Victories and Losses

Well, Siena continues to amaze me. The beauty that constantly surrounds me is amazing and exciting. Lately I have been trying to get lost in the city so I can discover the beauty hidden inside these ancient walls. And my efforts were quite successful until I got sick at the end of last week. More on that later.

Hidden view of the city

I feel very lucky to be able to see such beauty every day and I am trying not to take it for granted. I do find myself forgetting, during my day to day routine, that I am in an amazing place, so I am trying my best to remind myself with pictures like this. My favorite part of the above picture is, if you look very close, you can see the Italian flag in the very center.

And, il Campo (the city center) is beautiful from all angles. I have seen the square often from inside, looking up at the famous tower, but was excited to get some views of the area from above all the madness.

Siena from above

I don’t often get to see the surrounding Tuscan hills because of the large walls that surround Siena, but this picture captures both beauties wonderfully. I hope all the pictures are good for you guys, because they seem to say so much more than I can describe in words.

Back to the walls that surround Siena: I love looking up at them (from inside or outside the walls), because they make me feel like I am in a different time. And while I am sure they did a great job of keeping intruders out long ago, they never make me feel trapped.

Siena walls from the outside

I was worried about feeling a little smothered, but I am really just in love with the way this city looks, operates, etc. It is certainly a small town, but I feel very comfortable with this reality…it makes me feel safe.

I haven’t taken many more trips yet, but we have had a fair amount of fun here in Siena. Recently we went to a contrada party (for Istriche, the neighborhood which won the famous horse race [Palio] here in Siena this summer) and had a lot of fun.

The group at the contrada party

Free wine, free music, free stage shows…it was really fun. Plus, the party was held in a park right by our house so it was easy to get there and back without losing anyone. It was fun to celebrate this win with the contrada because we are all starting to feel like part of the Senese culture.

I also visited the famous Siena Duomo recently, which I have seen before but which was still very beautiful. My good friend Liz took some photos for me, so I must thank her for contributing to this little blog adventure. I FINALLY found a battery charger here in Italy, but it took much longer to find and was far more expensive than I thought it would be. Anyway, all this to say that I have been relying on the cameras of others for a couple weeks which is why there have been no posts.

Duomo door and me

We didn’t go into the Duomo, because we do that later as a group, but it was a beautiful day to see the fabulous church and so we felt fulfilled just admiring its beauty from the outside.

Shortly after this trip to the Duomo, everyone started getting sick. I actually didn’t get sick when the rest of my floor did, so I was able to take care of everyone. At least one of us was well. But, shortly after everyone started feeling better, I got a completely different sickness altogether. I had a minor sinus infection, and last week was absolutely miserable. Luckily I have a good friend here who got me some medicine (with direction from his doctor dad) and so today I am feeling much much better. It is Friday, and everyone is at Oktoberfest but I am enjoying my time alone here in Siena. It’s nice to have some peace and quiet…so I can fully recover from this sickness.

Next weekend I believe we are going to Naples (to eat the “Best Pizza in the World” mentioned in Eat, Pray, Love) and I will definitely report on that. The weekend after that we are going to the chocolate festival in Perugia, so I will have many adventures in the near future.

Thanks for reading! More exciting news next week!