We got up (relatively) early and headed over to Termini, Rome's train and subway hub. It was at a restaurant next door that I discovered the joys of "stand over a hole and do your business" bathrooms. I wish I was making this up. Always bring a tissue pack with you through Italy because you never know when you're going to be confronted with something like this. We boarded a train which would take us to Chiusi, where we would then catch a train to Siena. If you ever take a train to Chiusi and it's a Sunday, let me give you some advance warning right now: nothing's open. Chiusi isn't what I'd call a happening place by any stretch of the imagination (it's dead, Jim), but there's nothing more pathetic than wandering down the empty streets of Chiusi trying to find lunch and finally having to walk back to the train station and eating there. The most excitement we had was Suzanne pretending her foot was caught in the train tracks, and that says something.
The trains in Italy aren't bad, incidentally. Some of the trains we were on had compartments that would seat six, while others were open air but still had adequate seating. All of our trains arrived and left on time, which was also nice. The only train we were on that had assigned seating was when we took the EuroStar to Venice. If you're riding the EuroStar, make SURE that you have an assigned seat, because you might not be sitting down otherwise. The one important thing to remember is to never, ever, EVER leave your baggage unattended while in a train station. When we went to buy our tickets for Siena, it was late at night, and there was only one ticket window open. A second window opened and the woman in front of us left her suitcase off to one side and walked over to the second window. About a minute later, out of the corner of my eye I saw someone swoop in and grab the suitcase and take off. It took me a second or two for it to sink in that this was not the owner of the suitcase. The woman, seeing her baggage head off at high speed, screamed and ran after it. The moral of the story, of course, is don't be an idiot and leave your suitcase sitting off to one side while you go buy tickets. One thing I found very strange was the ticket collection for public transportation. On the bus you're supposed to stamp your own ticket at the back of the bus, well away from the eyes of the bus driver. Only once did they ever even check tickets on a bus I was on; since a bus ticket is valid until you stamp it, I'm sure you can see the potential abuse. On at least one train ride our tickets were never checked, for that matter. I'm not telling people to try and ride for free on public transportation in Italy. I am saying that if one tried to get away without paying you'd have a pretty good shot at it. When we arrived at Siena (which was still cold), our Rick Steves guidebook said to take a bus into the center of town. My mother attempted to ask where to buy tickets for the bus while we were still at the station, and the man told her to head up to where the bus picks people up. This turned out to be a miscommunication, because you can't buy tickets there. After a five minute walk to the bus stop only to not have tickets (we were new enough in Italy that we didn't attempt to just hop on and ride for free), we decided that we'd just take a taxi. It was nice to take a taxi ride that only cost 10,000 lira, after the distinctly longer rides in Rome.
Our hotel was Albergo Bernini, winner of the "worst bathroom" award for our trip. There were two bathrooms for everyone (there were nine or ten rooms) to share, and there wasn't a shower stall, just a bad drain in the floor at one end. Taking a shower meant that the entire room would become flooded. Now add in that there are multiple families/guests using this and you're seeing the problems we had with the bathrooms. It's a wonder I didn't get athlete's foot. (Melissa wisely brought flip-flops to wear in the shower.) The room itself was incredibly cramped; there was barely enough room to turn around. All in all, not our favorite hotel. On the plus side, there was a gorgeous view, and a cute hotel cat. After settling in, we went to the right-next-door church of San Domenica. This church is rather unique because of Saint Catherine, the patron saint of Italy. Well, more to the point, the church has her head. On display. In oil. (And for 500 lira, you can have lights go on around it. I am not making this up.) Tragically, you can't take pictures of the head, but that's ok because you can buy postcards of the head. If you go to Siena, you MUST go to San Domenica and see the head. Incidentally, if you're planning on doing this to your own head, I must warn you that oil doesn't preserve body parts perfectly. There is decay.
Once we'd seen the head, we decided to just walk around town for a while. Siena is really beautiful, full of little medieval twisty roads through buildings. It's very hilly, and my foot still hurt from the night before, so I wasn't enjoying the walk quite as much as I could have otherwise. There aren't any specific sights I'd point out as being outstanding; it's more of a general ambience around all of Siena. It's quite popular among the locals to just go walking (and walking, and walking) in early evening, and I'd recommend it as well. Just watch where you go—with all of Siena's twisty little streets, you can take a wrong turn if you're not paying attention... not to name names. (Mom.)
Of course, if you're walking about you might as well do some window shopping. My mother started Pottery Tour '99 here, investigating every store that had anything remotely resembling pottery. No pay dirt was struck here (but there are a lot of pottery stores!), alas. It was around here that I'd decided that I would buckle down and buy a new black leather jacket, but refrained from doing so. If you're going to buy a leather jacket, don't do it in Siena, where the leather stores are catering to tourists. I did buy some really good spicy herbs for pasta; I used them in the suggested manner when I got back (you cook them with breadcrumbs in a little bit of oil, then mix it with a nice tomato sauce) and my roommate Marc and I found our mouths on fire in a good way. I finally headed back to the hotel after dinner (a quick bite of pizza) and let my foot
relax. Before long it was evening and it was easy to drop off into sleep. |
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