Siena-Part 2

The Museums: After visiting the Piazza del Campo we hit the museums and major cathedrals of Siena. First was the Museo Dell' Opera del Duomo. No photography was allowed inside the museums so I don't have pics from them. (Not that it would have mattered, because I lost them in my memory chip accident.) This museum had a lot of ancient sculptures that just blew me away. I wish I had pics. We were able to climb to the top, however, and me and Grandma took some pics from up there. Guess what? MORE STAIRS!!!!! Me and Grandma counted on the way back down. In that museum alone we climbed up and down over 500 stairs total. Here's us at the top:

















Grandpa didn't go in with us, but we could see him from way up there. Look how small he is! And that's zoomed in quite a bit.













The Duomo was really cool because most of the art work was in the tile on the floor. Amazingly intricate pictures carved into huge slabs of marble. It's unreal how that sort of thing was preserved.

Next to the Cripta (another museum) there is a set of STAIRS. On the top step there is a tile with a cross on it. According to legend, that is where Saint Catherine was pushed to her death. (The stairs weren't there yet, so there was just a cliff) She's a hailed martyr here.

We stopped for a quick lunch on the street. This is the first time I've been here where I had a sandwich on bread even remotely similar to bread in Utah. (That's Grandpa's wine, not mine. He told me to hold it for the picture. :)

















Next we went to the Cripta, Battistero, and Santa Maria Della Scala. All are museums full of amazing art work, sculptures, relics, artifacts, marble carvings, etc. Some of them even had cloth with unbelievable hand stitched embroidery. And I couldn't take pictures of anything. Not that it matters. Blast it all.

There's a building that we went to that...doesn't really have a ceiling. I mean, kinda, but not really. In the center of the building there is no ceiling, and it just opens up to the sky. If you're standing on the far end of the building, you can see the Piazza del Campo Clock Tower through the top. It's really cool.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped by what Grandpa calls 'The Baths.' We're not really sure what it was used for, but guess what?! There were a bunch of fish swimming in them, and some of them were gold fish! WOOT!!

From there we had to go up MORE STAIRS!!! I'm telling you, I'm going to have pretty sexy legs when I get back to the states.

For dinner I had another "first." This dish was pasta with Duck sauce. I've never had duck before, but it was pretty good.

After dinner we headed back to the Piazza del Campo, but we took a different route that involved many escalators. No joke, there are 6 or 7 sets/flights of escalators, maybe 20 steps each or so, before we get to the top. The cool thing is, the escalators don't start moving until you step right up to it. That way, they're only running when they have to be. But can you imagine how big that hill would seem if you had to WALK up all the STAIRS!?!?! I love escalators!

Back at the Piazza we had more Gelato for desert (from that really cute shop) and we sat in the square and looked at the clock tower and the beautiful sky behind it.





The sky was the most stunning shade of sapphire blue before fading to indigo then navy. It never really seemed to go black at all. A Picture Perfect moment, the best way to end the day. But, without an actual picture to show.