Tuscany - till Venice

Venice

So we've arrived in Siena, and we've seen some hints of a party so we shouldn't have been surprised as we headed up the street to the centre of the old town, on the cusp of evening, that the quiet streets would soon be transformed into something out of Pamplona during their running of the bulls festival - sans the sunburnt English and the rowdy Aussies of course as these are very much locals. We've noticed a few more people but then suddenly we hear chanting, the sound of over 100 male voices singing a supporters song in unison, then one man is clearing the way for a man leading a horse followed by the source of the chanting, man after man with his supporters scarf marching along. We both comment that its all men, but then after a while its all women. Another horse and another group but this time it includes teenage boys and girls. Each group of supporters seems slightly different to the other and I'm not sure if its regional but they're all here to support their horse in the Palio which happens twice a year. The horse race around the perimeter of the central courtyard in the old town of Siena overlooked by 5 storeys of windows which allow privileged onlookers a great view and where wooden stands have been temporarily erected for others.

We find our way through the heaving throng of Italians to the centre and have a look around, its still early but there are riot police dotted around and Ben and I agree to find somewhere quieter and closer to our room for dinner. It is common to pay a cover charge and here it is 1.5 euro just to sit at a table per person, but the courtyard has an interesting statue of a woman and all her babies and we find also has decent food.

In the small white walled breakfast room we select our favourite from the array of simple food at the buffet. Ben's worked out that the croissant toppings indicate different fillings, Alila has worked out that if you pop the pat of Nutella open its sprays brown plops up the white wall. We can't help but laugh at the mess as we clean it off.

We load the car and head to Gimignano. Its hugely popular and we miss a park in the first two carparks so circle the wall below the city, as we approach Carpark 3 the number of parks on the board drops as car after car takes a park. 30 parks left, 25 parks left, we're through the barrier but way down the bottom so its a hike to the stairs that lead up into the city but we have legs and are glad for the park. We find the lolly shop with barrels of lollies and Ben and the girls select a few each for their bag, Alila is onto it and chooses the biggest lollies. We don't do a great job of choosing lunch, the girls won't touch their pizza claiming its disgusting and mine leaves me vomiting in the petrol station carpark and praying Ben can drive faster to the loo we've found on google maps.

We find our way into Florence (or at least the loo in Florence) after our Agriturismo failed to confirm our accommodation tonight so Ben has rebooked near the train station which works well as we drop Panda off early and a hop skip, bump and jump to the hotel. There's definitely a thunderstorm brewing here but we head out to see how much we can see before it drops. When the rain does come down its fast and heavy, made more dramatic as the bells start tolling at the same time. The masses of people move to shelter and life pauses. The thunder and lightening don't come till bedtime, I'm thinking it is a tv or maybe some retro disco as there are so many flashes strobing together. Thirty minutes later I have to shut the curtain to try and sleep, I've never seen anything like it and will always remember our night in Florence.

We find our train, our nice seats and what's this! Are we are facing backwards? April finds this quite to her liking. Apart from being in a mask it's a pleasant 2 or so hours to Venice a short trip because we reach speeds of 290kn/h. Approaching Venice the girls have their little noses pressed to the window, watching the boaters, fishermen and seeing the edge of the city appear - where the buildings seem to sit right on top of the water. We drop our bags at the hotel which Ben has booked nice and close to the train station, navigating the street all 600m through the heat and crowd is plenty far enough. We stretch our legs all the way to San Marco square and after the Cathedral in Florence is seems slightly less impressive, we don't line up but head back to our hotel. Ben tells the girls that they can have gelato, but not from the first 3 stores, there's just that many gelato stores here. We pass 1, then 2, we haven't gone far when we pass number 3, then I spot the most delicious display of chocolates and what do you know it's a gelato store. I select several deliciously expensive looking chocolates and the others get a scoop of gelato.

The girls are extremely tired at this point so we stop for a midafternoon rest under the shade of an umbrella, the girls are squabbling and April is complaing about being too tired to stand so we settle on a shady park bench which could well be the only one in Venice. It's not even two minutes before she's up chasing pigeons around the tables, kids!

Up over the bridge to home we bump into two Australian women, we haven't seen many people from our side of the world, and as we're chatting a group of jubilant Hare Krishnas dance there way into the courtyard and spend 10 minutes chanting and dancing with their twangy sound through the mike which takes me back to New Years in Whanga. We stop to appreciate the energy they are giving out.

At the dining tables on the patio of our hotel a strange lamp without a base sits on each table, curiosity wins and we find a strong magnet holds it upright, we notice the curiosity of others also, you literally hear the pin drop as the lower magnet falls off when they lift the lamp. It is our last night in Italy so we order one last pasta dish or two then Ben and the girls race share a banana split buried in cream. There's some confusion when I ordered my drinks and I end up double parked, which is fine cause I'm skipping all that whipped cream.

In the morning the canal barges unloading cargo for the nearby businesses can be heard below as our window is over the canal. We love waving at the water buses and watching all the tourists come and go, Alila also see a water ambulance race past - lights flashing. We leave our bags at reception and head out before it the daily influx of day visitors arrive. Lucky those declicious chocolates are still hiding in my purse the next mornnig as it turns out they're perfect for breakfast if everyone else is enjoying delicious pastries. We meander the streets, cross canals, get a little lost, find ourselves then head back to have lunch before the train whisks us far away to new lands.

Arrivaderci Italy