Siena

Last night, we rode into Siena, our home for three nights. Getting into the city (which is walled and thus has limited access) was exciting/possibly dangerous. Nothing like sharing the roads with crazy Italian drivers while you're on a bike. Actually, it was fine and we all survived :)

The day of cycling was a little long and marred with more bad weather. Luckily the morning was beautiful and it didn't start to sprinkle until later (when we were all tired and cranky). We had a long (18k) climb up a mountain to Castellina in Chianti, which was actually kinda fun (and the views of the countryside were amazing). We also stopped at a castle in Monteriggione (okay, I'm not going to lie... The castle was a little boring). Other exciting things along the way included our guide getting a flat tire and us not seeing her again until Siena and a locked chain on one of our group's bikes. This turned into a dirty challenge (think bike grease extravaganza) that required all four of us to work on it on the side of the road.

Today we had a free day and I wandered around Siena checking everything out. Twice a year, the city has a big horse race called the "Palio della Contrade" in the Piazza del Campo, which is their huge square. Siena is made up of different sub-districts called contrade and they compete in this crazy race. The race is coming up soon and they're just starting to get things ready. They cover the piazzo with sand and decorate the city. Also, everyone is getting excited about it and there are contrade flags everywhere. Each contrada (there are 17 total) is represented by an animal... My favorites are the caterpillar, the she-wolf, the wave (aka fish), and the unicorn.

I also went to the Duomo (the Cathedral) and it was ridiculous! It is so ornate and beautiful - I love all of the art, too. This picture is looking towards the sanctuary... You can also see some contrade flags, which lined the interior of the Cathedral.

On kind of a sad note, I spilled some water in my purse (smooth... I thought the waterbottle was closed but the cap leaked water EVERYWHERE). The water got on my camera and phone. Luckily, I've been able to revive the phone (obviously since I'm using it now.. Though it is working in "safe mode") but the camera is in critical condition with a fogged screen and it stopped turning on... Yikes! I think the memory card is still good so at least I still have the 300+ pics I've taken so far but I'm not sure if i'll be able to dry out the camera to get it working again. Fingers crossed!


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