Hi Everyone,

Well, we've now had a sleep to absorb Olivia's news about leaving for 6 months in a few days.  Frank's still sleeping, despite the copious church bells ringing in Siena's cathedral, which is the largest we've seen yet.

We explored Volterra pretty thoroughly yesterday before leaving. We loved the Etruscan museum. What is "Etruscan", you ask?? They were a short-lived but powerful and prosperous civilization that dominated the scene in Italy -- and indeed the Mediterranean -- until about 300 BC. Their art and ideas heavily influenced the Romans. How come I don't remember learning about them in school?? See the photo of one of the thousands of cremation urns in the museum: middle-aged husband and wife, lounging together, looking so human and real, wrinkles and all. It was gorgeous and moving, like connecting with people from 2400 years ago.

Getting to our hotel in Siena, driving and navigating through a labyrinthine mediaeval city, was another miracle, half luck and half skill. Okay, maybe 2/3 luck and 1/3 skill! By the time we got settled and then walked into the old city, it was about 5:30. We ordered a drink at a bar ringing the "campo" (square) and watched the sun set. It was truly spine-tingling.

While sitting in the square, we saw a middle-aged man with a pot belly walk by, wearing a shirt that said "Amazing at multiple positions". My barely-managed giggles were probably amplified by the fact that I had just had a VERY strong drink. Let's take hard alcohol (campari) and mix it with bubbly wine (prosecco) and nothing else, and call it a "spritzer". Ha!

Here's our summary of bests and worsts so far, jointly composed:

Bests:

• the scenery
• learning about history
• the art
• gelato!!
• most of the people

Worsts:

• squat toilets (really???)
• the super-crowded places we've been: Venice and San Gimignano
• bottled water
• a few of the people

Did I mention squat toilets?

So, today we'll see the sights of Siena. We have reluctantly accepted that we're not going to get to Lucca, the only city in Italy still completely ringed by the original city wall. It comes highly recommended by our travel guru, Rick Steves, and more importantly, by Patricia, but we are really sticking to the slower-is-better ideal.