Siena, a beautiful mountain town with a wind problem.

Until Saturday night, we didn't know if we'd even be able to access Siena. The roads were all icy, but someone found a snow plow and salt in Tuscany. Siena is lovely, and full of history. Most importantly, they hate Florence, because the Florentines conquered Siena a while ago, like hundreds of years, and they still haven't forgotten. Our tour guide LITERALLY mentioned how much she hated Florence like... 15 times in a 2 hour tour.

Siena is also home to a famous horse race. Each district in the town has a horse they cheer for, and the rivalries in these 17 districts are HUGE. Whatever district you're born into, that's your district for life.

The snow was beautiful, and made everything slightly painful.  There were hardly any people outdoors and the people who were, were all playing in the snow! It was like we had the town to ourselves.

This piazza in Siena is usually covered in cobblestone.

 

 

Most of the churches in these parts are really into relics, as in, actually items that belonged to patron saints and important people in the church. Siena is famous for St. Catherine of Siena and in the church dedicated to her, they have her pinky finger and skull on display. I'm not even kidding. A mummified little finger from the 13th century and a skull, covered in what looked to be dough, sitting in shrine. It was one of those moments where I really wanted to look away and couldn't move my eyes, at the same time.

AAAAAnyway, we had free time after the tour. when Patrick, Rodney, Heather, Lauren and I went to a deliciously touristy place along the Piazza. You definitely pay for the location in Europe, but the pizza was so good. The night before, someone ordered a Caprese salad for 5 Euro and at this place, a Caprese Salad was 10 Euro. Caprese Salads may become my new measure of cost in this country.

My ZAAA, Sausage, Onion, Cheese, Tomato

Heather & I at lunch

They say the sky is bluer in Siena, and even on a day as dreary as this one, I believe it. I'll go back one day, hopefully when there aren't kids sledding in the streets.

VENICE THIS WEEKEND!!!