Siena

We wasted no time--I got into Italy at 12:30 PM Thursday and had one day to unpack-get my jet lag under control (8 hour time difference) and pack for a 3 day trip. We started in Sienna a town with a medieval feel. If any of you have seen the James Bond movie Quantum of Solace the scene of the plaza of spectators with the horse race around them was shot at this plaza in Sienna. This tradition is held twice a year--can you say claustrophobia.  It also rained- a lot and come to find out from the local newspaper the old record for March rain has held since 1784 until March 2013--Yay I was here for that! 

Il Campo

By the way I need to mention one of my favorite songs "I Would Walk 500 Miles"  I've only been here a little over a week and am sure that I have walked 500 miles.  We visited the Duomo of Siena another great tourist attraction and so beautiful.

                                    

In this town somewhere (and I can't recall where) there was an opportunity to climb 500 stairs to have a great view of everywhere--I'm NOT kidding.  I got to the top and appreciated the great view and wanted to find a bed and wake up tomorrow to begin my trek down the 500 steps...not to mention the 500 miles we were going to have to walk to where we left our car.  I'm seeing a trend here.

Jeff is  quite the planner and has a great ability to find the right places to site see and the right places to rest our bones.  He found a quaint little villa in the countryside (about 10 miles outside of Florence).

We are rested, washed and fed and ready to walk another 500 miles--I'm not kidding.  Florence was our next stop--Holy cow--I am still in awe and trying to wrap my brain around the spectacularness.  

Some of my impressions of Italy:

-It's beautiful--everywhere you turn it is a picture moment

-They don't have carpet in their homes--floors are tile, marble or wood with area rugs--I hate carpet so this really appeals to me.

-There are mostly teeny cars and they drive crazy on very narrow roads.  I could drive the freeways and would never attempt the city.

- Showers seem to be the norm and they are sooo teeny.  I'm trying to figure out how to get soap on my loofa to clean my body without it getting rinsed off first.

-When the sun is out and 60 degrees the Italians are still bundled up in their puffy down jackets or coats and boots

-The cities don't smell very good to me--I don't know if it's because there are a lot of smokers and I'm 

smelling 2nd hand smoke--not sure.

-People are pretty friendly and we have an extra attention getting device everywhere we go and that's Noah.  I don't ever see very many kids and people just love him

-Gas is a lot more expensive than I thought and food isn't as expensive as I thought.

-This list will grow and I will post Tuscany part 2 later.