I'm Back!

Good morning from Siena! 

Have I said lately how much I love Siena?  I love Siena.

I’m sitting at my regular Sunday morning table at Il Masgalano. This place serves the best coffee in town, has the kindest family of owners, and provides a view that allows me to spy on the Dominican church and the drop-off for hundreds of tourists. 

This morning, the sunlight is reflecting off of the terracotta roofs, wispy clouds hover over the hill above the Duomo, small groups of American tourists with their ubiquitous Rick Steeves guidebooks are busily reading while missing the sights, Italian tourists are following well-dressed tour guides with microphones and booming speakers, a Dominican priest in his white habit is talking to a nun in her black one, and I keep pausing to admire my own rockin’ Italian boots under the table.

There’s a warm current of air seasoned by the dark smell of espresso, the sweetness of roses, and the faint citrus of Italian mens’ cologne.  I’m in heaven.

And hey, speaking of Italian mens’ cologne, I’ll buy someone a really good bottle if you’ll let me nuzzle my nose into your neck and sniff occasionally after I get home. NOTE:  I have to approve before we make a deal. 

The weather is busy changing to Fall, with lots of variation all day every day:  chilly, cloudy, windy, sunny, hot, rainy, sunny, etc., etc., etc.  One of the reasons I wanted to spend the year here was to know this city in all of its seasons; I had no idea that I would experience them all in a single day! Tell you what, the least I can do, when I get done writing and drinking coffee, is run get my camera so I can share the view and provide some good illustrations.  If it doesn’t get cloudier, it will be worth it.

Nota bene: Thanks for the inspiration: All pictures in this entry except those from the horseback riding excursion are from the great Sunday afternoon I just had wandering around the city taking pictures, stalking peoples’ boots, and buying a cool new hat. Hat is featured here.  Have I mentioned that the combination of self-portraits and new hats makes me really silly?

I’m totally blowing the odds of anyone taking me up on that nose nuzzle, aren’t I?

I want to apologize for neglecting you all; it has been a hectic three weeks with not much time for getting back to the school in the afternoons to access the internet.  I was sick for two weeks, too – bronchitis.  My Achilles heel is my lungs, or something like that.  Typical.  Everyone else gets a cold and either I don’t get sick at all or I end up with pneumonia.  Anyway, since it’s been a while and I have lots of entries stocked up in my computer, I’m going to edit them a little and, later this week, I’ll give you one long one, divided into five parts not necessarily in chronological order.  The first describes my visit to the public assistance doctor at the hospital where St. Catherine worked miracles during the plague.  The second involves an adventure in horseback riding. Anzi, (change that), it was actually an adventure in getting to the farm; the riding itself was fairly predictable.  The third is the story of an important realization.  The fourth is a tour of my FAVORITE fountain in Siena. And, for the finale, a story of Italian shopping, specifically, my love affair with Italian boots.  A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.