A beautiful day in Siena

Ciao amici,

Today my dad and I took a day trip to Siena, a beautiful city in Tuscany. We caught a train and enjoyed a lovely and relxing ride through the country-side, then bussed it up the hills to reach Siena's center. Siena's main piazza, il campo, is super cool because it is shaped like a clam shell and is humungous! They hold a horse race twice a year there called the Pailo, where all of the neighborhoods of Siena (the contrade) race for three laps around the campo. My dad and I walked through maybe 5 or 6 of the 17 neighborhoods, which all have their own flags and museums. We also went to the duomo, which has really cool marble floors that have all sorts of religious images etched in them. We had a lunch at a kind of shady cafe, but afterwards we walked forever and went to the church of San Domenico and saw St. Catherine of Siena's head and finger. We also walked around an old Spanish fortress before heading back to Florence. It was a beautiful day for a mini-trip and I was happy to show my dad another of Italy's great cities.

A presto,

Kate