Well folks, betrayals of trust aside, I am still in Rome... and still two weeks behind on this blog thing! I've had a birthday, five days in Naples full of incredible pizza, and now am even halfway through Rome... and you don't even know about it!! And hey -- I also finally got (most) of my shit together for Greece yesterday. Athens and Santorini. Cross your fingers for me that strikes and riots will only end up making the trip an "experience" and not a complete and utter disaster.
That said, let's turn the Way-Back Machine to November 4, when I woke up in Florence to yet another rainy day, and had to rush like mad to get to the train station because I was... meeting friends in Siena! :)
Back when I was in Cinque Terre, I met this incredibly lovely American family who happened to be living short-term in Siena -- Phil and Dina and their four great kids. We ended up talking quite a bit, and it was kind of funny how I would run into them everywhere -- all over the hostel of course, but also in train stations, at restaurants in town for dinner... We ended up being very friendly and I said I would shoot them an email when I took my Siena day trip and maybe we could meet for coffee.
So I did, and Phil wrote me right back and suggested meeting in front of the Siena Duomo at 12:30. I was surprisingly jazzed about this. Traveling solo, even in the midst of seeing incredible things, it can really get tiring to either always be by yourself or to cycle through a series of single-service friends you will very likely never talk to again. So even though I had just met Phil and Dina and their family, the fact that I was going to see them again elevated us to something more than single-service friendship. And also, after months of hostel backpackers, of couples and solos and joined-at-the-hip traveling buddies mostly in their 20s, it felt sort of very comforting to be around a family again.
All of that is a very long lead-in to the point, which was that I found myself positively sprinting for the station, to stand in one of the longest train ticket lines ever (of course!) so I wouldn't be late for our meetup.
And even though I made my train, I still ended up being about 15 minutes late, because to my dismay Siena is a lot bigger than I thought it was! At a brisk walk/trot, in the rain, it took me little more than half an hour to get to the Duomo from the station. But Phil was waiting for me, all smiles.
Oh yes, and the Siena Duomo is amazing, even in the rain.
We met up with Dina and their kids and they took me to lunch at this cute little cafe they knew. And started talking about taking me around for an afternoon tour... and then asked if it was okay with me if we just went back to dinner at their place, rather than going out.
Wait, what??? :) An afternoon tour? A home-cooked meal at an actual house? I felt like I was dreaming. I seriously never expected anything beyond coffee! But I was not complaining. This was the most incredible news I'd heard in forever, and I was just totally floored by their incredible generosity.
Lunch was great, and they wouldn't let me pay even though of course I offered. Their kids loved this place because of the hot chocolate, which appeared to be pretty much a melted chocolate bar poured into a cup. I stuck with my salami panini and coffee. :) I need to mention how great and fun and well-behaved their four kids are! The one boy, Jamie, was particularly adorable. Back in Cinque Terre, I asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up, and he told me with great solemnity that "I want to be a football player, a basketball player, a hockey -- no, not hockey -- and a baseball player. And then when I get old I want to be a paleontologist. And then when I get really old I want to be a priest." We high-fived. I hope you make all those things happen my friend!
Over lunch, we had an excellent chill conversation, and both Dina and Phil knew so much about Siena's history and what not. Made me feel like a total slacker, the way I've just sort of been showing up in places. :) Then they suggested letting me explore for a bit, go inside the Duomo and what not, and then they'd meet me at Siena's main plaza, the Campo, in about an hour and a half. Perfect!
It was supposed to be six euro to get inside the Duomo, but for some reason tickets were free that day. Maybe because it was Sunday? Again, so totally not complaining.
The inside of Siena's Duomo beats Firenze's by a landslide, btw.
Phil told me that I had really very good luck to visit the Duomo when I did, because they had uncovered these floor mosaics which only happens a few times a year. He said the pictures were classical and mythological themes with a Catholic slant, and even identified a few of them. I have to admit that that level of education is not one I currently possess! But even though I couldn't tell you what was happening in this mosaic below, I knew enough to tell that it was beautiful.
Outside, the rain had pretty much stopped, so I walked around for a little bit and bought a bottle of wine as a hostess gift for Dina and Phil. And Phil met me at the Campo just as promised. Dina, he said, had taken the kids home to chill out for a little bit.
What followed was just the best afternoon. Phil took me all over. At one point, we were on this terrace and he said "If you lean over just here, you get a fantastic view of the Duomo." I said that touring the city with him was like having my very own personal Michelin Green Guide! :)
St. Catherine lived most of her life in Siena, and I think Phil said she is not only the patron saint of Siena but of all of Tuscany. He took me to her convent and showed me her actual cell where she slept. Then we went to another church that seemed kind of out-of-the-way and unspecial, but inside was a fresco of St. Catherine painted during her lifetime, and then in a very quiet side chapel was St. Catherine's actual head. In a glass case.
I so do not want to be disrespectful, especially since my host and guide considered this a very holy thing, but staring at a 700-year-old decapitated head that still had most of its flesh is a quite strange moment. I was raised Catholic, and as I've said in the past few years I have opened myself a little bit more fully to the idea of a non-denominational, gay-friendly and pro-women's rights God. But the Catholic practice of keeping relics... skulls and bones and mummified heads... on display, I'm afraid I don't exactly get it.
But that's neither here nor there, really. Except to say that all this was amazing, and I would never have found any of it if I'd come to Siena by myself. They didn't allow photos at any of the St. Catherine sites, and normally I would have just taken one anyway, but I was with Phil and again, did not want to be disrepectful. However, thanks to the power of the internet I was able to find one for you:
But anyway. In addition to St. Catherine, we also walked all over the city, saw a Siena football match happening at the stadium, and he took me by the bus station so I could get my ticket home.
Then he took me back to their apartment, where I was able to help make dinner!! I actually love cooking, and did a ton of it when I was home this past summer. I've missed it! Dina let me make the caprese salad, and just being able to sit in a clean, normal kitchen, and talk about normal things with a family while slicing tomatoes and mozzarella cheese... I hadn't realized how much my soul had missed this! I gave them the wine I'd bought, and we sipped on that (and then a new bottle!) while snacking on crostini appetizers.
Dinner itself was green salad, the caprese salad, and spaghetti with a tomato-basil sauce. So perfect and delicious, and wonderful to sit down to a proper table again!
And then, sadly, it was time for me to say my goodbyes and wait for my bus. Phil walked me almost all the way to make sure I didn't get lost. I just could not thank this family enough for taking me under their wing for one whole rainy day, for giving me their time, for inviting me into their home. I had been feeling sort of down and over it the previous night after my less-than-amazing day in Florence, and this unexpected kindness could not have come at a better time!
Phil, Dina and family, if you happen somehow to stumble on this blog, allow me to thank you once again! You gave me one of my best days in Italy and my whole trip! And allow me also to apologize for all the cursing in the other entries. :)
That said, let's turn the Way-Back Machine to November 4, when I woke up in Florence to yet another rainy day, and had to rush like mad to get to the train station because I was... meeting friends in Siena! :)
Back when I was in Cinque Terre, I met this incredibly lovely American family who happened to be living short-term in Siena -- Phil and Dina and their four great kids. We ended up talking quite a bit, and it was kind of funny how I would run into them everywhere -- all over the hostel of course, but also in train stations, at restaurants in town for dinner... We ended up being very friendly and I said I would shoot them an email when I took my Siena day trip and maybe we could meet for coffee.
So I did, and Phil wrote me right back and suggested meeting in front of the Siena Duomo at 12:30. I was surprisingly jazzed about this. Traveling solo, even in the midst of seeing incredible things, it can really get tiring to either always be by yourself or to cycle through a series of single-service friends you will very likely never talk to again. So even though I had just met Phil and Dina and their family, the fact that I was going to see them again elevated us to something more than single-service friendship. And also, after months of hostel backpackers, of couples and solos and joined-at-the-hip traveling buddies mostly in their 20s, it felt sort of very comforting to be around a family again.
All of that is a very long lead-in to the point, which was that I found myself positively sprinting for the station, to stand in one of the longest train ticket lines ever (of course!) so I wouldn't be late for our meetup.
And even though I made my train, I still ended up being about 15 minutes late, because to my dismay Siena is a lot bigger than I thought it was! At a brisk walk/trot, in the rain, it took me little more than half an hour to get to the Duomo from the station. But Phil was waiting for me, all smiles.
Oh yes, and the Siena Duomo is amazing, even in the rain.
We met up with Dina and their kids and they took me to lunch at this cute little cafe they knew. And started talking about taking me around for an afternoon tour... and then asked if it was okay with me if we just went back to dinner at their place, rather than going out.
Wait, what??? :) An afternoon tour? A home-cooked meal at an actual house? I felt like I was dreaming. I seriously never expected anything beyond coffee! But I was not complaining. This was the most incredible news I'd heard in forever, and I was just totally floored by their incredible generosity.
Lunch was great, and they wouldn't let me pay even though of course I offered. Their kids loved this place because of the hot chocolate, which appeared to be pretty much a melted chocolate bar poured into a cup. I stuck with my salami panini and coffee. :) I need to mention how great and fun and well-behaved their four kids are! The one boy, Jamie, was particularly adorable. Back in Cinque Terre, I asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up, and he told me with great solemnity that "I want to be a football player, a basketball player, a hockey -- no, not hockey -- and a baseball player. And then when I get old I want to be a paleontologist. And then when I get really old I want to be a priest." We high-fived. I hope you make all those things happen my friend!
Over lunch, we had an excellent chill conversation, and both Dina and Phil knew so much about Siena's history and what not. Made me feel like a total slacker, the way I've just sort of been showing up in places. :) Then they suggested letting me explore for a bit, go inside the Duomo and what not, and then they'd meet me at Siena's main plaza, the Campo, in about an hour and a half. Perfect!
It was supposed to be six euro to get inside the Duomo, but for some reason tickets were free that day. Maybe because it was Sunday? Again, so totally not complaining.
The inside of Siena's Duomo beats Firenze's by a landslide, btw.
 |
| Stripes in the marble, apparently a signature of Tuscany |
 |
| The main altar |
 |
| The Campo |
St. Catherine lived most of her life in Siena, and I think Phil said she is not only the patron saint of Siena but of all of Tuscany. He took me to her convent and showed me her actual cell where she slept. Then we went to another church that seemed kind of out-of-the-way and unspecial, but inside was a fresco of St. Catherine painted during her lifetime, and then in a very quiet side chapel was St. Catherine's actual head. In a glass case.
I so do not want to be disrespectful, especially since my host and guide considered this a very holy thing, but staring at a 700-year-old decapitated head that still had most of its flesh is a quite strange moment. I was raised Catholic, and as I've said in the past few years I have opened myself a little bit more fully to the idea of a non-denominational, gay-friendly and pro-women's rights God. But the Catholic practice of keeping relics... skulls and bones and mummified heads... on display, I'm afraid I don't exactly get it.
But that's neither here nor there, really. Except to say that all this was amazing, and I would never have found any of it if I'd come to Siena by myself. They didn't allow photos at any of the St. Catherine sites, and normally I would have just taken one anyway, but I was with Phil and again, did not want to be disrepectful. However, thanks to the power of the internet I was able to find one for you:
 |
| Kind of... unsettling, am I right? |
 |
| November Tuscany |
Dinner itself was green salad, the caprese salad, and spaghetti with a tomato-basil sauce. So perfect and delicious, and wonderful to sit down to a proper table again!
And then, sadly, it was time for me to say my goodbyes and wait for my bus. Phil walked me almost all the way to make sure I didn't get lost. I just could not thank this family enough for taking me under their wing for one whole rainy day, for giving me their time, for inviting me into their home. I had been feeling sort of down and over it the previous night after my less-than-amazing day in Florence, and this unexpected kindness could not have come at a better time!
Phil, Dina and family, if you happen somehow to stumble on this blog, allow me to thank you once again! You gave me one of my best days in Italy and my whole trip! And allow me also to apologize for all the cursing in the other entries. :)
The stripey marble columns and all those heads in the Duomo make me think it's a cathedral as designed by Tim Burton
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