09.10.2020-blue sky and delicious Piadina

09.10.2020

Dear friends,

I am completely exhausted, not just physically.

The morning started with a relaxed and calm: 'Look, is that mint?' and suddenly a damp, cold green branch was held under my nose. Great start to the day.

Our destination was the nearby Siena, which we reached in such cold temperatures that Dad got chilly in his shorts. The first challenge for today was to find an escalator that connects the train station to the city 80 meters higher. It doesn't sound complicated, because an escalator should stand out, but there was none to be found. Not a single escalator, only a few steps that didn't even cover the first third of the hill. As we followed the crowd into the nearby shopping center, we were amazed when, after three floors, there was only a single escalator leading up. Once we successfully arrived, we were immediately rewarded with a magnificent view of the surrounding Tuscany and surprisingly quickly found the city walls even without the help of our mobile phones. Our intelligence is not only measured by the battery level of our phones, but also by the number of maps distributed in the city.

After a walk through the city that was way too long for Dad, we arrived at a beautiful open square, which was quite impressive compared to the surrounding narrow streets. The city walls are characterized by a grey-brown stone, which gracefully carries the signs of time, but sadly many houses look a bit old and dilapidated. However, this adds to the overall picture of the city, which is dominated by the cathedral and what a cathedral it is.

The exterior is just as beautifully decorated as the interior, and the sheer power of this church takes your breath away. The countless paintings and altar pictures kept in its museums can only be surpassed by the view from the Facciatone on the museum building. The whole city lies at your feet and you can see gentle green hills stretching to the horizon. Our way back was made even better by a Piadina that we got at the shopping center near the escalator. It tasted completely different from the last one, incredibly delicious, I melted.

Afterwards, we visited an archaeological site near Roselle. I should mention that I already fell asleep regularly during this trip and woke up when my head jerked to the side. When the car stopped and I had to get out because we had arrived, my motivation hit rock bottom. After all, it was way too hot and the archaeological finds were on a hill. But we went in, and it was so worth it. I saw my first real snake! It was about the width of two fingers, 70cm long, and green, grey, and black mottled - so cool. It even stopped for a moment so that I could examine it closely, but unfortunately there wasn't enough time for a photo and I was too excited anyway. Probably all the pictures would have been blurry. Well, the ruins were also super cool, and there were lizards everywhere again. I'm still fascinated by the remains of the amphitheater, which were only two meters high, but still had amazing acoustics in the room. We could admire cyclamen everywhere (officially no longer only in the Alps) and yellow crocuses.

As we set off for Saturnia, the ten different signs in the villages indicating something interesting in the area changed to ten identical grape symbols with various names behind them, and our drive only allowed alternating views of olive trees or grapevines. We were only granted a brief glimpse of the thermal springs, but we will feel them up close tomorrow.

See you soon and I'm looking forward to it.