Siena

Friday Sept 29th.

Monteriggioni

Yesterday was a travel day and a bit tiring. After breakfast we said goodbye to Carmela and walked with our luggage to the bus which we took the few stops to the Circumvesuviana train station. We then caught the train to Napoli and after paying the reservation fee of 30 euros we took the Eurostar to Rome. In Rome we connected with the intercity train to Milan changing at Grossoto and taking a local single carriage train on the last leg to Siena. We had bought sandwiches in Napoli and enjoyed them on the journey with a few glasses of wine which we had also brought along. We are becoming quite the experts when it comes to the trains, no surprise given the number of times we have hopped on and off. Amazing....we only have one train trip left...from Nice to Paris, 10 days or so from now.

Arriving in Siena we thought it would be easy to just grab a hotel. Michael had e-mailed me with some suggested accommodation and in retrospect I should have booked something the night before while we were in Sorrento. We took the local bus from the train station to the centre of town to discover there were no rooms available in the city...something to do with a Festiva and a medical convention. By this time it is 8:30. Fortunately one hotel found us something in Monteriggioni, which is just outside Siena and a 30 euro cab ride later we check in to Euro Club Hotel. Nice room, quite a good size with lovely clean linen and towels. The room also has one of those showers we had read about, where the whole bathroom is the shower....the room has a drain in the floor. Just for the fun of it I did give it a whirl and can report that is possible to shower, shave and do your business all at the same time. I don't know why all bathrooms aren't designed like this! Supper last night was a lovely pasta with crab, a bit tricky to crack the shells and get at the meat but delicious none the less. Topped off with a bottle of the house Rosso and the bill was a reasonable 23 euros.
Today is another gorgeous sunny day. We have just finished breakfast and plan to take the train down to Siena for a bit of sightseeing, some lunch and then pick up the rental car.

Hopefully I can find a wireless connection in Siena to allow me to post. There doesn't seem to be anything here in Monteriggioni. No pics from yesterday so if I can post I'll add some more from Sorrento. I suspect that this might be my last or second last post for a bit because I don't expect I will find an internet connection at or close by the Villa where we book in tomorrow (Saturday), although I thought the same in Meta (Sorrento) and I was able to piggyback someone's wireless connection so stay tuned.

Colle Val D'Elsa

We took the train to Siena this morning, an eventful trip. We had been told at the hotel there was an 11:00 train to Siena so we went the station and bought tickets at the automated biglieterra (ticket office) for Siena. Turns out the next train wasn't until 1:30 but some guy told us that if we took the next train 1 stop north to Poggibonsi, there we would be able to get a connection back to Siena. The ticket collector on the train however didn't really appreciate what we were trying to accomplish, much to the delight of a couple sitting next to us who were from Airdrie on their way to Firenze. It all worked out however and we found our way to Siena. A beautiful old city. We sat in the Piazza del Campo and had a snack and a 1/2 litre of the local vino rosso before heading off to explore Il Duomo, the Cathedral of Santa Maria dell'Assunta. The cathedral is spectacular although the outside is disappointing as there is a lot of scaffolding in connection with restoration work being done. Following that we took a taxi...after a long wait...and picked up the rental car at the local Avis office. A new diesel Fiat Punta, not big but adequate. We found our way firstly back to Monteriggioni where we had left our bags at last night's hotel, and then continued to Colle Val D'Elsa, just up the road and checked in here at Hotel La Vecchia Cartiera. This seems like a nice town and once Una has had a rest we will take a walk and see about some supper. We seem to be very close to where the Villa is so hopefully we will have no trouble in the morning making our way and meeting up with Peter & Penny, Celia and Iain. Celia and Iain are flying in from Glasgow to Pisa in the morning and Peter and Penny left their home in the south of France today. They are driving and overnighting with friends in Monaco. They are then meeting up with Celia and Iain in Pisa and driving to the villa.

Meantime I did find an Internet Cafe so I will post this and add some pics taken today in Siena.

Ciao!

1st picture is obviously Una saying goodby to our host Carmela in Sorrento, the others from today in Siena, the Piazza and the cathedral.