Siena

A change of scenery from Florence is a nice way to mix things up. Only an hour and a half on train or bus, Siena is gorgeous. The lack of trees in city center forms sort of a bubble with the change of seasons. It's nice to see the trees turn color when you travel from one town to another. 

A medieval town, Remus founded the city, where his brother Romulus founded Rome. Famous for the bare-horseback races in the Piazza del Campo, the sloping  piazza, where people CAN NOT lay down on their backs. Odd. There's some officer who regulates who is lying down and not. If you are, then you get yelled at. 

There was this crazy festival going on where Siena turned into a mix of the Middle East and Asia, walking through India, China, Afghanistan and Tibet. All the locals were dressed up ran into Osama bin Laden and the 40 theives. 

The Duomo there was beautiful as well. More intricate, but smaller than the one in Florence. There was this huge glass window in the middle where it looked like the sky shone through. The view of the rolling Tuscan hills were amazing. Tuscany is absolutely breathtaking. I'm always shocked by how beautiful this country is.