Quiet Saturday

Today's post is going to be shorter. It was a pretty quiet day...finally got to sleep in! Then I did some walking around. It's fun to just wander around here because you are bound to run into something beautiful. For example:

See? I wasn't kidding. Looking out over the Tuscan countryside is extraordinarily peaceful. The first picture is literally right outside of my house and down the street about 100 feet. The other view was a little bit farther of a walk, but totally worth it.

I also decided to take another picture of the Siena Cathedral. I think I have already shown you this particular building before, but the sky was just so beautiful, and the lighting is much better in this picture. Stunning.

One other girl and I also walked around the fortress. You can go up on top and there is a 1k path that goes around. It was beautiful, and there was a gorgeous view of the city. This is definitely a place that I would like to spend more time. And, it's right near the IES Center where all of our classes are.

View from the fortress.

Today was also the first day that I wasn't completely starving by the time I had dinner with my family. However, it occurred to me that it's better if I'm super hungry when we have dinner. It's always delicious and it's great to sit down for a full meal when you're really hungry. I'm going to keep this in mind from now on.

Also, I forgot to mention this yesterday, but I'm pleased to announce the purchase of my first shot glass abroad! I definitely need to add to my collection while I am here, and the first purchase was a simple shot glass from a street vendor in Firenze. It has an image of the Duomo there made of metal on the outside. I know...that was an absolutely terrible description, but I did need to share that the collection is continuing! No worries about that one.

And lastly, I realized that I didn't notice the lack of traffic lights in Siena until I saw a traffic light in Firenze yesterday. There aren't many there...and none in the center of the city, but near the bus station and around the outside where there is car traffic, there are a few lights. There is also a road there not made out of cobblestone. It was kind of funny stepping out into the road like I do back home. Here in Siena, everything is cobblestone and cars come bobbling through the streets occasionally, but mostly there is foot traffic. You have to get out of the way of the cars, but it really feels more like they are in a pedestrian area than it feels like we are walking down the middle of the street. I have a feeling that my words aren't coming out particularly coherently right now, but I think you get the idea. It was just something I noticed, so I thought I would write it down so as not to forget.