Siena

I'm currently blogging from a youth hostel in Nice (yes that's pronounced ''niece'') in France. But that's a long story and I'll tell you about it later. Right now I need to catch up on Siena.
Before leaving Pisa I made contact with Sergio in Siena. He belongs to Servas, a pacifist organization that arranges home stays for people traveling throughout the world. Unfortunately they couldn't have visitors that weekend but he gave me a tip on a hotel. So when we got to Sienna we got on a bus with our 8 bags (including the guitar) and were a little chagrinned to see the city of Siena disappearing behind us. After about a half hour ride we were let off, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Luckilly, the lady from the hotel was there with her car and took us to the hotel only a block away.
I called Sergio, just to say hi and let him know we would like to meet them if there was time, and his wife Ilaria answered the phone. When she found out where we were, she said we were only a block from their house and wouldn't we like to come over for dinner. It turns out they had other friends over for dinner so there were 13 of us, 6 adults and children from 13 months to 12 years. We had a lovely dinner, speaking a mix of English, Italian and Spanish, and I learned a lot about the politics of Italy. There are many scary parallels between US and Italian politics. The kids had a lovely time getting along mostly with slapstick comedy and sign language.















Siena is a beautiful city, which almost seems frozen in time, somwhere around the 13th century. Or it would seem so except for the thousands of tourists from all over the world milling about. One of Siena's signiture events is the Palio, a barebacked horse race run twice a year in the town's main square--the Piazza del Campo, pictured above. The race pits the 17 neighborhoods or contrades against each other and the winning contrade is supposed to have good luck and success for the next 6 months.

















































We had a nice picnic on the Piazza del Campo and enjoyed walking through the narrow ancient streets. The city was a major power throughout the middle ages until a bout of Black Death in the 14th century and it's eventual defeat by rival Florence. Today it is still reknowned for its excellent Medical and Law
Schools and Jazz Festival and is, of course, a major tourist destination.