A Day in Siena

Thursday 14 August
This morning we were up and gone for Siena which is just under an hour away. We took some neat photos of a field of sunflowers, which are a major crop here. We wound through the narrow streets of Siena to find a carpark building and walked up the hill to the main square, Il Campo, which was being prepared for the huge horse race which is held here this Saturday. It is a pity that we will miss it, but after watching a DVD of the race in a local theatre when we arrived I am a little relieved as it looks absolute mayhem. It is a huge regional event which has strong religious links, with the horses being blessed in a church before the race.

We sat on a very narrow balcony above the track having a coffee to get a feel for the event.

We then visited the massive cathedral, Duomo, which is the most impressive that we have visited. We then went through the Museum D'Opera, which has nothing to do with opera! Te highlight was climbing the tower through very narrow spiral staircases to have a great view of the city.

After that Leigh bought a couple of leather bags, because you can never have enough bags! We found the Hertz Office to get directions to the Hertz Office at Rome airport because that's where we need to go on Saturday.

When we got back Terry and I went to the village to email and blog etc. Unfortunately, Terry was not able to connect which was a bummer. I was able to update my blog and also read neat emails from Robyn, Jacquie and Alison. It's great to have these little moments of contact. I have been getting updates from Charlotte as well.

We returned for a swim and chatted with a doctor from Edinborough, but he didn't know Kerr Wright! We then sat on our verndah tasting nice wines (Camporignano, Cabernet/Merlot, 2005 and a cheap Rose with ice cubes (Cipressto 2007) before dining on bread, cheese, tomatoes, salami and ham for tea.

It has been frustrating to not have news of NZ's Olympic efforts, but I check the Herald on my phone most days.

Time for bed as plan to go to beach tomorrow.