8/10/12

Siena day 3

We awoke the this morning to find the the whole area covered in a Blanket of fog, we're lucky to be able to see 10 feet in front of us.

I thought to myself, that is great,it is hard enough to drive as it is, now to drive in fog, you got to be dreaming. We waited about an hr and the fog seemed to lift a little ,so away we went, we going to see a village by the name of Siena.

The drive was much better as the girl Shirley and Di were better a giving me direction as I found it hard trying to focus on driving and finding which exit to take. It took about 45minutes to arrive at Siena and to find a parking place,you are not allowed to enter certain areas of these towns with a car, unless you live there. 

Found the parking, got directions , up the escalators to the top of the hill, and we  are, in the historical section of Siena, mainly built in the 13century, this is to be a place I will remember forever as we had some fascinating sight seeing, a climb up a bell tower of the ' Duomo ( church) 503 steps and took a few photos from up there  that are amazing.

After the climb, I'm sounding like an experienced climber , we thought it would a good time for lunch. Down this little lane we went ,cobble stone paths, rustic building, and there on the corner stood this beautiful ristorante called Le campane.

Straight away shirley went into her flirting routine with the waiter an he accommodated her every move, was quite funny, who would flirt the most, we decided it to be a draw. 

The meals  we order were fabulous, myself,I had wide Italian mushrooms, Shirley had onion pie on a bed of red bean curd and artichoke chips, Dianne had grilled prawns on a chip pea bed, all were delicious. We all had a side of roasted veggies

A great day had been had,time to travel back to the villa and prepare for the reason we are here for, Jenny's birthday bash. This is the highlite of the stay so far ,wine, champagne, food , cooked by Italians in the traditional Italian way. First course, cold meat and melon plate, prima course,home made pasta, this just melts in your mouth on entry, seconda course, chicken (pollo) and meat (carne) cooked to perfection on the bar-b-que,served with crunchy potatoes. Desert was a really large birthday cake that seemed to have a fair bit of liquor in it. I think I may have eaten too much as my stomach felt like it would burst, but apart from that the whole night went off well.

I have had trouble with Internet connection as there is none at the villa so the Tuscany blog will come as I find contacts.