Siena Bad Fashion Edition

So I have been collecting for this entry since week one of my trip. Upon arriving in Siena I started to notice many blatantly bad dressers. Seeing how Italians are known for good fashion I thought it would be fun to document the fact that everywhere had people who may think they are fashionable but they are just over the top. I even feel as if it may be worse here in that people are pretty bold in every way. These are just a few of my favorites!

Disclaimer: I want to state that I am not a mean person and I even think that these people are most likely very nice and definitely confident.

Jasmine Pants

I am dedicating a section to my favorite look of the trip. I like to call them Jasmine pants (as in the princess from Aladdin). Jasmine pants are always saggy in the crotch area. Leg bagginess is sometimes also a part of the look and in rare cases they can be a overalls at the same time. In some instances the subject wearing Jasmine pants may look like she is wearing a diaper. I really hope this trend does not cross the waters and make it all the way to Texas. I will never wear it and I don't really like to look at it.

Randoms

You can't exactly tell here but this woman was overkill on all things bad. The floral pants are a bit Jasmine, then not only is she wearing a sweater around her waste but it is secured by a belt that did have bling in the front. This bottom half was topped with a faux leather jacket complete with fur trim. Enough said!

I feel as if the sweater around your neck is a bit played out unless you are at a country club or on a yacht. Also unless you are a middle school girl you should not be calling your friend before you go somewhere so you can match.

The shoe selection here is generally good, however these shoes are just bad for anyone other than a girl under the age of twelve. This particular pair was worn by a middle aged man.

Week Three

Monday

I may be one of the only people that would go on an hour and a half pilgrimage in the name of gelato and wine. That was what today was all about. I took a bus to San Gimignano, home of what is said to be the best gelato around. I won’t deny the claim. The Gelateria di Piazza has the most unique flavors I have ever heard of. In my bowl I tried three flavors: Champelmo (grapefruit and sparkling wine), Crema di Santa Fina (pine nuts and saffron), and Amedei Chocolate. My sister got Rosemary Baby (raspberry and rosemary), Venere Nera (blackberry and lavender), and Hazelnut. Every flavor was the delicious but my top two were Crema di Santa Fina and the Hazelnut. I planned on going back for more before we left town but I had a headache so I couldn’t hang.

The other notable item that comes from San Gimignano is a white wine varietal called Vernaccia. I was pleased to find that it was dry with hint of acidic fruit. Just my type of summer patio wine. My sister and I each bought two bottles! Reminds me of my favorite Italian white varietal Insolia. We will see if this one truly lives up to the taste I think it will. If so I hope it is easier to find in the US.

As you can see the view from the city wasn't too bad either!

Tuesday

The headache I had Monday intensified and kept me home most of the day. Nothing very exciting to say about that. I did however go out for a glass of wine in the afternoon and got shit on by a bird for the first time in my life. Someone said it is good luck. Not sure I could agree with that.

Wednesday

Today we decided it was time for another beach day. We really had no education on what beaches were best so we just got on the linea a mare and made it happen. There were four stops in all so we figured we probably shouldn’t do the first and definitely not the last. The first stop passed and it looked pretty good. Stop two was the train station, not a choice. Third stop it was. The beach was nice but it was pretty resorty so most of the best spots were taken up by resort chairs and umbrellas. All in all a nice day though. I had sun, sand and the sea so I was a happy girl. On the way back we determined that the first stop was definitely the way to go. We could see a great spot that even had sand volleyball and all that.

Thursday

Today was uneventful during the day. Got a run in, baked some cookies, and then I just got bored. In the late afternoon we decided there wasn’t anything better to do than open a bottle of wine and then we got the bright idea to go to the one and only Mexican restaurant. As before stated I have been warned that it is not good, but I needed even the worst Mexican food to get through one more week to the real deal. We ordered very carefully and it was satisfying, even though it was not delicious.

Post dinner we decided to finally stop into the bar on the way home that it always busy. We never pass to anything but a full crowd. This proved to be one of the best ideas we had in awhile. Before we had drinks in our hands we met Americans! Now let me clarify; I am not a closed minded person who only wants to befriend people like me. I would love to have been able to make friends with the locals, but due to a lack of communication I had to settle for my own people. As we got to talking with our new found friends we found out that two of the guys are roommates with my sister’s boyfriend, proving that it is such a small world. I am not sure the girls liked us stealing their attention much, but there were a few nice girls and all of the guys were friendly.

Friday

A crazy rain and hail storm kept us in during the day. On the upside it was beautiful and I got some good pictures from my vantage point.

Our new friends invited us to eat dinner at their place, but we politely declined and just went to hang out after. We decided a pre-Palio party night was a must. So we headed out for our longest night out yet. We started early and stayed out until past four. This is the night were I became completely aware that I was the second oldest one in the group and almost everyone else was between the ages of twenty and twenty-two. I just don’t have it like that anymore. I mean I made it, but I paid the next day. It wasn’t even so much about the amount of alcohol, but the amount of time I was awake. Geez I feel old!

Saturday

Saturday was the day of the Palio. The Palio is a traditional horse race in Siena that happens twice a year in the summer. There is a horse track built in the main piazza for the event and most people are in the center with a limited amount of tickets sold for seats around the outer perimeter. The different neighborhoods are represents by contradas whose horses race in the Palio. There is a lottery each Palio to decide which contradas get to race (ten each time). During the day of the race the horses are blessed in the church and each contradas color guard parade around the town with real hair wigs and all. It feels like you are still in a medieval time. Everything seemed good and fine until we were in the center of the track and the gates were closed until the end of the race. I became acutely aware of the large amount of people in a relatively small space. There was not space to move and I couldn’t see anything. I tried to get to the less crowded middle but people would not let me through. I have never felt so anxious in my life. At the end of it all the horse from the Oca or goose contrada was the winner and I happened to have taken a picture of him as he was being brought back to his contrada after being blessed that morning.

Week Two

Sunday

We decided to have a pretty chill day today. Initially we wanted to go to the coast, but we didn’t wake up until noon, so that was out of the question. We opted to take blankets and lay in the sun and read at the Fortezza Medicea. Nothing too exciting but the weather was nice.

Since I am already tired of Italian food we decided to go out to eat anything that wasn’t. Our choices were limited to a couple of Chinese restaurants, kebobs or a Mexican food place that we have been warned against. Chinese was the best possibly option in this situation so off we went. Of the two choices we picked our venue and unfortunately we chose poorly. The only dominant flavor was salt. On the upside the meal was cheap and we ended up sitting by and talking to some British boys. They were on a Cricket tour and were in Siena for a couple of days. We had a very surface level conversation with them, but it was extremely satisfying to even have meaningless banter with a stranger. It reminded me of how social I am and how normal it is for me to chat with strangers.

Monday

Today I decided on no make up and work out clothes all day. I love to have these days every once in awhile and I was due for one. It was also prep day for our trip to Siena so we were just running errands and packing for the most part anyway. The only thing of substance I did was take a walk to a place I had never been. Rachel and I set out to walk to the train station to see how long it took so we could decide when we had to leave in the morning. Along the way we found a random escalator on a street corner and decided to take a ride. It took us underground and then to the exit of the walls of the city. We walked on discovering a very nice more rural area with beautiful trees and quaint restaurants and gellaterias. It turned into an aimless walk to see what we could see. It was nice to experience a different part of Siena that you never would go for a purpose unless you lived there. We then had to refocus and start over to take the walk to the train station. By the end of the entire journey both Rachel and I were sporting some serious farmer tans on our legs after walking for about two hours in the afternoon sun.

Tuesday

I am not the most fond of travel days and this was to be just that. Our flight was out of Pisa so that meant two trains before the plane and then a bus on the other side. We thought it would be smart to break the day up by playing tourist in Pisa before our flight. Sounded like a good idea in theory but it ended up being a tragic waste of time. Let me start by saying the day was an extremely hot one and add that we had to take our backpacks around Pisa with us. We got in, located a map and discovered we had to walk all the way to the other side of the city. No big. Or that’s what we thought until we were sweaty tired and over it. We took signature pushing the tower and holding it up and then we were done with Pisa. We realized that Pisa doesn’t have much more to offer than the tower and an airport. We gave ourselves about 4 hours too long in the city and opted to sit in the airport rather than the hot sun.

Upon arriving in Ibiza we were smelly and hungry. Checked in and rinsed and then we decided it was time to conquer hunger. This ended up being another greater task than expected. Everything around where we were staying was super touristy and low quality. We walked and walked until finally we were about to settle. Then Rachel spotted a quaint place in the corner with a blackboard menu and a cute outdoor seating area (not sure that it even had a name). The options were given to us verbally and we chose a few tapas items and a pitcher of sangria. Our server was a one man show who also went in the back and cooked our food. I know this because I could see into the window to the kitchen from my seat. Great success!

Wednesday

One of my great loves in life it the beach so this day was perfect. If you want to make me happy take me to the ocean and give me some sun block and I will be content for hours! We went to the main beach in San Antoni, the area where we were staying, only breaking for lunch. We spent hours lazy in the sun reading, drinking delicious San Miguel’s and taking occasional dips in the water.

Wednesday evening we tried the Asian thing again. This time we went to a combination Chinese and Thai restaurant with no expectation for greatness. It was mediocre and the price was right. After dinner we retired to a beach front bar for drinks and to watch the sun set. The place was really cute and very chill. A little later we decided it was time to pump it up so we went to crowded west end bar district. It’s the kind of place where people are on the corner trying to compete for your business with the best drink special. We settled on Hush because we could get two crappy vodka drinks and three shots for 6 Euro. The atmosphere was good but it wasn’t crowded enough, so post drinks we headed to a club called Eden with some new found British friends. We got our fill of dancing about the time when I felt like one of the boys was getting a little too comfortable. Comfortable enough to make a move. I may not have a bf but I have someone and on top of that I am not that kind of girl. It was time to put our escape plan into action. We excused ourselves to the bathroom, found the exit and disappeared, heading in for the night.

Thursday/Friday

This day started out fairly well we took a bus across the island to Eivissa, which is the main city. On the way there I thought I had the travel experience of the day when an older local woman was ranting in spanish non stop at too dads that did not have their kids in their lap when people (not even her) had to stand. She went so far as to make one of the gentlemen show her he had bought a ticket for his son, therefore he was entitled to a seat, before she would shut her mouth. We made it to Platja des Figuerettes, one of the main beaches there, for another day in the sun. Another nice day at the beach. Before an evening of travel.

Ok so I would say I have traveled a relatively great amount in my life. I have conquered many cities train, tube and bus systems with ease. This night was proof that I can still screw myself in a bad way when it comes to public transportation. When we got in from the airport we had to take a shuttle to the main station in Pisa. When we bought our train ticket the machine said we had only two minutes to departure. Now this is where me being deliriously tired messed up our entire night. I thought that the board said platform 8 to Firenze at 32 past the hour, which I still believe to be true. We literally ran to the platform but the train was already gone from 8 (that’s the theory). Then I realized there was one leaving at that time to Livorno at platform 9 right next to us. I know the time was right so I figured I could have had the final station and platform wrong. I had a quick second to make a decision before it would pull out and leave us. Knowing that train service gets spotty around the eleven o’clock hour I knew if we missed it and it was it that we would be waiting some time. So split second decision we got on knowing that Livorno was in the same general direction as our connecting station and that maybe I just was tired enough to get it wrong on the board. BAD choice. As soon as we got on I had a feeling that we were wrong, but we could do nothing but assess the situation after the short 15 minute ride to Livorno. Upon asking at arrival my fear was confirmed, we had just missed the proper train, this was not it. We were told to go to platform three or we would have to take a bus. We ran to 3 as the train pulled out leaving us behind. It was one of those moments where you think you made it and then you realize the doors are closed and no matter how important you think you are they are pulling out and not stopping for you. We then discovered the station was closed, no buses were running and that we were stuck in a sketchy place late at night. We had just over an hour to wait for the next train to back track to Pisa and fix everything. The place was deserted except for a few homeless looking men here and there. Not the best feeling. Even though I knew everything would turn out fine I felt the responsible thing to do would be to let someone know...just in case. We waited, hungry and tired, for an hour and then successfully made it back to Pisa only to discover that missing the train in Livorno put us onto a bus to our connection in Empoli instead of a train. We met some Turkish engineering students who were taking their one opportunity in life to travel and passed the next hour of waiting for the bus learning a little bit about Turkish culture. The chain reaction continued. When we got to Empoli at 2:30 only to find that the next train would not be until 6:30. The bus driver suggested we continue to Florence with a better chance for a train. By the time we arrived there around 3AM the train station was closed until after 4 AM so we couldn’t even be certain when the next train to Siena would depart. This was when we had to make a choice hang out at the train station all night or get a room. The part of me that was still sandy and un-showered wanted a room, but my practical side took over and we decided to tough it out with our new Turkish friends who had a train departing at 4:30. The time passed relatively fast until we were finally able to board our train at 5:30AM and start our final journey to our Siena home. We finally got in around 7:30AM and after our lengthy walk home we showered, wound down and crashed. Needless to say the rest of our Friday was uneventful and not worth mentioning.

Week One in Siena

Tuesday

Got to see the city but I was so tired that really I couldn’t get oriented. My favorite part of day one was the wine store. I am obsessed with the shop where you can fill your wine bottles. You go in and they have these huge metal containers of wine. There is no brand name just the varietal, where it is from and the alcohol percentage. Shockingly enough it is incredibly delicious. I even was able to obscure an Insolia! For those of you who were around in the Corvina days this was Erin and my favorite varietal for a patio wine back then. It hales from Sicily, as does my heritage, making it is a perfect match! I left convinced that there is a way I could start this in the US. I think if would be a huge success if I could do it as cheaply as they do here ( 3.20 Euro for 2 bottles). Even if it was a little bit more I think it would be fantastic. I might have to move toCalifornia, since that is where the US wine is, but I want to make this happen!!!

The other notable activity of the day was sitting on the “second slice,” as my sister’s boyfriend Gabrio calls it, in the Piazza del Campo. People bring out a drink at what would be happy hour and just sit and enjoy others company. I was able to meet some of my sister’s friends and drink a white wine with a cute little story written on the bottle in Latin. After the story was recited by Gabrio I was in love. A story I will not tell here because I will save it for the person who I bought a bottle for. The wine is decent, the story I love, but then I am the silly girl who falls for anything that can be explained with a story.

Wednesday

Today I finally got to the good stuff….gelato! The dairy here is different and in turn the gelato is better in way I can barely describe. I think it may just be creamier and this makes sense because the milk here just seems thicker. It took me a day to get to one of my favorite Italian things which is shocking. My favorite flavor it still pistachio and we will see if in the coming days another flavor can take over as my personal best.

We also went to a tea room that is my sister’s favorite. Before we left Kenneth made me aware that the lunar eclipse was occurring. A fact I am embarrassed to admit that I was ignorant of until it was brought to my attention. I was lucky to know because it was absolutely stunning. I was lucky enough that on the walk to the tea room I was able to locate the orange glow of the eclipse in its beginning stages. We stopped and observed it when we go to the perfect spot. I was lucky that the tea room was located on a terraced area where the view was perfect for seeing the moon. I was able to periodically go out the door to check the progress of the eclipse, as did many others. The tea room itself was quaint and the mojito that I had there was delicious as was the limoncello cream cake that we devoured.

Thursday

Today Rachel and I had the most beautiful picnic under a peach tree in the botanical garden. We spread out our blanket and enjoyed salami, prociutto, bread, caprese salad, and a Moretti. We then read books and napped for some time. It was a very nice carefree way to spend an afternoon in Italy.

In the evening we went to a happy hour on a rooftop. It was a wonderful space and the drinks were completely delicious. They only had a few choices. What I had was called a Moma. So delicious I will be making them at home when I return. The only ingredients were lime muddled like with brown sugar, vodka, tonic, and some canned tea, finished with cucumbers; very refreshing. The only problem was that we couldn't talk to anyone. Hardly anyone there spoke any English, so Rachel and I sat at a table, later joined by some Italians, but were unable to converse with anyone but each other. I feel as if visiting with others is the majority of the purpose of happy hour and this goal was simply not met.

Friday

We got up early and went to the organic market that occurs each Friday. It is just like a farmers market that we would have at home. We successfully bought some produce, including what smell and seem to be green chiles. We gathered the most Mexican ingredients all around town. We later made enchiladas, crispy tacos, salsa, avocado salsa, guacamole, and margaritas. Our guests were all true Italians. They seemed to like everything. It is crazy to me that there are people in the world that don't know what margaritas and enchiladas are. Raising awareness may need to be one of my life goals. People should know about Tex-Mex!

Later in the evening Rachel and I had had enough of not understanding the conversations around us so we headed out to a pub for a beer. There were many beers unknown to me. I had something called an Affligen blonde ale and she had a Murphy's Irish red. We sat on the patio and had our English conversation while everyone around us spoke in Italian. This is becoming the trend of our trip. I mean I can often understand the gist by picking up key words and phrases, however it is exhausting. I have to watch peoples mouths and expressions intently to understand what they are saying. Anyway we finished our night off with some good on British Strongbow! They had it on tap which always makes it taste better! Delish!

Saturday

Our Saturday is off to a good start. We slept in and then Rachel and I got up and went to work out at the fortress. We ran stairs and did sit ups and push ups after each trip down. We are incredibly out of shape. After that we showered and headed back out for a panini. I was very disturbed to find mayo in my sandwich. If you know me at all you know I don't do white and creamy. Damn language barrier...I can't even ask a question like that. I scraped it off and made do Post panini we played tourist and walked around the city a bit and took some photos. Tonight we plan on going to Enoteca Italiana.

http://www.enoteca-italiana.it/w2d3/v3/view/enoteca/enosito2/pubblica/esc_en.html

It looks super cool. We are also going to inquire about wine tours while we are there. The wine tour that I went on during my last trip to Italy was very memorable so hopefully we will be able to arrange another.

Ciao!

Three Planes, a Train and an Automobile (a bus)

Made it with only one little obstacle. When I had to sit on my suitcase to zip it I had a feeling that it was overweight. The sort of feeling that you know is right but hope is wrong. Of course when I put my suitcase on the scale I was not shocked to find out that my suspicion was correct. Nine pounds overweight! I gently tried to talk the airline employee to let it slide, explaining that was to be gone nearly a month and needed everything in my bag. She repeated “nine pounds” to me and then said that it was just too much and suggested that I move some items to my backpack to avoid being charged. I opened my bag and was immediately discouraged from messing up my fantastic packing job that enabled me to stuff fifty-nine pounds worth of goods into one little suitcase. I told her I would pay for the extra weight….until I found out those nine extra pounds would cost me seventy-five dollars. Um I think not, especially when it only costs thirty-five dollars to check a whole second bag. This logic makes no sense to me. I was then forced to find the heaviest items that I could find in my bag and carry them in one of the purses I packed. So I walked around three airports with a random assortment of items on my back and in an extra bag. Included in my new carry on were a variety of shoes, a beach towel, books and hair brushes. I had to move fast or I could have probably made more prudent choices. As I re-situated after security I laughed at my choices and would love to think what the onlookers thought of me. I mean it looked like my brown and black wedges were just too precious for me to check. My back was not happy with my choice to over pack at the end of it all.

When I met with Rachel in Rome I was happy that this little issue was mine, hers was much worse. She was sick three times on her flight and we all know the phobia I have of vomiting. Since this phobia is based on my own experience of getting sick on a plane, I am glad I wasn’t even on the same plane with her or I would have had an incredibly uncomfortable trip.

We found the right train, got off the right stop and got on the right bus. All in all we had a successful 24 hours of travel and we are now in Sienna.

Count Down

So I am finally going to use this blog I pretended to start a long time ago. I decided it is a good way to document my trip to Siena. We will see how it goes. Twelve days until I go and all I have figured out is my flights and where I am staying. Guess it is time to get on it. My goal is to plan the bare minimum so that I can do whatever I feel like on a daily basis. To have true freedom with my time there. I have some things I might want to do and even some things that I really want to do, but none of my destinations or events are set in stone. The only things set in stone are the excess amounts of wine, carbs, gellato, and cappuccino I will consume!