We are off to meet Greg and Leslie in Siena today.  We need to catch a train at 8:08 and have a 15 minute walk.  So it is an early morning for us.  An alarm at 6am in order to get everyone caffeinated 😉  The streets of Florence are very quiet this morning.  The Ponte Vecchio is empty, no annoying tourists jamming up the roadways.  Hahaha.

We find our train and next thing we know we are in the ancient walled city of Siena.  An interesting feature of this city is the system of escalators and moving walkways from the train station to the upper streets of this hill town. There is an interesting sculpture near the train station

Siena was a financial rival to Florence until 1290’s.  The Medici’s took control of the financial empire of Tuscany and Italy.

There are 17 areas or neighbourhoods of Siena.  They each have their own flags and colours.  They even have colour coordinated street lights unique to their neighbourhood.  From what we hear and see they are very competitive with each other.  Twice a year they hold the Palio which is a crazy horse race around the square they call the Campo.  Each neighbourhood has a rider.  We were able to watch some video and it is very intense.

The architecture here is amazing.  Everything is soooo old.  I find it so fascinating.

Here is The Campo.  This is the spot that they do the horse racing.  They seem to cover the stone walkways with dirt in order to allow the horses to run.  It must be quite a job to get the surface stable enough for horses to run somewhat safely.

We find ourselves in front of the cathedral.  It is very ornate.  One to rival the one in Florence.  As we are gazing at the magnificence of the cathedral, we look to the left and see a series of arches with “Opa” written on each one.  We are stunned!!  Opa is here with us!!  Trying to find  out the significance of Opa.  From what we can translate from the signs, it has something to do with opera.

The doors are decorated with many different things. Just a sample of some of the more interesting ones.  Also a building with a plaque that says it was built in 1691!! I am trying to find out what these rings are along the buildings.  Sometimes they are at a height where they could be used to tether horses, but sometimes they are very high up, so unless you were a giant, and I mean a real GIANT you would not be able to tie your horse to it. 😊

As Sienna is getting pretty busy.  We find a little bar for some bevis.  We enjoy a drink called Hugo.  It is generally made with sambuco, mint, lime juice and soda.  This place has a version that uses basil instead of mint.  Lindsey orders the basil while I order the mint.  Very very nice.  We enjoy this and order another round.  As the bartender is basically a chemist, so the drinks do take a while.  By the time we get our second drinks it is almost 7pm.  Lindsey and I have booked the train back to Florence at 8:18.  Woo we better get a move on. 

We drink up and head off.  We plan to stop at Greg and Leslie’s place for a peak at their view and a potty break.  We then head off at a quick pace to the train station.  As we were so intent on our pace, we missed our turn.  Greg asks a shopkeeper who tells us we are way off course.  We make a uturn.  My cell phone is only at 20%, but I turn on google maps.  It tells me that we will make the train station at 8:24. Hopefully the train is late!!  We are almost running.  Greg and Lindsey with their long legs are way ahead of Leslie and I.  We get to the top of the town and the escalator series.  We are passing people as we go.  Rush rush rush.  We rush into the station.  There is no train ☹  We have missed it!   There is one more train though, whew!!  So we now have just over an hour until the LAST TRAIN TO FLORENCE.  Off to the mall across the road to see if I can buy a plug for my USB cable so that I can charge my phone.  Our train tickets are on my phone, so I need some power if we get a ticket check, which is very rare in our experience on Italian trains.  The stores that are open, do not have what I need.  Booooo.  We also need food.  Head to the food courtish area.  Woo hoo the Poke bowl place has USB plugs!!!  I sit and plug in, so we need to try Italian Poke bowls.  I have never had an non Italian Poke bowl, so I have no point of comparison. 

We head back to the train station, leaving plenty of time for the train.  As this is the last train, it is smaller, only 2 cars.  It has also had it’s better days behind it.  We are happy we are on and as the train begins to move, we see a young woman loaded with bags make her way to the platform.  We lock eyes with her, the train is moving, she can’t get on.  We do the universal sign of OH NO!!!  She shrugs and waves goodbye to us.

The passengers on the train are a bit sketchy at this time of night.  We do however make it to Florence unmolested.  YEAH.  We have already walked over 20,000 steps today and some of it double time!!  We catch a cab outside the train station.  This is another wild ride.  He is whipping around the narrow Florentine streets.  Finds a street he wants is closed.  He grumbles and whips around the more.  Does manage to get us home in one piece.  Phew, time for some wine!

As Lindsey’s phone now connects to the wifi in our place, she says “On No, Your flight has been cancelled!!”  Oh crap, Air Dolimiti has cancelled her flight from Florence to Frankfurt on Sunday.  They said they would let her know soon what will happen.  No further email.  She clicks the link to “Manage Booking” button and discovers that they have rebooked her for Tuesday!!  No help from anyone.  Call Luftansa, call Condor, call Dolimiti.  Around and around the circle.  The wine continues.  Phone calls, emails, online chats…  

Lindsey’s memory of our trek to the train station is “of her running through the streets of Siena. Jumping over dogs.” Reminds me of the old OJ Simpson Hertz add running through the stations jumping over luggage. Only, the oldies may remember this, the days before the fall of the Juice!!

Then another email arrives.  It is informing Lindsey that she has been accepting into a Library program that she has applied for.  The HIGH!!  Today we are UP, DOWN, UP, DOWN, UP.  We are spinning.  So, the plan.  Lindsey and I will go back to meet Greg and Leslie in Tuscany tomorrow.  This was the original plan, but timing just did not work out.  It is 2:30, we drank all of the wind, we need sleep.  Good night!!

OMG a Day for the record and memory books for SURE!!