Siena - frozen hills and frozen heads

Before I forget the events of our Siena trip, I thought I'd jot down some key moments.  First, we didn't realize there was a difference between the regular Siena bus and the 'Siena Rapida' bus.  We ended up taking the regular Siena route which took us about twice as long through the most random towns.  Every time we passed a sign with an arrow pointing toward Siena we would go the opposite way.  We eventually made it and managed to find our little hotel without getting completely lost.  I thought Florence was an old city but the streets and architecture of Siena gave me a new definition of old.  

We don't stand out at all do we?

While walking around in our group of 10 I realized we were pretty much the only tourists out that day, which was a nice change from the busy streets of Florence.  However, the reason we were the only people around was because it was freezing and Italians decided to hibernate instead.  Yes, it was cold, but nothing compared to the Chicago/Ann Arbor winters I am used to!  

Me and my roommate Bre in the Piazza del Campo

The weather kept us from being able to see a few sites, but the biggest challenge was navigating the streets without falling.  At one point, we had to scale down a very steep street that was coated with a layer of ice.  This process took about 20 minutes and I can honestly say I have never laughed so hard in my life for no reason.  That night, despite the freezing temperatures, we decided it was a good idea to get some gelato.  We went to a place called Grom which is also in Florence and even New York.  The gelato man gave me and all my friends a 50% discount because he heard I was gluten-free, so my friends were all very excited.

One of the coolest things we saw was inside the Basilica of San Domenico.  We were casually walking around and saw a sign that said several relics of Saint Catherine of Siena were contained inside the Chapel.  We looked closer and saw her real head sitting in the middle of the alter.  Note: it is kind of startling when you aren't expecting to see a head and then all of the sudden you see one.  Especially in a sacred place where you are supposed to be silent. 

St Catherine's head (Photo from Google Images)

I am already looking forward to Venice next weekend for Carnival, but tonight we are watching the Super Bowl at a bar with a bunch of other American students.  Go Pats!