Scenic Siena. . . .

We slept in late on Tuesday (if you can call 8 am late) and had a leisurely breakfast at the hotel. Most of the hotel breakfasts in our previous trips were instant coffee and a packaged sweet roll. This trip we have been surprised to find milk, cereal, a variety of breads, jams, yogurts and coffee options including fresh made cappuccino. This breakfast was no different, and was a great way to start the day.

After breakfast we hit the road, looking for a leisurely walk to see what the town was all about. Siena is built on a hill, so even with a slower pace, it still involves a lot of uphills and downhills. We tried to find the soft slopes versus the stairs, as you can find some steep staircases here.

We did find a shop that specializes in kids toys, which was a fun one. There are so many things we would have liked to buy, but with limited space to pack it home, you really have to think carefully about what you want to cart around for 8 more days. Tim found a toy lance made of soft padding that he thought would be fun for Zander, and Diana found some things for the grandkids. The shop itself was fun to explore, as the Italians have very different toys than we do in the states. Not many things with lights and batteries, which I guess is a blessing and a curse depending on the child you have. :)

After the toy store we continued walking around town, this time in the direction of one of the old entrances to the city walls called Porta Romana. Seeing something so old, that has gone through different uses was fun. Diana and Michelle kept asking each other questions like "I wonder what that door was used for" and "Why did they have the holes all the way around". Maybe we should have been history majors, because questions like that fascinate us.

From the Porte we walked back to the main square of town and found the restaurant we ate at the night before. We continued to try different dishes, and after looking, we noticedthat we had tried almost everything on the menu. Michelle had a spaghetti with a boar shank sauce, Tim had a spicy pici pasta dish, Diana had the lasagna special again and Ed had the mushroom and spinach ravioli. They were all delicious, and it was soon determined that the ravioli and lasagna were the favorites of the group.

After lunch Ed and Diana went up to their room to rest, and Tim and Michelle went to visit a small bazar that was set up in a little square. Tim bought some sunglasses (to replace an earlier pair he left in Florence somewhere) and he shared a gelato with Michelle. They window shopped down a few streets and found a little ceramics store. It is a tradition now that they buy a tea cup from a town on each of their European vacations. Once inside, they saw the shop was staffed by an adorable little old Italian woman. With her limited English, our limited Italian, and a lot of hand gestures we managed a good conversation, all about the china, our families and our travel plans. Her name was Franca, and she even allowed us to take a picture with her.

After our visit to the china shop, we went on a hunt to find the meat and cheese shop we had seen on our first trip to Siena with Brandon (our nephew) and Duane (Tim's brother). We had a vague idea where it was, but were not too sure. After a bit of searching, we did manage to locate it. Though the same gentleman (the owner) who waited on us last time was not at the shop that day, we had a great experience with the man behind the counter. The last time we were there we had bought some hard cheese to take home. They wrapped it in paper and we were on our way. The only problem was, it was a stinky cheese, so it made all of our clothes smell! This time when we bought cheese, they made sure to shrink wrap it, so we won't be smelly for the rest of this trip! To which everyone around us applauds with joy. :)
When we returned to the hotel a few hours later, Ed and Diana were waiting in the hotel lobby. They were ready to go out on the town again, so we dropped our bags and made our way to visit the Duomo. On the way Tim and Diana went into the meat and cheese shop and Diana bought some cheese too. By the time they were finished, it was getting late, so we opted to do dinner and make it an early night.

Dinner was at the Ristorante Le Campane. This was a fancier place than we had been to the night before, and finding something on the menu was a little tricky. They had an English menu, but their foods were a little exotic for our tastes. Tim and Diana had the risotto, Michelle had something called pasta with Angelfish (she almost doesn't want to know what an Angelfish is, as it looked like a sardine) and Ed had the sea bass. We all thought the meal was just . . . ok.

After dinner we took the short walk to El Campo, the big open square in the heart of Siena and sat under the stars. We ate some of the cheese that Diana had bought and some of the meats from Tim and Michelle. We sauntered back to the hotel and said goodnight. Michelle and Tim spent a bit of time researching trains for the next days trip to Venice, and Michelle had a chance to skype with Susanne and see Zander. While talking with Susanne, she had the camera trained on Zander so that she could see him. And as she was watching, he got up on all fours, rocked himself back and forth and then took his first two crawling motions forward! He has always worked himself backwards in a slow belly scoot, never on his knees and never forward. She was glad to get to see that moment, even if it was from halfway around the world. Isn't technology great! We are sure that he will be off and running by the time we finally get home. :)

Well, that's all for today. Tomorrow we make our way to Venice, so pray for safe travels!