Well, as I have mentioned before…Siena is a walled city. That means that nature is kind of hard to come by. But, there are two pretty beautiful parks that Stephanie and I were introduced to today. Our friend Antonio showed us both of them. From one there is a beautiful view of Siena and of the surrounding Tuscan countryside and in the other there are lots of different animals.
The first park is a little walk away from our apartment. It has a little path running through and is quite small, but the views are spectacular.
Tuscany
The view outside the walls was a nice break from our everyday experiences inside the walls of the city. Notice the sky in the background, too. It is a beautiful day today. We are very lucky, as it is going to rain all next week.
Beautiful Siena
We really do live in the city on the hill. I liked this view a lot because it made it so apparent how secluded Siena is. It’s a nice little home.
Then we ventured over to another park which has lots of little wildlife…cats, rabbits, chickens, ducks, geese, goats and a lonely but very cute donkey.
Campo from the Garden
This is a cool view of the Campo in Siena, which is usually seen from the Piazza below it, looking up.
Cute cat
I miss cats! When Stephanie and I are lonely here we both sit and talk about how we want a cat to live with us. I wouldn’t have touched this cat, as it probably would’ve scratched me…but I will continue with my delusion of this cat coming to live with me.
Goats, Chickens and Ducks, oh my!
Above is a little tiny area with two goats (I think that’s what they were), numerous chickens, some ducks and geese…I don’t think they really know what to do with all the animals so they just put them all in one place. They seemed to be coexisting quite well, though. It doesn’t look like much, but this is as close to a nature preserve as it gets in Siena.
To the left of this cage was a very cute, and very dirty, donkey. I named him Frank. He was really sweet, but he really wanted me to have food…and I didn’t. I vowed to him that I would bring a whole bag of carrots next time.
He wanted a carrot
So, then we decided to venture back home and we got a great surprise on the way out! There were a bunch of little bunnies hopping around in the trees. They were kind of hard to capture with a camera, but I did my best.
Peter Rabbit
Anyway, that was my day of exploring…it’s amazing the things you discover when you are avoiding studying for finals.
On Monday (tomorrow) we are taking a class trip to hot springs and I am really looking forward to that. After that, on Wednesday and Thursday, we have written finals and oral finals…so, we’ll see how that goes. Should be an interesting week. I think I’ll end it with less hair than I started with.
Hope all is well!
