SIENA

I see my posts getting less and less frequent, and being posted farther and farther after things happen. That's the problem with being as busy here as I am back at home. I even forgot to tell my family that I went to Siena this past weekend, which could have been bad if it wasn't a day trip with my Reading Cities class.

So we went to Siena on Friday with both sections of the class so tour around the city for the day. We had another one of our professors from the school come along to disperse his knowledge among us.

When we first got there we past by a ledge that was supposed to give you a view of all of Siena, but unfortunately it was extremely foggy (a situation that made all of the professors crack up). The fog wasn't much better in the city either. 

You can see the effects of the fog at the Palazzo Salembini (above) and the Palazzo Pubblico (below).

Fortunately the sun was coming out and quickly cleared out the fog. So while that whole scientific process was happening, our workout was starting. Oh, I meant to say we climbed to the top of the Torre del Mangia (the tall tower you can see as a shadow in the fog).

The staircase was very spacious, as you can see, and was very gentle to my claustrophobia. But honestly, it was a little tight at places, and going down was way worse than coming up, but it goes quickly and I don't think it's an opportunity to be passed up. Therefore everyone should climb it if they get a chance.

Just look at the rewarding view from at the top. I could literally see the fog dispersing from the city. It was like something you'd see in a sci-fi movie.

And of course it gives you a great view of the Piazza del Campo. (I'd love to have this view during the horse races in July.) 

*Note* Please be prepared for the copious different shots of the Cathedral. It's a basic fixture that you can always find in the city from the bunches of high places we went to. I'm not even sorry. It's gorgeous. 

And then I'm going to say that the thin air got to us, because we started to get a little silly. I present Megan's "smolder" as exhibit A.

So we tried to convince Rachel to smolder for my camera, but she clearly wasn't having it and just laughed at us.

Back to intelligent things; the building in the middle of the shot above is the only one whose facade is still what it originally was, which fit the laws that were put in place for the buildings surrounding the Palazzo to match it's facade.

Fun side-note (sorry intelligent things) there is confetti on the ground always. Why? I guess all the cool kids would know (so you're all out of luck here).

When we climbed up what would have been the facade of the Cathedral, I thought that this was as high as we could go, but we found stairs that took you right to the tippy-top.

Just for scale, so you can see the cozy size of the halls and staircases we were going through. Plus Megan is just lovely.

From that very top position you can see the city like you would on Google Earth or on a map. It was unreal how perfectly you can see how the city works when you're only seeing the roof forms.

Those little specks down there were the first half of the group that already went up the facade. 

After everyone went up and had their fill of the heights, we finally all entered into the Cathedral. I won't post any more pictures of the interior so I don't hurt everyone's eyes with all of the stripping in the interior, but I will give you a classic dome-shot.

After the Cathedral and lunch we entered the building directly across from the Cathedral, that was once a hospital and has now been partially turned into an archaeological museum.

Just passing through the building to get to the archaeological museum you are immersed in the archaeology of the site its self. Take this hallway for instance; it was once the 'covered road' that brought all of the supplies to the hospital but also to the city as a whole.

And then I of course dropped my lens cap, again, and almost lost it forever under the flooring. But I think the Italians chivalry is rubbing off because Aaron saved it for me (just kidding, he's always been a sweetheart).

The set up of this museum is basically an insert into the building. So we can walk through the space and experience it, but never actually physically touch it (unless you have to rescue your lens cap). It's a great way to allow visitors to view the space but also to preserve it.

This display case is a great example of how the museum works. It's also clearly a new addition, and this contrast between new and old is carried out through the whole design to further draw attention to the historic portions. 

Honestly, I just found this display case of old coins really cool. It was basically the only light in the room, and ramps down with the room, creating a great visual experience that pulls you in and allows you to casually experience the coins.

After the museum we were supposed to straight to the Palazzo Salembini, the oldest currently in use bank, but we were forced to wait outside for about an hour or so until our guide was available. The sun was setting and I had just wanted to get home to my gelato so I was a tad bit grumpy about staying and not just skipping the place all together. But after going in and seeing it, I'm definitely glad that we did. My gelato wasn't going anywhere anyways.

This gorgeous view is from the courtyard at the back of the building. You can see the reflection in the windows of the sky, which can give you a sense of the clear view of the city that one can get from those windows (which was the intention).

One of the biggest points of this building is the staircase that was added in its renovation in the 20th century. If it reminds you of the Geuggenheim then you get it. IT was definitely inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright, but that's not the part that I found the most amazing. The exterior is composed of wooden glu-lam's, and the stairs themselves are concrete. And, you can kind of see it in this picture on the right, the underside of the concrete has been textured to emulate wood. It was so convincing that some people had to reach up and touch it as we were climbing the stairs, just to confirm.

This ceiling was in one of the main rooms that looks out onto the city and where larger, more important meetings would have been held (and probably still are held since it's still in use).

And then to cap off the day, we were allowed to go all the way up onto the roof, where we not only had another great view of the city, but we also go to see the most mind-blowing sunset. 

Thanks once again for bearing with me and my lazy posting practices. I will hopefully keep this pace, and not get any slower as the semester progresses and my work increases. Ciao!