From Siena, through Pisa, and into Venice

Siena: The Breakfast Dilemma; What would you do?

This was just silly, and may not come through very well here in a blog. But I'll try. But first I have to wrap up our last few hours in Florence, and our trip into Siena to set the stage...

Yesterday, our final morning in Florence, we used our time to do a huge load of laundry. We couldn't quite figure out the laundry token dispensing machine, but had no problem with the detergent dispenser once we had the correct change. A woman who obviously does laundry there quite often took the liberty of changing our 5 EUR note into two tokens, even though what we really wanted to do was to get one token, and 2.50 EUR in change to use in the detergent dispensing machine. In a bit of a huff, and still needing change, we packed up our dirty laundry bag and went to a cafe/bar next door to get a little something to eat and drink, and some change. (Tangent - another thing about Florence we aren't real crazy about is the fact that the cafes are mostly stand-up only, and if they have seating, they charge you more to eat there for the same item, than if you were to eat it standing...just not conducive for getting cozy and relaxed) The woman who changed our money for tokens came into the same cafe, obviously a regular, and gave Vee a disgusted glance, and totally ignored me. Hehehehe. It was just kinda funny, not a big deal, but worth noting for it's comedic element. Anyway, with change in hand, we went back to the laundromat, loaded up the washer, and had a nice talk while we watched our clothes spin around. Another couple came into the laundromat, not Italian-speakers, but with good enough English to ask us how to use the token and detergent dispensing machines, and how to operate the washer and dryer. We got to talking, and they turned out to be a real sweet couple from Chile, so once the most common language was revealed, Spanish, we got into a really nice talk with them, their names being Julio and Veronica. Julio actually reminded us both of Vee's dad, in so many ways, his build, his facial expressions, his manner of speaking, his hand gestures, his intelligence and his obvious goodness. We learned that they had 6 children, two of which live in the States, and 2 grandchildren. Julio, retired now, wants to start a business in Chile that finances small businesses for indiginous people so as to build up their communities in a grass roots kind of way. Oh, how we wish he and Vee's father could meet since he had done exactly that as an experimental government project for Bolivia in the past!!! We talked about our mutual travels, and our favorite mutual places, like Cascais Portugal, and they told us about some nice places we should visit in Chile when we are down in S.A. later this year. We took some pictures for them standing in front of the washing machines since they thought no one back home would ever believe that Julio would actually be doing his own laundry in a public laundromat of all places! They were fantastic, and we said our goodbyes and gave them our email address and website domain name in case they wanted to check on our travels and try to stay in touch.

With our clothes all clean and neatly folded, we stuffed them into a bag, and hauled them back over to the hotel where we transferred them into our packs, exchanged smiling goodbyes with the hotelier, and made our way to the train station. After standing in the reservations line for only a few moments, the ticketing agent told us we didn't even need reservations and that a train bound for Siena was leaving in 10 minutes. We ran to the platform, and jumped onto the first car, stuffed our bags overhead, and sat down in amazement that we could be so lucky to have caught it. As usual, it was a nice ride, and before long, we were in Siena. We had a brief debate about whether or not we needed to buy a map, and finally decided to do so, then set out with our detached daypack each strapped to our front, and the main pack on our back. We already felt we were going to like Siena, just based on the first few glances, and the beginnings of our hike, and once we got inside the city wall, our intuitions were fulfilled. Such a cool little town! Much lighter crowd saturation, and everything had such charm and character. We'll have lots of photos and video so I won't continue on here about it. Like a bloodhound on the scent, Vee sniffed out our B&B in no time flat. However, as we knew, it was a very small place, only having 4 rooms or so, occupying only the 3rd floor of the building, and we could have easily missed it. We rang the doorbell 3-4 times, and got no response. Fortunately, a couple of friendly folks just happened to be going to their room in our B&B just as we were about to leave, and they let us in, explaining what we ought to do next to get ahold of the owner. As instructed, by our new friends Peter and Janice, I called the owner, Antonella, and with my 6 words of Italian, mixed with some Spanish and English, I let her know that we had arrived, found out which room was ours, where our key was, and when breakfast would be served. I thought she said that breakfast would be served at 8am, and 9am. We got settled, and quickly got outside to explore the city. As usual, we walked all over the place, and found the major points of interest more or less immediately. We stopped for huge pieces of pizza, and a giant can of Coke, and continued on to find the Duomo, some art museums, the cathedral, the main piazza, etc. We did not actually go inside anything because by this time of the day, most everything was closed or closing. We came back to the hotel for a little nap, and then went out again later on for a few pints at two different Irish pubs. Then, to bed for some reading, and asleep by 11 or so.

At 4:15am in the morning, I was awoken by the sound of a small group of kids chatting it up quite loudly on the street below. Since our room's window faces the street, we hear it all. I was perturbed to find out that this clattering of voices and laughter found its way into the suite of our B&B, yep, just outside our door, and eventually into the room next door. For the next two hours, these punks had converstations as if it was the middle of the day, laughing it up, knocking furniture around, smoking cigarettes with their fumes finding there way into our room. Needless to say, by this time, I was PISSED. I loudly unlocked the door and pounded on our common wall 4 times, hoping they'd get the hint. Nope. On they went. I put my headphones on, and attempted to block out the noise. I may have caught a few more winks, but a good full nights sleep was a lost cause at this point.

This is where the breakfast dilemma comes in, and where it might be fun to hear from anyone who has read far enough into this blog to comment on how they might have handled the situation...

So like I said, I understood that breakfast was going to be served at 8am, and at 9am. Obviously, I was awake, and by that point, so was Vee. At a few minutes before 8, we threw on some clothes, and were out in the dining area at 8am. But no one was around. We poked around a few minutes, but then agreed to go back into our room until 8:30, thinking maybe I misunderstood, and that breakfast would be at 8:30 and 9:30. At a few minutes past 8:30, there had been enough movement out in the dining area so that we figured all's ready for breakfast. We walked out, and for the first time, met the owner Antonella, we introduced ourselves, but she was just beginning to put the food out, and was just placing the 3rd and 4th settings on the the small table just big enough for 4 people. Antonella did not invite us to sit down for breakfast, and rather than circle around the room like a pair of bloodshot-eyed turkey buzzards, we slinked back into our room to wait a bit more. Within minutes, we heard our other next door neighbors come out into the dining area, exchanged hearty "ciao ciaos", sit down and dig in. At this point, with our door closed, we were sitting solitary on our bed, a mere 5 to 6 steps from the table and close enough to hear about everything (sound carries in this place like there are no walls anyway) going on out there. We found a sheet of paper in our room explaining basic rules and assumptions in the B&B, and apparently breakfast is INCLUDED "per request" (?). We wondered, hmmmmmmm, did we need to tell Antonella ahead of time that we wanted breakfast?...were there really 4 people out there eating breakfast so that all of the places were taken?...was breakfast an extra charge?...was breakfast from 8 until 9 rather than at 8 and 9?...if we wanted to have breakfast, and everyone who was expected to be eating already was eating, would Antonella have enough food for us?...WHAT DO WE DO? Should I walk out, and attempt to ask Antonella if we could have some breakfast, even though I can't speak Italian, and she can't seem to speak more than a handful of English? Should we just walk out of our room, and leave the building completely, and have breakfast at the McDonald's? Could I convince Vee to go out and handle the situation? Should we sit in our room for the next few hours waiting for the cleaned-up, post-meal silence that might allow us an undetected escape? uuuuuuuuggggggggghhhhhhhh

Being the slickster that I am (NOT), I threw a bath towel over my shoulder, looked in the mirror to make sure my hair was appropriately matted and messy with the required just-got-outta-bed look, adjusted my clothes so that they appeared thoroughly disheveled as if I had just thrown on enough of yesterday's outfit to be adequately decent for a puffy-eyed shuffle to the common bathroom for a shower, and opened our door to greet everyone and scope out the situation. BINGO!!! JACKPOT!!! The friendly couple who let us into the building the prior day were seated, alone, at the table, with two places set, unused, opposite them. I mumbled something to sound surprised at breakfast being already laid out, and quietly asked the friendly lady seated at the table if there was anything special we needed to do in order to have breakfast, and she explained nope, nothing, just sit down and eat, as breakfast is served for everyone here each morning from 8 until 10. I called into Vee to make sure she heard the good news, and followed-through with my showering performance in time to sit down and have a bite to eat. We ended up having a fantastic time talking with the friendly couple, Janice & Peter from Alberta Canada, having emigrated there from Scotland back a few decades, and learned alot about various things to do while we were here. As a matter of fact, based solely on our conversation with them, we decided to extend our stay for 2 more days, at least, and may drop the Venice leg of our trip.

And after today, we wish we could just rent an apartment here in Tuscany for a month. We took a bus in the late morning to San Gimignano, a small medieval town about an hour away, and had an amazing day. It reminded us a bit of Toledo Spain, but smaller, and with roads a tad bit wider, and no sword shops. We climbed the main tower off the main piazza for spectacular views of Tuscany and explored the ruins of an old castle among other things. What more can I say?...look at our pics and video. Absolutely BEAUTIFUL part of the universe. Once back to Siena, as per Peter and Janice's recommendation, we took a walking tour of the city of Siena and found all kinds of wonderful little nooks and crannies with astounding views. We made our way back to the main piazza, and people watched a bit, then got a few goodies to eat and drink, and headed back to the room for the night.

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Wednesday, April 5th, following our 2nd night in Siena, I got a much better sleep, but poor Vee was awoken by the monsters next door and couldn't get back to sleep for a while. We got to meet them this morning for breakfast, and they seemed like perfectly innocent young college guys. And we got to talk more with Peter and Janice and say goodbye to them as today they were headed off to Rome. After a very light breakfast, we wandered around the main plaza some, had a coffee, went to the tourist office, went to a real estate agents office, and back to the tourist's office. We were trying to inquire about renting a flat for a month this summer, but I think we'll have to do that via the Internet since we couldn't dig any useful info out of anyone we talked to. We also tried to book a wine-tasting tour in Tuscany for this afternoon, but it was already full. So, we went to the Duomo and bought combination tickets for 10 Eur each to see some of the most important places right here in Siena. The weather was considerably cooler today, and the sun was playing hide and seek with us, so it was a good day to be indoors. The duomo was gorgeous, and is said to be the most beautiful in all of Italy, except for maybe Venice. I wouldn't argue with that statement as it was really fantastic. From there, it was a short walk to the Museo Dell'Opera and it's panoramic view from the bridge atop it. WOW!!! Hopefully our pics and video do it justice. We spent a few hours in these two places, were getting hungry, and went back to our room to eat the goodies from last night (smoked salmon, prosciutto, cheese, bread, fruit, beer) rather than eating anything out. We both read a little after eating, and then headed back out into the pesky rain to finish off the day's sights: Oratorio di San Bernardino (yawn), the Cripta (ok), and the Battistero (well worth it). The Battistero was very pretty, and had sculptures by Donatello, Bernini, and other important sculptors. After a full day of sight-seeing, we wrapped it up with an ice cream, and a trip to the supermercato for some beer, snacks and fruit, and then back to our room for the night. Siena is very quiet when it comes to the night-life, so we don't feel as if we're missing a thing by staying in.

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Thursday, April 6, started with an early attempt to get into the showers before anyone else so that we could hustle to the bus station, skipping breakfast, and get the first bus to the "mysterious" tuscan town of Volterra. Unfortunately, both showers were in use, and our plan was thwarted. Instead, we kicked around ideas for a Plan B, and then had an enjoyable breakfast and conversation with the two nice Norwegian guys staying here a few days for an architecture class. We talked about politics, music, culture, etc. One thing that has been consistent, everywhere we've travelled thus far, is the message we are hearing from everyone we talk to when we bring up the question about their perceptions of the United States: 1) George Bush is an idiot, 2) the perception of the U.S. has taken a definitive turn for the worst in the last 5 years or so. We are careful not to bring the issue up too immediately after meeting someone for the first time, but are eager to ask as soon as we feel comfortable doing so. So far, we can count at least 10+ people that we've involved in this kind of discussion, including students, young professionals, middle-aged professionals, and retirees. Not one person has had a favorable thing to say about our president, or the general direction the United States is taking in the world. We are also very careful to ask in such a way so as to sound as neutral and unbiased as possible. Today though, we were a bit taken aback by a statement that one of the Norwegian guys made when he remarked how when he was a young boy visiting family in the U.S., he always thought of the U.S. as a wonderful country, full of opportunity, but that now, his image of the U.S. is no longer one of opportunity, but instead, one of problems. It hit us pretty hard, because all this time, no matter what we thought about the problems facing the U.S., we thought that at the very least, foreign people would always see the U.S. as the land of opportunity. Vee was especially shocked because even though she expected alot of people would be disappointed with U.S. foreign policy, she didn't expect that our country's "essance" as a land of hope and promise would be negatively affected. That was an eye opener, a paradigm-shifter for both of us. Not good.

After breakfast, we decided on a morning trip to a small local village called Monteriggioni, and went to the bus station to buy our tickets. The bus was leaving in just a few minutes, and the trip would be a short one. Once off the bus, we weren't sure how exactly to get up to the village walls, as there was not any definitive signage to point us in any one direction. We just started walking towards it, and eventually found a dirt road that took us right up to, and inside it's fortified walls. Walking brisking, one could probably walk the entire length of the village in under 2 minutes. It was cute, nestled at the crest of a hill, surrounded by walls and towers still in very good condition. We stopped in a little cafe for some refreshments, walked around some more, checked out a few gardens and shops, then sat down on a bench to kill some time before the next scheduled bus, read the Herald Tribune, and take in our beautiful surroundings. Vee climbed up the steps to the top of the wall and got some good pics. After a relaxing bit of people-watching, we walked back down to the bus stop, and had a lively conversation along the way about the one major problem I've had with Italy since day one: Italian Men. I don't want to get started on this here........

Back in Siena, we made a quick stop at our room, then back out for some pizza and people-watching at the Piazzo di Campo, and then to an Internet cafe to book our next accomodations in Venice, and Milan. We also looked more into renting a villa in Tuscany for a bit of time this summer and found a fantastic-sounding place in Sovicille just outisde Siena for 400 Eur/week...hmmmmmmmmm... Afterwards, we went to a laundromat to see about having our laundry done, but it was too late in the day. Then off to a book store for some new reading material as we both finished our books last night. Vee loved "The Birth of Venus", and I hated "Saturday". We picked up two new ones, Vee with "A Venetian Affair" and me with "The Broker". Then we ambled aimlessly for a bit until we found a cafe where Vee re-adjusted our itinerary timeline and destinations, and I finished the Tribune. We went to the grocery store for tonights snacks, and then back to our room for the night.

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Friday, April 7, 2006 would be our final few hours in Siena. We paid up with Antonella, ate the small breakfast, conversed some with the remaining student from Norway, and a young couple that just came in from Seattle. Vee led the way to the train station, and it ended up being maybe a 20 minute walk, fully loaded with our packs. We got the 11:00 train to Pisa, changing in Empoli, but we could not get the train we had wanted for the leg of the trip to Venice, and had to opt for a later one, leaving Pisa a bit before 7pm, changing in Florence, ultimately arriving in Venice around 11:30pm. It would be fairly long day of travel, but with our Eurail pass, we were actually looking forward to the 1st class EuroStar journey from Florence to Venice, which is the longest part of the trip.

We actually had fairly low expectations of Pisa because of all the feedback we had received from the various people we had talked to. And our expectations were met. The leaning tower is exactly as you would expect, and the cathedral and batistero were pretty to look at. We did not feel like paying the entrance fees to get inside of any of them, and instead lounged around on the bright green grass that enveloped everything there. It was actually a very nice way to spend our time especially since the weather was so perfect. We walked around very slowly for a while, still with time to kill, and eventually made our way back to the train station for the ride to Venice through Florence. In the train station in Florence, we needed to get something to eat, and since pickings were slim, and we're both pretty tired of pizza, we got McDonalds, and then due to some confusion at the cash register, two unwanted paninis.