[Itinerary Page]The Daily Diary of a Wandering Restaurateur
October 3 - Siena
Today we went to the big city ... Siena ... only 40km (about 24 miles) from the house. Like many large cities in Central Italy, getting in and out of town is disorienting at best. The way is marked well enough until you get near the really old part of town at which point the maze of canyon-like one-way streets gets me all turned around. Smaller towns are easier because you can see the city wall and at least have some frame of reference, but here ... forget it!
The first plan was to let the GPS unit in Hap's car guide us in, but after it sent us the wrong way on a one way street, he deferred to my Mark V direction bump. My first attempt at finding parking brought us right into the city itself where the police made it clear that I was on a street that was only open to locals. (Even then it was primarily a pedestrian way). However I did manage to recover -- brilliantly, I thought -- and found a parking garage that was on the right side of town for where we wanted to go.
We wandered around Siena for several hours and just took it all in. We found a spot on the Campo (the main piazza) for the obligatory cappucino and pastries, spent an hour or so taking in the spendor of the Duomo (cathedral) and finally got back together on the Campo for pizza and people-watching. The wide awnings were a welcome shelter from an unexpected afternoon rain shower, really the first rain we encountered on this trip.
Margene and I left the group to wander around Siena while we returned to the house to relax and start packing. We will meet them all again for a going-away dinner that proved to be a lovely way to end a lovely trip.
Eating Our Way Through Tuscany
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