We arrived at the train station in Siena without a map. That meant we got to ask people how to get into town, then how to get to our hotel. We met two nice Italian girls who are studying there and they led us to our hotel and gave us some suggestions of good places to eat.
When we arrived at the hotel, there was no one at the desk. We had to find the phone number and call them to come check us in. The room was big and clean, but seemed like a hospital room as it was very white and felt really empty.
We went out to explore the town and discovered that the Piazza del Campo (huge town square) was about 30 seconds from our hotel! Jessie tried to get some cash from an ATM machine, but it wouldn't give her have any...so we tried some more machines, with no luck. So we decided to get some cheap food at the grocery store (day-old bread, tomato sauce, and fresh mozzarella). Unfortunately the bread was rock hard and the tomato sauce didn't have any seasonings. Bummer. So we were forced to cheer ourselves up with some gelato.....and then we watched the French movie, "La Doublure" ("The Valet").
The second day we were there, we were still unable to get any money from the ATM machines with any of our cards! By that point, we were getting really hungry as we had been eating the wheat crackers (leftover from Venice) and a few carrots... We skipped breakfast and walked around until lunchtime, looking for a cheap restaurant to get a pasta lunch. We found a nice one and Jessie and I got spaghetti, Maria had gnocchi. They gave us free bread...which we polished off...then some more free bread...which we finished as well. In addition, we ate the entire bowl of parmesan (which was meant for sprinkling on the pasta...). Luckily Jessie's debit card worked to pay for our lunch.
That afternoon was really hot, so we lied in Il Campo and read/napped/suntanned. Then ate some gelato. For dinner we ate some more wheat crackers and Jessie and Maria demanded we finish off the little bit of nutella we had left. Jessie licked the jar clean. ;)
On the 8th, the ATM miraculously worked!! We celebrated by buying some pastries for breakfast, followed by yogurt, followed by pizza. We explored some shops in town and Maria bought some amazing hand-dipped candles for her family.
After lunch we went off exploring and found a huge park/garden with goats and a donkey! Then we walked a long way down a road, searching for a way to get out of town and into the countryside...however, the road kept going on and on, without getting us out of the city. After nearly getting run over several times (the road had no shoulders), we turned around and walked back.
In town we happened to run into a group of girls from our school who were there on a day trip!
The line for the bell tower was finally short, so we decided to climb the tower. The staircase is really tiny and it goes up and up and up! But the view from the top is magnificent--Tuscany is just gorgeous!
That night we went out to dinner. Unfortunately the restaurant gave ridiculously small portions! Jessie ordered ravioli and was served 3 ravioli. So we had to get slices of pizza for a second course... and then some gelato..... After sitting in the piazza for a while, we returned to our room and watched "10 Things I Hate About You."
The next day we went to the Duomo before catching the train to Florence!
-Natalie
Photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2008561&id=1451010052&l=4379dd8e25
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