Siena- Thursday, February 11th 2010
We woke up today around 10:00 and headed to the train station to catch a train to Siena, Italy around 11:00. I got McDonalds for lunch at the train station with Jackie, Melanie, Tommy, and Justin. The train ride was a little less than 2 hours- and it was raining when we got their. We hiked to the Piazza del Campo- which is the biggest piazza ive ever seen (yes, its even bigger than the piazza outside the student center in Kent). We didn’t go to the bell tower because it was somewhere around 12 euros- but we did go to the Duomo (The Siena Cathedral) which was pretty cool. The inside seemed similar to Santa Croce- many capels lined the perimter of the aisles and tombs were located across the nave and apse of the church. The altar was pretty cool, as well as the statues and Doric columns that extended to the coffered dome and vaulted ceilings above. Out of all the cathedrals ive seen in Europe, this one ranks as one of the best. I was looking forward to seeing the Heaven and Hell painting by Giotto which used to be located above the altar- but apparently they removed it and put it in a museum somewhere- so disappointing!
When we left the duomo it was snowing- first time I saw snow in 5 weeks! The walk back was miserable- and the group separated into Jackie and I- we made the 5:18 train back to Florence. I thought Siena was a cool city- the architecture was mostly masonry compared to Florence which is mostly stone and brick roofing. The streets aren’t as dense- and Florence is known for is large overhangs and narrow streets. Siena still has its thick fortified walls that contain the dense city itself- where the cathedral and the piazza is located. I guess I would’ve enjoyed the city a lot more if the weather wasn’t so bad.
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