confident.)
We come into town passing different shops, some open, some not due to the holy day. We walk down gypsy invaded avenue, and into the beautiful piazza. Possibly the best I have seen. It is huge. It is fan shaped. It is calming.
The piazza is somewhere you wish to stay for a long period of time. This is the place of the Palio, a horse race that happens twice a summer. One has happened, the other I will go to on August 16th.
Because this area is so beautiful and it is such perfect day, we sit to enjoy a cappuccino. (Well I get a cappuccino, and Adam gets an espresso, not realizing it's size or potency.) We people watch for an hour. Children with squeaky voices are proud of themselves and wish their parents to see. Young couples make out in the middle of the fan. Old couples sit calming without saying a word to one another, just being. Mothers take pictures of reluctant children. Pigeons fly over head, and dive for a bath in the fountain. The clock tower rings from a one handed clock. People all smile.
After an hour, we realize the importance of seeing other things while in Siena. We head to the duomo and buy the complete package ticket. With this we can see the Cathedral, the crept, the museo, the Panorama. We first head to the cathedral.
Wow the marble floors. The black and white pillars that give way to an Arabic influence. The painted stars on the ceiling. Hundreds of gold stars in a sea of blue. Adam decides if he wins the lottery, he will get marble floors in his house, of WVU football games. I quietly decide, I would live here. We walk around and see every detail. (Small heads up, females will be asked to put on a shaw, you know for modesty. Oh, but, men and women go to the same bathroom. Forget modesty then.)
We timidly leave this place in hopes to see another just as amazing. We head to the Museo and start to look around. Many things are again beautiful. I see am image by Donatella. I see the most beautiful stained glass I have ever seen. I see an actually human skull, in a gold box. I see the ugliest Madonna ever with what looks to be either a hippie for a cub scout for a Jesus.
We continue to go up the stars and make our way to the place for Panorama. This must be beautiful right? We have already left to places we enjoyed quite a bit, to seek out more. To find something better. To enjoy the city more. We walk up the spiral staircase, which is no small feat, because Adam has giant feet. We go up up up, and then it is. It is.
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