Friday 3 August 2007

Whilst Jo and Paul went off to make the final arrangements for their wedding, Mum, Dad and I spent the morning exploring Siena, looking at the many varied historical buildings and checking out the Contrada fountains. We took a bus tour of the city, which was interesting and showed far more than we would have seen had we just been walking around, giving us information on the various Contradas and churches that were dedicated to them.

Piazza del Campo

After lunch in a café, Mum and I then visited the Torture Museum down by the Piazza del Campo, whilst Dad went back to the hotel for a rest. This was an interesting if rather gruesome museum containing over 100 pieces of torture equipment each with information detailing their uses. The worst part about it is that many of the items on display are still used in certain parts of the world on a regular basis and the addition of electricity makes them even more dangerous. We then took a slow walk back to the hotel, stopping for a bit of shopping en-route, where I bought some beautiful silver and amber heart shaped stud earrings from a lovely and unusual jewellery shop.

Piazza del Campo

In the evening those of us staying at the hotel made our way to the Piazza del Campo where we met up with the rest of the wedding party. All 23 of us went to one of the Piazza restaurants where we had another lovely meal which was followed by a few drinks in one of the Piazza’s bars. He evening soon became an impromptu stag/hen night and great fun was had by all. The last few of us finally made our way back to the hotel at approximately 2am.

Sharon & Jo

Karen & Jo
(Photos from Mum and Dad)

Thursday 2 August 2007

Thursday morning Mum, Dad and I set off for Siena expecting the journey to take just under 2 hours. Unfortunately, the route map that had been given to us sent us round the outskirts of Florence and we got caught in the traffic on the ring road so instead the journey took well over 3 hours. Jo and Paul were waiting for us when we finally found the hotel Il Chiostro del Carmine which was a beautiful ex Carmelite monastery towards the top end of the town. The stairs were a death trap and it was a hearty walk to get up them, but the rooms were generally very nice and the view from Jo & Paul’s window was exquisite showing the quintessential Tuscan countryside I had always imagined it.

Having settled into our respective rooms we all took a drive to San Gimignano, a beautiful hill town about 40 minutes drive from Siena. A few pleasant hours were spent walking its streets, taking in the attractive scenery including the famous towers and doing a little shopping. We found a lovely store called L’Erbario Toscano, which is similar to L’Occitane. Jo bought some rose perfume and I bought the cinnamon & orange perfume and shower gel. Of course there was ice cream – in my case scrummy hazelnut.

Once back at the hotel we met up with Sharon and Gerard (Jo’s Matron of Honour and friend from Australia and her hubby) and made our way to a great restaurant, the ‘Antica Osteria da Divo’ which is actually housed in some Etruscan Tombs. The food was interesting and very good with such fare as pici pasta with wild mushrooms, risotto served in a pecorino cheese and tuscan beef. Between courses we were plied with extras, a glass of sparkling wine as an aperitif, a cheese and ham dumpling whilst waiting for our starters and a tuscan cake whilst waiting for desserts, with chocolates and biscuits with the coffee. It was a very reasonable meal, and we all left completely stuffed. Jo mentioned that they had wanted to hold their reception there, but unfortunately the layout of the restaurant (it is on 3 levels) meant that we wouldn’t have been able to all sit together – a shame as it was a really lovely place.

(Thanks to Jo and Gerard for the photos)