Day of rest

Photos - First, our resting place in the park on top of the fort. Second, Erith loved the pigeon perch so much that she had to take a photo of it.

Erith says:

Today we relaxed. We still went out to a fort, but it was very nice. We saw lots of people in weird costumes. We had a map that gave us a tour, but it didn't really come in handy because we didn't get lost. I thought the fort was very pretty and on the way back we had gelato. Then we came back to Cel's.

Marcus says:

After a few days of racing around, we decided to have a quiet day today, but that was only partly possible due to the fact that the Palio di Siena (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palio_di_Siena) is being run on Monday so there are all sorts of lead-up events going on today, most notably "three days before the race, private owners offer the pick of their stables, from which representatives of the participating Contrade choose ten of approximately equal quality. A lottery then determines which horse will run for each Contrada". We headed in there, but the crowds thickened as we progressed, to the point where Erith said "let's go down here" and pointed down a hill. I was happy to go along and we found ourselves wandering alone through very interesting though steep and winding streets.

We worked our way back up via a staircase long enough to merit taking the three photos necessary to get it all in then headed up to la Fortezza - the fort directly across the street from Cel and Blain's flat. We spent about an hour talking on a park bench in near silence - the thickness and height of the walls of the fort are fantastic at deadening the noise, so it's a very serene place. After that flurry of activity, we treated ourselves to our daily gelato (that habit will have to go once I get back to Sydney) and headed back here.

Siesta is still observed in Siena, so I'm going to wrap this up and go for a nap. Hey, when in Rome...