On Wednesday, we took an afternoon trip to Siena. I invited Yuki and Jann from school to come with Matt and me. The trip to Siena is usually about an hour bus ride. There were two buses leaving Firenze at about the same time. I wasn't sure why there were two buses but figured I was smart enough to pick the right one: the one that said "diretto" (as in direct). Turns out, it was the least direct bus possible. It stopped at all the little towns on the route to Siena. It was ridiculous! Jann and I kept rolling our eyes and wondering how it could be that the "diretto" bus was the one that stopped on every street corner in Tuscany. It took about an hour and 45 minutes to get to Siena. When we finally got there and got off the bus, this is what I saw on the side of Matt's face:
WHOA! It seems that Matt is really allergic to the species of mosquito that is flying around Italy. He had huge welts on his arms and legs and back within a day of being there. This particular bug attacked him on his face in broad daylight! He was sitting facing the window so I didn't see his cheek until we got off the bus. I took that picture so he could see what was on his face. I just couldn't stop laughing. Poor guy. We stopped in at this church which was unique because of the brick work behind the main chapel:
And an entire dome of brick:
Then we walked on to see what you really come to see when you come to Siena:
The tower and the fan shaped piazza are the big tourist stop:
There are a bunch of really old buildings lining the piazza:
Here are Yuki, Jann and Matt:
Matt is hiding behind the pillar as if that is going to hide his humongous bug bite. So then Matt and Yuki went climbing up the tower and Jann and I decided not to. So we went and sat in the piazza while they climbed. Matt took my picture and took some pictures of the view:
Looking down on the shell or fan shaped piazza:
Looking across town to the Duomo (the main cathedral in town):
The bell at the top of the tower:
Yuki took Matt's picture at the top:
Here is the piazza again and in this one I was able to zoom in (when I had the picture on my camera) and see Jann and I sitting there!:
Yuki enjoying the view:
Matt's artsy picture of a bell:
Vertigo-inducing shot of the stairway up to the top:
When they came back down to the piazza I took a few more pictures of the buildings around the piazza:
There is also a fountain/pool thing in the piazza:
Then we got on to the important part of the day: gelato stop. Here we are enjoying our afternoon treat:
I was teasing Jann all day because he looked so preppy. His excuse was that he didn't feel like doing the laundry so he was just wearing his dorky clothes. I don't know. He kind of looked like he was trying to attend an Ivy League school--not our Italian language school. I took a couple final shots of the piazza and then we moved on:
We walked down the narrow streets in search of the Duomo:
I think this building is really neat:
As you walk around Siena you can see that it was a rather rich banking town. There are still a ton of banks here and that is one of the things that Siena is famous for. Here is a beautiful storefront:
Yum. Here is the Duomo:
A crest inside the church:
When you are wearing a tank top they make you put this paper poncho thing on so that your shoulders are covered. This guy's buddy was taking a picture of him and I caught the shot:
He looked really funny walking around in that--I thought he might catch on fire wearing that paper thing next to that bank of candles on the right. Gorgeous ceilings throughout the church:
The front of the church:
I believe this is a sculpture by Donatello:
Someone, Jann or Matt maybe, had read that there was a sculpture done by Donatello in this church. And it was of John the Baptist. This would fit the bill because it is John (he is wearing his hair shirt) but we can't be sure because it was unlabeled. This is a room that comes off the main sanctuary of the church and is a sort of library:
The windows are pretty amazing but it is the heavily detailed artwork on the walls and ceiling that were really breathtaking:
Inside the library were large hymnbooks on display:
They were all completely hand painted with gold leaf details--it must have taken ages for each page:
The marble floors were heavily patterned throughout the church:
Back outside we started just wandering around the city. Jann had been to Siena a few times before (I had been once before) and he said he was tired of just going to see the main piazza and the Duomo and then calling it a day. He wanted to walk through some back streets and do something different. So we did:
This what you would tie your horse up to in olden days:
I thought it was some sort of bizarre over-sized door-knocker (lacking the door, so I guess that didn't make much sense) but the guys set me straight. Then we wandered some more until the guys took a wrong turn and we ended up in a dead-end construction area. Then we figured we should stick to more main roads:
We came out on the other side of town for a nice view of the city with the tower:
A little closer:
Siena is really pretty with all the red and brown houses and roofs. But it feels kind of land-locked. I prefer Firenze, of course. We walked out to the old fort where the Medicis have their crest displayed (they claimed so much of Tuscany):
And we sat and enjoyed the view while the boys discussed World War II politics. Or was it WWI? I kind of tuned out. Poor Yuki was probably really confused since her English isn't so great and she hasn't been practicing. Not that she should be--her Italian was getting pretty good. Jann, being the good Swiss citizen that he is, told us the whole story of why it is that the Swiss Army guards the Pope and the history of Switzerland through the 20th century through the wars and such. It is totally interesting talking to someone like that about what their world view is. And it is not bad when this is your view while you are having these discussions:
Afterward, we got back on the bus for Firenze. This time I specifically checked that it wasn't making 20 stops along the way. Matt and I hadn't bought our return ticket since you can buy it on the bus. But the bus driver was kind of jerk and so when I asked politely in Italian to purchase a ticket he informed me that he only had one to sell. And I was like, well, both of us need to go back and we're not getting off! He just didn't care. He wasn't going to throw anyone off the bus but I'm not sure what he was going to do. I don't know why he couldn't just take my money and write me a fake ticket or something. As this was escalating and I was getting more and more incredulous at the stupidness of the situation the girl sitting in the front seat told me (in Italian) that she had an extra ticket that she could give me. She didn't need it and wasn't going to use it for some reason so I said thank you profusely and then gave her the money I was going to give the driver--she wanted to just give me the ticket but I insisted she take the money because I was going to have to give it to the stupid driver anyway. Ridiculous! Nothing is simple in Italy. And yes, I do normally get return tickets but the last two times I had purchased return tickets for a bus ride I hadn't ended up using them--I had taken a train back each time. And I didn't want to put out money for tickets I was going to be using just in case our plans changed and we took the train home. Aack. You just can't win.
Matt kept falling asleep on the bus. So I kept waking him up! I wanted him to see all the scenery because it is not like he gets driven through the Tuscan countryside every day. Here is Matt when we got off the bus:
Then we walked through this large gate (the bus was too big to fit through and drive us up the long driveway):
And we walked up this tree-lined path to the house:
Here is the winery:
It is a really large building/house. We entered through the doors on the ground level where the arch is and we didn't see any other floors. Apparently, they have a lot of functions at the facility such as weddings. This is the view that the house has of the surrounding hills:
There was a little patio area in the front courtyard:
Then we went inside and this guy was our guide to the winery:
Behind him is our spread for "dinner". But first he gave us a little tour and a mini-wine education. He gave the tour in Italian, then hit the high points in English and German (there was a small group of German tourists who were visiting the facility independent of our group. He showed us a small room with a few large barrels:
And he talked about why they have these little stoppers on top:
Apparently, this is what helps moderate the pressure within the barrel and maintains the seal. Because there is a space for air and a tight water seal between the two piece, the wine can move up into the air space when the pressure becomes high and then the wine can fall right back into the barrel as the pressure decreases without being exposed to contaminants. Yeah, I'm not really explaining that well. Here is Matt in front of large barrel of red wine: 
Those barrels hold a massive amount of wine but I forget how much the guide said. And I'm sure he told us in liters and that doesn't translate so well for me. Here we are getting a bit sloshed:
For a wine tasting, they certainly weren't skimpy on the wine (as they are at most wineries). This was a proper glassful for each wine (and I think we had three and then a dessert wine on top of that). Plus, they didn't give you any time to finish--so within 10 minutes they were coming around with the next glass. So you had to drink up if you wanted to keep up. But then I got smart and started grabbing the extra wine glasses (the guide sat next to me and he was talking so much that I swiped one of his) and hoarding my wine until I could drink it all. And then Matt and I realized that there were unfinished bottles of wine on the table so we took the liberty of finishing those. Hey, we weren't driving! So yeah, we might have been a little sloppy. But one woman was worse--she got up to walk to the bathroom (which was outside the glass double doors we had entered to the banquet room) and she walked RIGHT INTO THE GLASS. I didn't see it happen but I heard the thud. No major harm, I think it was only her pride that was bruised. So Matt and I were sitting at a table with some random people--some from my school and some from other schools. And then there is Matt and people weren't really understanding what he was doing there because they would ask where are you going to school and he wouldn't have an answer. So of course he would tell them he was just visiting me and then they would ask him what he did. Now, every time I got this question at school it was usually just met with a slightly surprised look and a "Oh, that must be an interesting job" comment. But (I think because there was one annoying American guy and a British girl at our table) when Matt told them he was an editor (okay, we are assistants right now but let's not get so technical) he got the one question I hate the most. This question is a casualty of this profession. It really is sooooo annoying to me. The question is: "Who's the most famous celebrity you have met?" At which point in this particular conversation I grabbed for the third unfinished bottle of wine on the table and decided a nice home for the remaining liquid would be my wine glass....Matt, however, was a good sport and went about answering the question. I could barely contain my annoyance and finally had to interject that our particular part of the industry (editing) is the one that deals the LEAST with in-the-flesh actors. Okay, my beef with that question is that even though I know it is a harmless little query and they are just curious because we are in "the industry" (as we call it here in California) it makes me feel as if my professional worth is tied to the caliber of actors I have rubbed up against. To me, that is not what the work is about nor is it why I am in "the business". At least ask if I have worked on anything you have seen (and many people do ask this and I tolerate this line of questioning much better!). To go off on a tangent, I don't actually think that I have met ANY actors during my editing gigs. Unless you count Kevin Frazier of Entertainment Tonight who collaborated with me on a series of video blogs during my two year tenure there. In fact, I met more celebrities while working at Starbucks during grad school! People would have had more luck asking me that question then! Kevin Spacey was a regular for awhile among a host of others. But anyway, I digress. While we enjoyed our wine and finger foods (lots of meat slices, cheese, and these great little crispy bread pizza things with sun-dried tomatoes, yum) a guy who was studying Italian at my school to improve his OPERA-singing abilities (!) offered to perform for us:
His singing was amazing and so incredibly beautiful. In that room with the low brick ceiling his voice was really raw and piercing. I got chills. Literally. What a nice smile:
After his first song our chaperone requested he sing another so he led the whole group in belting out "O Solo Mio" except none of us knew any other words besides those so it was a pretty funny (drunk) sing-along. I forget this guy's name and where he was from but it was somewhere in the south so he had a wonderful little drawl. Plus, he was gay and it was just so cute when he would say "Okay, girl you need to do this...Uh-uh..." with all his attitude. And, there was another guy there who was totally sweet on him but I couldn't figure out if they were dating. I don't think the singer guy cared about him as much.
Anyway, enough about other people's soap operas...here is a wider shot of the room housing a few barrels:
I caught Matt going to buy some wine:
There was also some grappa (really strong, disgusting, rubbing alcohol tasting Italian specialty liquor) on sale and so as the guide was starting to calculate Matt's purchase I pointedly asked Matt if he had tried grappa before (I knew the answer but I also knew that a good Italian couldn't pass up a chance to share grappa with an un-inaugurated visitor). And I was right. Hearing Matt's negative answer the guide jumped up and ran to the other room to grab a bottle and a couple glasses. Here is Matt staring down the enemy:
And taking his first swig of grappa:
It was pretty rough on Matt but he was a good sport. Everyone needs the experience. I declined taking a taste (I prefer my torture in non-liquid form). I have heard of people actually LIKING the taste of grappa but I have yet to meet these fabled people. My guess is that they have burned out their taste buds through years of drinking it and now they just think they like it because they can't feel anything. Here is Matt proudly posing with his new wine purchase and the hills of Chianti in the background:
What is sad about that picture is that he bought those bottles for his sister's wedding that he was going to be attending the following weekend but they never made it across the Atlantic. He had to fly standby on one of flights home and couldn't check any luggage--so while going through security they pulled him aside and gently removed them for him. I'm sure the security detail had a nice night celebrating Matt by drinking his wine. Here I am being sun-glistened in Tuscany:
And here we are, having survived over a week together with no one getting killed:
I'll take this moment to clarify for anyone who has been confused about Matt and I. We are FRIENDS. We met on my last job before coming to Italy ("Big Medicine" now airing on TLC at 9pm Monday nights). He started 5 weeks before I left and 2 weeks before I told everyone I was leaving. When I told him I was leaving he said he had never been to Europe and I said he better try to work it out to come visit me while I was there. We emailed while I was there but it didn't look like he was going to be able to come (money, scheduling, and personal issues were at fault). He even sent me a definitive "I'm not coming" email. Promptly followed (like 4 days later) with a "I'm coming!" email--apparently, he was able to get some things together and many people had encouraged him to take advantage of the opportunity. So that is the story of how Matt ended up visiting me in Firenze. Here we are being silly:
I just love the scenery (sigh):
Gorgeous flower I found in the garden in front of the house:
We got back into Firenze around 9pm and decided to catch the 10pm showing of "Ocean's Thirteen". I hadn't been to the famous and antique Odeon Cinehall right in the center of downtown Firenze. So I was thrilled to take this last minute opportunity to see a film there. I would have preferred to see a film in Italian but they did run the Italian subtitles. Here is the theater:
They are the one theater that runs the films in their original language on particular nights (with Italian subtitles). Most commonly, films are dubbed. Here is the stained glass detail on the ceiling:
The movie was fun and it was interesting to check out how they translate certain sayings into Italian. So I had fun "reading" the movie. After the movie, we walked home--we were super tired and I still had one more day of school (my last!) and a test to prepare for.
