First few trips to Siena

A door in Siena
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I've been to Siena a few times now and the pictures are from the last 2 times that I was there.

So far I've seen the Duomo (the main church in the town), the Duomo Museum, baptistry and crypt. I've also seen San Dominica which is another church and have spent time just wondering around the city and getting a feel for things.

An intresting and relaxing day off in Siena was the plan for today. Mission accomplished.

For my last trip to Siena I kept up a journal entry of what I did so here is a recounting of my day.

Il Campo
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An intresting and relaxing day off in Siena was the plan for today. Mission accomplished. It was raining on and off all day so I purchased the inclusinve Doumo pass which allowed me to visit the Baptistry, Crypt, Cathederal and museum of the Duomo. I checked out the Baptistry, Crypt and Museum before stopping for a pastry and tea at a little bar (aka cafe). I'm just overjoyed that for 2 dollars I can get a large fresh baked pastry and a cup of tea :-). I'm also getting used to standing to eat/drink instead of sitting down. But back to the day. The Baptistry was very nice but nothing that I was overly impressed with. The Crypt provided a free audio guide which had some intresting information on it. The Crypt is not actually a crypt which is what they thought it was when it was uncovered, but is the enterance way to the old church, on top of whichthe new church was built and so the enterance way was basicly filled in with debris from the demolition of the old church and built on. The Cathedral was beyond overwhelming. There is not an inch of it that is not covered with some sort of art work and it was filled with people. There were many very beautiful works of art and the floor tiles were amazing but it was just too much to take in at one time. The Cathedral also had a library in which was displayed many song and biblical text books with beautiful Illuminated Manuscripts. After this I decided I needed a sight seeing break and headed out with the intention of getting lost on the way to San Dominica (one of the other churches in town) and finding some lunch. While being lost on the way I found both lunch and some intresting things to take pictures of (some of the street and piazza photos). It was very nice to just wonder around, seeing and feeling the atmosphere. Everything here just has an incredible energy. The buildings are so intresting to just walk along and look at, they are all so different.

The wall of a random piazza
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I eventually made it to San Dominica and had the obligitory viewing of St. Catherines head, which is there because in order to be a certain type of cathedral you have to have a part of a saints body kept in you. It sounds quite odd to me but I'm sure there is some explaination behind it and some traditions that go with it as well. I liked San Dominica better then the Duomo. It was much quiter, was not covered with decorations, but had many well placed pieces of art which made the church very nice yet not overwhelming. It was also quiet and I took some time to sit and just relax and write. After my visit with St. Catherine I headed back into town to do some window shopping and relax in the Campo until it was time to meet Pam and head back to the house.