I had two weeks off work with nothing special planned, so decided to go away somewhere for the second week. Some furious internet searching plus conversations with the good Cecilia and ChatGPT has resulted in my being in Siena, Italy, right now.
The journey here had its challenges. My flight was from Heathrow with a (short) change in Zurich. The LHR-ZHR flight was delayed by about 40 minutes so when we landed I was desperate to get off the aircraft and over to the next departure gate. I was in row 35, also known as “the back”. It’s a good exercise in self-control to be desperate to deplane whilst stuck behind 200-odd people, none of whom has any sense of urgency.
Finally off, I had to go through passport control to enter the Schengen zone. Only a short queue, but the guy in front of me had a passport that was just a smidge too foreign for the passports officer’s taste so a phone call was needed. My hopping from foot to foot did not seem to make the phone call any quicker.
Eventually admitted, I scampered though Zurich airport and finally arrived at the gate. There was a bus to take us out to the aircraft. The bus was full, but having made it this far I was not to be deterred. I dispensed with a fellow traveller’s desire for personal space, squeezed on board and we were off.
We landed in Florence an hour later, and I caught the tram into city. A 20 minute journey, cost €1.70. There’s a lesson for you there, Transport for London. Next, a train to Siena. The very nice girl in the information booth told me that part of the line was closed so I needed a train, a bus, and another train. She wrote it all down for me: departure times, arrival times, route numbers and - maybe I came across as a stupid foreigner - wrote “BUS” next to the middle leg of the journey.
The hotel I’m staying in had helpfully said that they were located “at the top of the escalators” at Siena station. There were no escalators at Siena station. After this challenging start, and after checking that I was indeed at Siena station, I put the hotel address into Google Maps. This, as we shall shortly see, was a mistake.
Google Maps took me to a shopping centre next to the station and this was fully equipped with escalators. The direction they went in matched Google Maps so off I went. After three successive escalators there were two ascending moving walkways. And then three more escalators. Eventually I emerged, considerably higher than I’d started, on the main road through Siena. Google Maps said the hotel was 1km away. Off I set in the hot afternoon sun with my suitcase, slightly up hill.
When I arrived where GM said the hotel was, it wasn’t. I hunted around to no avail. I then had a brainwave and put the hotel name rather than the address into Google Maps. Of course GM knew where the hotel was. And of course it was (pretty much) at the top of the escalators as the hotel had said. I set off back the way I came and arrived at the hotel early evening.
With a package tour - met at the airport by a smiling rep and whisked directly to the hotel in an aircon’d coach - you’d miss all this.
I had a quick wander around and found somewhere to eat. The town is pretty by night but I was tired after travelling all day so I didn’t dwell.
Today I walked around. A lot: 25,000+ steps. It was mostly getting my bearings and carrying out some essential shopping. With the temperature being 33º, water was high on the shopping list as was a robust water bottle to put it in.
I did spend some time in Piazza del Campo, the main “square” in the middle of Siena. It’s not square, but I’m planning on returning there later this week and will say more about it then. Also on the “later this week” list is the cathedral and a visit to Pisa. Apparently they have a problem with a building there and I’m going to see whether it’s fixable. I mean, how hard can it be?
The shops at one end of the main town are mostly local independent shops (nice); the other end has a mix of independent and more familiar names. I did like the fruit display at this shop:
I also found a little fashion shop that I liked. I’m sometimes reticent to wear the latest fashions or to mix clothing combinations without first consulting one of My Girls. I fear being stared at and thought odd (silly, I know). The little sign to the right of the doorway of Il Momento has, however, reassured me.
I shall be braver in future.
