D172 -- Siena and St. Catherine

Everybody just raves about Siena, so we had to check it out. Once there, our first stop was San Domenico, a church where they keep the relics of St. Catherine. She was a girl from Siena who decided to devote her life to Christ at the age of 8. According to a book in the gift shop, she had several religious ecstasies, could detect people's sins, and subsisted only on holy communion for the last few years of her life. So what are her relics, you ask? For those unfamiliar with the term, it usually refers to items related to holy persons and events – e.g. the chains used to bind St. Peter. Well, when St. Catherine died at 33 her body was decapitated and various parts were shipped to different churches to help inspire faith. This church houses her head and one of her thumbs. I thought the head was in remarkable shape, but then again I don't really know what 700 year-old heads are supposed to look like.

Itching for Internet time, we sent Patty and Dan to the Duomo and set off to check e-mail. After we met up we ate at a family-run place just a few steps from the main piazza. The son took our drink orders, the daughter served us drinks, and the dad took our food orders. There was no menu – he just asked us what we were in the mood for, rattled off a few options, and then kind of decided for us. It was fun to put ourselves in his hands, and the food did not disappoint!



Dan, Thomas, and I worked off all that food by climbing up the bell tower in the Piazza del Campo (pictured above). It was a little too dank and musty for Patty's tastes so she waited at the bottom. The three of us soaked in the vistas and by the time we climbed back down we'd made enough room in our stomachs for gelatto. Mmmm... gelatto. Siena was very pretty, but didn't really live up to all the hype for me. Too many big buses and trucks trying to navigate the narrow, tourist-filled streets.

Back at the villa...

we engaged in our nightly ritual of dinner and cards, and then got ready for Patty's & Dan's last day in Tuscany.

-Elva