Day trip to Siena

This morning we had a leisurely breakfast at our apartment and headed out for our bus ride to Siena. We arrived at the bus station about 2 minutes before the Rapido to Siena was leaving, so Judy managed to coerce the bus driver to wait for us to buy our tickets before he left. The sky was in between sunny & threatening to rain on the way over, but about 10 minutes into the ride, the sun broke out and allowed us to see the colorful Tuscan countryside on the way to Siena. The ride was pretty smooth, except for one point where the traffic slowed because a truck that was delivering empty wine bottles spilled some of his load out his back door onto the autostrada.

We caught the 10:20 am bus to Siena and the ride was about an hour and a half, so one of the first things we had to do when we got there was to figure out what to do about lunch. Duh!!! On the walk down from the bus station to the city center, we passed an incredible food shop that had everything typically Italian in it. We went in and got some prosciutto, mozzarella, bread, water & biscotti for lunch all for 3.5 Euros! We took that with us down to the main square, Il Campo where the Palio is held, and had a picnic lunch.

After lunch we explored around the town and eventually worked our way up to the amazing Cathedral complex that Siena has. This stop was worth the trip alone just to see the Cattredale facade and its inside along with the unbelievable panoramic view from the top of the Panorama dal Facciatone. Sweeping views of not only the town of Siena, but all of the Tuscan countryside with its rolling hills and vineyards as far as the eye can see. Truly worth the visit!

Upon our return to Florence, we did make a brief stop to take a picture in front of the church of Santa Maria Novella. Most people associate that name with Florence's train station, but the adjacent church has a very nice facade. We took this picture because I seem to remember my Mom telling me that this church was her favorite. I don't remember why, but it might have something to do with her childhood as she lived in Florence until she was 14 years old. Too bad my mother doesn't have any use for a computer......if she did she could see this picture.

We are going to hit the sack early tonight as we have an all day wine tour scheduled for tomorrow to Montepulciano. We are both looking forward to that. We are hoping that the weather will cooperate, which it appears to be happening judging by the clearing we saw later in the day today.