Pisa and Sienna

It's catch up time yet again.

Pisa - Friday, July 17

My first sight of the leaning tower was a jaw-dropper. It really was amazing to see it looming in front of us as we crossed the street. As we actually climbed the tower, you could feel the lean as we wound around from one side to the other. The steps were worn where the lean naturally forced you to go (on the right or left of the stairway).

The Cathedral was huge and beautiful. It really was supposed to be the focal point of the square but has been minimized by the fame of the leaning tower. The baptistry was also leaning quite a bit. Pisa was a quick one day stop, but I am so glad we went. It is such a symbol of Italy.

Jen has written a bit on this crazy day. The part she left out was that by the time our secondary train got us to our train change, we didn't have a six minute connection. Instead we made a run for it and got there as our connection to Sienna was pulling away. After much yelling and running alongside the train, on my part, they stopped the train for us and let us on. We made it to Sienna and our hostel with enough time to walk to our hostel from the train station (about 30 minutes) and get in before curfew. (Our curfew was midnight and we got there a little after 11 p.m. Thanks God!)

Sienna - Saturday and Sunday, July 14-15

Sienna was a lovely break for us. Luckily we were both fairly tired and spent quite a bit of time reading, catching up on sleep, and just wandering. It was like a lovely weekend break. The city's rooftops were fun to see. The main square, Il Campo, was really more like a huge amphitheater with the stones angling down. It was pretty alive and crowded at night.

We went to see the famous Duomo which was another great church. Another church we saw was San Dominica. It was dedicated to St. Catherine, who I think was the patron saint of Europe for her work in bring the papacy back to Rome after it had been in Avignon, France.

One of the funniest things about Sienna were the noises. The bells would constantly ring, which has generally been one of our favorite Europe sounds. However, there was this one bell that seemed to sporadically ring like just anyone could go by and crazily ring it at will. Then there were the drums. We finally figured out that there was a courtyard near our hostel where they were practicing this snare playing - flag throwing thing. It was really loud. Then there was the men's chorus. It sounded like a concert, but it seemed to be piped through speakers through town on the corners of the street. Basically this lasted from about 5-9 each night. Then there was our weird sink that would gurgle loudly and randomly all night long. So much for peace and quiet!

-Stacy