Siena

Friday morning started with a 6:45am wake up call. We hopped on a bus and left for our school-sponsored trip to Siena at 8am, and I'm pretty sure none of us were really prepared for. It's been about 30 degrees here in Florence for the past week or so, so we knew it would be cold, but when we finally arrived in Siena we were very surprised to see a 6 inch layer of snow on the ground.

Sun rising over the Duomo

Siena in the Snow

Hills and arches and snow

Siena was beautiful but unfortunately I think I'm going to remember very little about the trip except for how cold I was. I even had to do research afterwards to see what landmarks we actually visited because, at the time, each place was just a warm building to run into from the cold. So, here are some brief highlights from the trip:

First, we visited the Basilica of San Domenico which currently houses the mummified head and thumb of Saint Catherine. After walking by Saint Catherine's house we visited Siena's own Duomo cathedral which I think may be the slightest bit cooler than the Duomo here in Florence. Inside there was the Piccolomini library which was painted with some of the most vivid and completely unrestored frescoes I've seen.

Front of the Cathedral

Inside the Duomo

Colorful frescoes

Next we visited the Museo dell'Opera Duomo which was the warmest building by far and provided plenty of opportunities to sit down. Also inside was Duccio's Maesta which I thought was  kind of exciting to see, since it's something I'd previously studied in my Art History class. There were also tons of the original sculptures from inside the Duomo which had decayed somewhat before being replaced by replicas.

The last stop on our tour was the Palazzo Pubblica, the town's main political building, and the main Piazza del Campo. Finally a large group of us went to lunch, which was probably the highlight of my day. I had some delicious spinach and ricotta ravioli but most importantly I made quite a few new friends. :]

 

 

Palazzo Pubblica

Even though it was extremely cold I really enjoyed our excursion to Siena because it gave me opportunities to see things I wouldn't have thought to visit before and also make friends with people I might not otherwise have gotten to know.

The rest of the weekend was used for hibernating. I found out that my grandmother is in the hospital so I didn't feel like doing much, but I did manage to book a trip to Venice next weekend with my roommates and a trip to the French Riviera in March with my new friends. Meeting new people and making travel plans has helped me feel a little more comfortable here, I think, but I do still miss home. Tonight a bunch of us are going to a Super Bowl party, it's just too bad none of the bars around here are airing the Puppy Bowl.