| Wednesday, March 09, 2005 |
| Pisa & Siena |
On Day 5 we headed out early for Pisa, which is a little over an hour’s drive east of Florence. After warding off some umbrella vendors motioning to the gray skies overhead, we headed to Campo dei Miracoli, or the field of Miracles. After seeing the leaning tower, we thought that perhaps it had started leaning because it wanted to be sure that everyone would notice it, since if had indeed been straight most of its design would be hidden behind the duomo and baptistery positioned in front of it. At any rate, it is indeed a leaning tower, and we resisted the urge to take photos of ourselves pretending to hold up the tower (though we caught numerous other tourists posing this way.) In actuality, the tower has more of an “S” curve or banana shape to it, as architects built the middle tiers to compensate for the initial tilt of the base. As a result, the very top of it is nearly straight.
After enjoying a short tour of the Campo and the beautiful architecture of each of the three buildings, we settled on hotdogs for lunch. I asked for a “plain” hotdog for Mark and one with ketchup for myself, unaware of the fact that apparently in Italy “plain” means with mayo, which is the way it was prepared for Mark. But he didn’t seem to mind too much, which may have been due more to the fact that we were pretty hungry than to its actual taste!
Shortly after noon we boarded the bus for a longer drive to Siena, which is considered by many to represent “Old Italy.” The town itself is built on three hills, which means the streets can be quite steep (and narrow) and which left us wondering how in the world cars managed to get around in that area. Siena was probably one of our favorite towns on the trip, and it was certainly one where we wished we could have stayed longer than just a few hours.
The Campo is a main attraction in the town, circular in nature, and surrounded by lots of little shops. Twice a year the Campo hosts a horse race which is viewed in person by thousands and yet lasts for only 2 minutes. If you’re ever there in July or August, you should be sure to check it out! Up the street (literally) from the Campo is the beautiful Duomo with a façade of black-and-white marble, and though we didn’t have time to go inside we heard from others that it is beautiful. Our time in Siena ended all too soon as the setting sun shone on the buildings, and we returned to the bus (after frequenting a great ceramics shop) for a short drive home and another stop at our favorite restaurant.
 Labels: Italy |
posted by Joanna Bolick @ 3:06 PM  |
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