A Climb with a View

So I did not make it to the computer this morning, which I suppose is not that surprising considering my sleep habits as of late. I almost stayed up even later last night to talk to KB on GChat :) but decided in the end to sleeo and make sure to take lots of pictures today and photoshop her in.

Yesterday in Siena we started off at the Piazza Gramschi, and then headed to the Piazza del Campo (think the horse race at the beginning of Quantum of Solace). We took a quick stop inside the Palazzo Publico before climbing all the way up the Torre del Mangio (basically a very tall bell tower with a whole lot of stairs). At the top of the bell tower we met some interesting Brits who are in art school in Florence and, like us, were visiting Siena for the day. They were part of that strange fashion that calls for purposely torn clothes and hair that has been washed but made to look dirty and mussed. They seemed like rich kids trying to be starving artists. I think they might do better to take an internship*.

After the tower, we decided to explore the Duomo. We entered the Cattedrale di Siena right before it was about to close to visitors. I seem to have developed, in spite of my skepticism concerning religion, quite a love for cathedrals and chapels and it kind of frustrates me to be inside one with tourists who walk around listening to audioguides.

Even when a cathedral is full of noise, the echoes off the grand ceilings and walls make it seem empty and quiet somehow. At the Papal Chapel of Madonna de Voto I contributed 48 Euro cents (which I figure is at least $7 USD) and lit a votive candle. (I am atoning for my Vatican sins of March 2009.) There is something very reflective and gentle about sitting in a cool chapel, surrounded by stones, hearing the muted voices of the tourists in the main cathedral drone on and drop their guides and try to remember not to cuss in God's House. It would be funny if the chapel weren't such a comforting, restful place. I wonder how a Catholic regime could create such a safe haven for a non-religious Presbeterian/Episcopalian?

The rest of the Siena experience was markedly different from the Cathedral and mostly included climbing hundreds more stairs to see the views. We made it to the top of the Facciatone (arches), which are particularly interesting because they mark where the end of the cathedral was acutally intended to be. Apparently, the Black Plague struck before they could finish building and, due to a loss of workers and money, construction was stopped.

Our last two stops, while DI hung out with the aforementioned Brits in the Piazza del Campo, were the Baptistry and the Crypt. Both were pretty impressive, but we were tired out by the stairs and starving. The bus ride home meant naps for everyone, and despite buying a bottle of wine for reflection at the Villa we all fell in to bed pretty quickly. Right now we're on the train to Pisa - hopefully another full day!

*Stuff white people like