Day 50 Frescati
Thursday January 24th.
Did not sleep well again. Woke up at 4am to work on blogs.
I think I am a little home sick – trying to ignore it and not long for home but I am a little anxious to get back to work.
I really would like to find a place to settle down with internet access for a few days to catch up on things. Maybe we can find a long weekly rate somewhere.
I can hear Aria sighing – my typing must be bothering her. She will be 14 tomorrow.
Not sure what we are going to do today – perhaps continue on to Sienna or Firenze.
I wish I spoke Italian.
I read the guide book for a while and given the number of things to do in Tuscany we decided to head to Sienna. We have the car for a few more days and we can use it to take days trips out of Sienna.
We grab our pastry and cappuccino breakfast, load up and head out of town.
The drive is actually quite smooth – we head towards Napoli so we can catch the highway to Firenze without hitting the ring road around Rome. One stop for drinks, bathroom and Allysha accidentally breaks a mug – she feels terrible. We arrive outside of Sienna without making a single wrong turn about 1pm.
The drive takes us through some very beautiful country – I cannot help but compare it to northern California but the valleys are smaller and of course the medieval towns in the hills are unique. I feel more comfortable – I cannot put my finger on why but as we moved north the terrain and general feeling of familiarity was calming.
We study a map for a while and decide to head to a parking are near the information booth. I had read that there is limited traffic allowed and heavy fines for violating the rules and entering the areas so I am nervous but off we go. And chaos ensues – driving around and around through the limited traffic warning signs, cannot figure out where we are for about an hour – finally we stumble across a parking garage and I park – we head out by foot to figure out where we are.
We wander through the streets bordered by high buildings – it is cold and feels like a medieval city – of course it is. Eventually we stumble into the sunlight of the piazza del Camp – a seashell shaped Piazza – we warm up in the sun and study the maps – the information booth should be around here – oh and this is where the run the worlds shortest horse race – they fill it with dirt and race the horses around 100,000 spectators.
The shape of the piazza gives us the only clue as to direction and Pam disappears. We wait but cannot see her – I study the map and I viola – I figure out the information place is 200 feet behind us and to our left. We walk there all the time looking for Pam and discover her inside already deep into the search for a room. 2 options 1 inside the town and one 7km outside. We decide to stay inside walk to the hotel – the Cannon de … I recognize it from the guide book as there is small cannon in the lobby. The room is spectacular – and only 85 euro's.
We get a combined ticket for the Museo Dell'Opera, Bittistero, Cripta and Duomo – these should all be a single site – it makes no sense to see them separately but it is very interesting – again I am astounded by the effort and money invested in these religious sites.
We go out to a nice dinner the talk is mainly about Aria turning 14. Allysha becomes very moody and I notice a tear – she is crying because in only 4 years Aria is going to "move out." It is very moving.
Back to the room and then Allysha and I head out and find a small market where we get some fruit and snacks. I try the ATM card and it is still not working. Starting to get a little worried.
I grab a couple of books from the Hotel Library
Supermarket – fruit and snacks. ATM card is not working.
