We made the choice to skip the Accademia and Michelangelo's
David in favor of taking the hour-long bus trip to Siena. I don't regret it one bit, because I really enjoyed Siena (despite the withering heat). The city centers around by Il Campo, the great square dominated by the medieval city hall with its notable tower.
First thing we did was walk past the square and down a little further to the Duomo (not to be confused with a church of the same name in Firenze). It has a similar style, but has unique horizontal stripes of green marble, kind of like a zebra effect. Once again we were disappointed to see the actual dome itself covered in--you guessed it--scaffolding and protective sheeting. The rest of the exterior and interior is stunning, though. The vaults are painted blue with gold stars, and several scenes are carved into the marble floor along the sides of the nave. One of the rose windows is missing, having been moved recently to the adjacent Duomo Museum. Make sure not to miss the library, hidden through a tiny door on the left of the nave. Several illuminated texts are displayed under a wonderfully elaborate vaulted ceiling.
After a quick lunch of tasty sandwiches and a cold Fanta, I convinced Leanna to try scaling the tall tower on the main city building at Il Campo. It's called La Torre Mangina and it takes an enervating climb of 400 steps to get to the bell tower on top. It wasn't as bad as I feared, and they only let 25 people up there at a time. The breeze was surprisingly refreshing that high up. We got some great shots of the old city wall, the town, and the fields of Tuscany outside of town. I recommend the climb if you can manage it. There is a spigot at the bottom of the climb with much needed cold water.
We just got back an hour or so ago. The ride home was among the more harrowing bus rides I've ever had--the bus company saw fit to put a rookie driver at the controls (with an experienced driver showing him the ropes, I admit). This kid almost parked the bus in the trunk of several Fiats at highway speed along the way, careened around some of the tight curves of the motorway without heeding the signs warning him to SLOW DOWN, and struggled throughout to keep the bus in a specific lane. Leanna of course zonked out, and I envied her, because I sat there white-knuckled entertaining visions of the bus plunging off a curve and somersaulting down the hills. And that was
before we got to busy Firenze with its roundabouts, maniacal motorcyclists, illegally parked vehicles, and cramped streets. Oh well, we survived.
