Casa Ranieri Siena

... villes de la region, orvieto est construite sur une coline et Emilie la gentillement rebatise orvieto "la vile sur une bosse". C'est une petite ville encore fortifier, construite sur une tres ancienne ville creuse a meme la coline. il y a une grosse cathedrale (duomo) comme toutes les villes que nous avons vue, puis il y a plusieur point de vue sur la region.

en fin de journee, nous avons visiter quelques unes ...

... alone weren’t enough of a draw, the cathedral’s high archways and spectacular dome are supported by really interesting, black-and-white-striped marbled columns that were knock-your-socks-off striking and very unique to any other cathedral we’ve seen. (I likened the interior to “elegant Dr. Suess,” although I’m not yet sure that works!). Also, through a door on the north side, we toured the church’s hidden ...

We ended up in Orvieto sa we saw a friends photos of the catherdral and thought it was a must see. The cathedral was like a mini Florence Duomo, but 100% cleaner as the one in Florence is nearly black on the outside with pollution. The front facade on the cathedral is covered in beautiful gold leaf frescos that were glittering in the afternoon sunshine. Had a wander through the old town which was full of life as ...

... was not to be. A wander around the old town and its tiny Jewish ghetto - there was a population of around 400 Jews living here in the 16th century after all were banned from Rome by Pope Pius IV. Some of the best Etruscans ruins from 6BC were in the area so we hiked out of town to check them out. Mostly they consisted of carved out roads through the forested hills. There was also an ancient fountain. Not too exciting to look at but the walk itslelf was very nice :)

... hot soak was for our still achey muscles the rotten egg smell was hard for Kim to bear. She was able to block her nose and only breathe through her mouth so she did not gag - poor thing. A new item appeared on the menu tonight - delicious Tuscan pork and chicken sausages (the best ever!) with cous cous ala Gill, all washed down with a local sparkling Rose - yum!!!!! We thought we would have leftovers but no they were so good we gobbled up all 10!

Down the road from Montalcino we popped into St Antimo Abbey where the local monks say their (7!!) daily prayers in Georgian chants. We caught part of the 12.45pm prayers and enjoyed some down time while listening the chanting. The afternoon was glorious and once again we were in tshirts, so we made the most of it and had a picnic in the sun beside the Abbey.

... it. I miss you! we are gonna get some rest then go out to a club/bar tonight i think around 10??? Hopefully i get to talk to you before that but yeaaa.. i miss ya mister!!! ill write you a longer one soon. How was aloha sushi with the laptop and how was open mic?? did you get mics?? tell me everyttthing!! love ya sir. ttys!

Dear Journal (6/27/09, 8:20pm)
Sooo I am now just writing about what happened yesterday in Siena just so that we can all get a ...

... considerably refreshed we started to wander the charming streets of Siena. Great food shops with fabulous displays, churches, designer stores etc filled the city. We figured this must be a fairly upmarket area of Tuscany because of the amazing shops. While Gill and I were happy to browse in the windows and make the odd regional food purchase, Pete and Dave looked at the structure of these old buildings and how ...

... city center...15 right outside the front door (i cam in the back way!) excellent. leave bags with others in the lobby and head to city center. make not of the bus times going and coming. get off at the last stop in the plaza grimici i think it was and start heading the direction of everyone else! next thing i know i come to this huge plaza! and i realize it is the main plaza where i read the tourist office is. so i find that, get myself a map and head back to the plaza and sit and ...

... for everyone to read. Jimmy joined Claudio in the bar and I shopped around for more souvenirs. I finally found some hand painted ornaments and a cute little magnet. We walked around the outside of the wall and saw the great view straight down the rows and rows of vineyards. Then we were onto the next vineyard Castella D'Albola. Francesca showed us around the cellars with the Huge barrels and the talked about the wood and the turning and I don't know what all else. She was hard ...