Siena--Week Two

We have settled into a nice routine.  Larry gets up and heads off to language class which starts at nine.  Sue enjoys her quiet mornings at home.  Most afternoons we walk, find food (eat out or buy groceries) or tour--all of which require lots of walking uphill.  The reward coming home is that the trip back is downhill--we are very near the bottom of what seems to be one of the steepest hills in town.

Larry has returned to the Dante Alighieri Language School. Both of us enjoyed our classes there when we were in Siena 12 years ago, and although the school is now in a different location, it continues to be well run and fun.

Larry's class size varies from week to week--people come and go with some frequency.  The first week there were three students in the class; this week it grew to six, but at least two are leaving school this coming week, so who knows what the numbers will be.

Larry's class at Dante Alighieri Language School

The teacher's name is Silvia.  She is quite attractive and has a lovely personality, so class is usually both fun and engaging.  The other students are mostly European and for the most past younger than Larry--Mario, the only other male, is a young lawyer from Honduras; Dilyana is about 28 and from Bulgaria originally but has lived in Germany for the last decade and teaches German; Maria is a beautiful young Russian woman who just got her master's in business administration; Hege is a blond Norwegian who sells food for a living and will follow language class with three weeks of cooking classes; and Laura, Larry's only contemporary, is a retired teacher from Orleans, France.  One very quickly bonds and getting to know everyone over time is a treat.

This past weekend we took a car trip to Pisa and Lucca with Larry's classmate, Dilyana, and her fiance, Chris (who is an American organic chemist working in Siena for Novaris, a pharmaceutical company with offices all over the world.  They deal mainly in vaccines, we learned).

We proposed the trip, and they were kind enough to offer to drive.  We had never been to Pisa before, and although it was cold and rainy, we were delighted that we went.  Of course, everyone has heard of the leaning tower of Pisa--but we were  surprised by how beautiful the tower and its companions (the Cathedral, Baptistry and Mausoleum) are.  Even in the pouring rain, they glowed and dazzled.  The centuries long story of the leaning tower and the endeavors to keep it from toppling are fascinating. We know that we will be returning to Pisa--in good weather--to explore what Rick Steve calls the Miracle Meadow, the tower complex.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa

Lucca, which was as filled with tourists as any place we have visited so far, also is lovely.  The historic center is surrounded by a still intact fortress wall--that is about 30 feet high and has a great walking/biking trail.

Dyliana & Chris on Lucca's wall.

The city within the walls is a pleasing mixture of modern and historic, with wide streets and many piazzas.  As the city is quite flat, touring is a lot easier, even in the rain, than say walking in Siena or some of the other mountain top cities we have been in.

After visiting some of the city's many medieval and Renaissance churches and climbing the famous Guinigi Tower (there are trees growing on top), we ended up in, serendipitously,  in a really superb restaurant, Trattoria da Sergio.  You may be up to your eyeballs with our food stories, but here is another one:  more fabulous pasta, wine and crusty bread dipped in excellent olive oil, followed by roasted rabbit and polenta in an amazing sauce with black olives.

View of Lucca from the Guinigi Tower

Sue & Dyliana in one of Lucca's many lovely piazzas.

We came home and were so happy Chris was driving in the deluge.  We flopped into bed and awoke, as usual, to about two minutes of non-stop clanging...our apartment is on the third floor of a building between two of the biggest churches in Siena and each has a huge bell tower with gigantic bells.  You really know you are in Italy with the folks being called to mass, first thing each morning!






We continue to enjoy our walks around Siena, discovering places we have never seen with the help of the guide pamphlets provided by our host. This little fellow, along with lots of other identical friends,  is perched on the walls of the Piccolimino Palace in Siena:

  
This week we had a great walk along one part of Siena's wall, which provided us with gorgous views of the surrounding countryside.  Perhaps the sweetest moment was finding "La Fonte delle Monache" or the Nun's well: a tiny little fountain that, during the middle ages, was used by cloistered nuns to wash their clothes without being seen by the outside world.  Now surrounded by a private, but open garden, just showing the first signs of spring, the secret site gave us a quiet moment of discovery and joy.

La Fonte delle Monache (Cloister is on the top of the hill with secret tunnel steps leading down)

By the way, being here as the new Pope was elected felt exciting, and somehow more immediate knowing it was happening just three hours away.  Bienvenuto Fancesco I!

View of the Medieval walled city of Pitigliano (a small hill town we also visited this week)