05/26/2009 am blog


Yesterday, 05025/2009 was a "touristy" day, we all piled into the bus at 9:30am to go to Siena! (We didn't get back home until 11:30pm, and by then, I was exhausted-but exhilerated-hence the blog coming "the morning after").

Siena is a magnificent city, and can easily be compared to two major US cities: San Francisco (physically) and New Your (Siena is the "Wall Street City" of Italy-the center of banking and commerce). I found it fascinating that the ""old" period was "before the bubonic plague" and the "new" period "after the bubonic plague (the 1400's)!

We got there at lunchtime, so food was the first order of the day. After lunch, we took a two-hour walking tour of Siena and had a tour guide-Roberta- who was a beautiful bundle of energy. She took us into the Basilica of St. Catherine, where we saw the St's relics; her head (skull) and finger. The bones had been wrapped in plaster, and the skull looked more like a mask than skull, while the finger actually looked like a fleshy finger. Of course, to preserve the relics, they are behind protective glass; and no pics allowed in the basilica.

We also went into the baptistry, where we were allowed to take pics. We saw the library of the Piccolomini- I took a "surround"-style video of the frescoes and books, can only hope I did it justice. Also learned the origin of the word "grafitti" - to etch in marble! (A far cry from the meaning today).


Along the tour, we learned the colors of Siena are black and white; the color of the bank is azuri (light blue- hence the Italian teams' penchant for wearing light blue uniforms... the Bank of Siena financees all of Italy and Italian expressions! We also learned Siena is the birthplace of the color "burnt sienna" - it is the color of burned Siennese clay.

After our tour, we reonvened at the Camp, the site of the biennial Siennese horse races. Not like the US triple crown, but, maybe more like a blend of NASCAR and the Iron Bowl. There are 17 communities (owl, dragon, caterpillar, etc), and each community draws a horse in a lottery (the horses come from the north, and are not raised in Siena). The communities then go to Saldena, where the people are physically smaller and lighter, and hire a professional jockey. The campo is too small for 17 horses to run; so another lottery is held in which 10 horses run (three horses run in both races). (Multiple "teams" is comparable to NASCAR.) One difference between horse races in Siena and US; in Siena, it's only important for the horse to cross the finish line! Roberta told us about a race in which the jockey fell off, but the horse kept running, and the riderless horse won the race! There is no "purse" per se, so why is this such a major event? BRAGGING RIGHTS! The towns whose horses win get to strut for a year...until the next race. In that sense, it is definitely like the Iron Bowl!

We had two free hours after the tour, and I hit a couple of shops I had seen. I collect cookbooks, especially from places I;ve been, and got two: Tuscany Cooking and Italian Pasta. I have truly enjoyed the food here, and want to see if I can replicate it back home. I also got some other little souvenirs. I had also been wanting to ship some wine back home, and had a wonderful experience getting some help from a "mom & pop" style wine shop. They had no customers, and when I went in, the man said he spoke English, and helped me pick out some wine and ship it back home! The Italians are so generous... they accomodate us with language, and are (for the most part) friendly!

Caught up with the profs, it was about time for dinner. We broke into small groups: Rhiannon, Brie and I ate with Dr. Christianson, Dr. Remley, Dr. Thompson, and Dr. Tyson, I had the wild boar and tomatoes with buffalo cheese; Dr. Tyson commented I should get the award for being willing to try the most unusual dishes! After a delicious and satisfying meal, it was time to get back to the bus. Thought I would sleep on the bus, but our driver turned into a rolling DJ. It was actually fun to watch these y1ounger students singing to songs that had first become popular when I was in my teens and 20's!

Ciao for now, Lynn