SIENA!

Siena is a wonderful little tuscan HILL town.  What wasn't so wonderful was the 8:30 meeting time which meant that I had to wake up bright and early at 7:12.  For those of you who don't know how weird I am yet, I do not wake up on 0's of 5's because I feel like that starts your day off too structured.  So, at 7:15 in the freezing cold of my apartment (since the heat broke AGAIN) I very slowly rolled out of bed so I could explore this little town.

After a quick trip to Mama's Bakery, which is an American run bakery that is delish (the man is from San Francisco- aka my favorite place in the whole US of A) we ran to the Palazzo Republica to get on the bus. When we got to Siena, it was foggy and much colder than Florence.  Luckily, I was wearing my BRIGHT  coat which helps me stand out from the hoards of black coat wearing Europeans to keep me nice and toasty.

First on the agenda was a museum that housed all the original marble statues from the Cattedrale de Santa Maria Assunta.  Since the marble used was soft, it was easily deteriorated by the elements.  Despite the no picture sign, we were all taking pictures (with the flash off of course).  Hey- I have to be somewhat rebellious!
Most of the statues were made by Pissano in the late 1200's.  Just think to yourself for a moment how long ago that was and how he chiseled it from a huge hunk of marble BY HAND!
.....
Crazy, isn't it?

This gorgeous Mary and Baby Jesus is by Donatello. It also was carved by hand in 1457.

The church we went to was the Cattedrale de Santa Maria Assunta. It was PINK!!! Which gives it bonus points in my book.

 

Yay for pink, gorgeous churches! 

The inside was characteristic of Byzantine churches at that time because of the stripped marble.  There was also really pretty fresco's inside and in the library. The church was built in the 1200's and the fresco's were painted shortly thereafter.

 This is the ceiling of the library.

This church is the only one in the WORLD with inlaid marble floors seen in this here picture.

We also went to the baptistry. Way back when, you were not allowed in a church unless you were baptized so it is very common to have a baptistry located right next to a church.  The tall white thing towards the right of the picture is the top of the baptismal font.  Once again, the ceilings and walls were covered in frescos.





After lunch (I think I will have to do a post all about food soon) we walked around the hilly city.  The piazza is home to a famous horse race that is held twice a summer.  They race around the outside of the piazza and it is supposed to be very exciting.

So enjoy the pictures of beautiful Siena.

 Oh, and incase you wanted to know (not that you do or probably did) I just had to wash my hair in the sink since our hot water has been broken for the ENTIRE weekend. I heated up some water on the stove and then burnt my head.  I am going to take some advil because it really hurts and go to sleep.  Enjoy your nights- end of my pity party.