Siena and Cinque Terre--LOTS of photos!

Our last week in Italy was a busy one, with trips to Siena, the Cinque Terre, and Rome.  We also saw an opera!  Today is our last day in Florence.  We are excited about our upcoming time in Barcelona (including visits from the grandparents and one of Jonah's friends), but we will miss Florence.  We have had a wonderful 3 1/2 weeks here.

Our day trip to Siena was fun.  The literal and figurative high point was our climb to the top of the tower at City Hall in Il Campo, the center square of the town.  We were warned (by Rick Steves, of course!) that the climb is narrow and the lines are long, but that "the reward is one of Italy's best views."  Fortunately for us, we found only the third part of his statement to be true.  Yes, the steps are narrow in places, but as there were absolutely no other people on them at the time, it didn't matter.  We were able to easily climb to the top and enjoy the view for more than 30 minutes, despite signs at the bottom warning that there is a 15 minute time limit.  As we finally prepared to descend after a blissfully peaceful and beautiful stay at the top, we were greeted by the sounds of a large, exuberant group of students on their way up.  Our timing couldn't have been more perfect.

One of the amazing views from the top of the tower.

The kids liked the little turnouts on the way up to the top.  Notice the graffiti on the wall that says "non-violenza."  A policy we are trying to enforce daily on this trip between the loving siblings.

Tom stayed up at the first landing to get this shot of us down in Il Campo.  Despite appearances, there were actually quite a few other people there at the time.

The Duomo--Siena's imposing and ornate 13th century gothic cathedral.  A beautiful church, full of sculpture, painting, stained glass, and the vivid and remarkable Piccolomini Library.

Jonah the energizer bunny waits while the rest of us make our way up the steps.


The next day, we broke out our Italy railpass again and hopped on the train to the Cinque Terre, blissfully ignorant of the train strike that was taking place that day.  We were a bit confused by how many trains were canceled, and our train was running about 10 minutes late, but we got there just fine, and were surprised to see the notice of the train strike at the information desk in La Spezia.

Our day in the Cinque Terre was one of my favorite days of the trip so far.  The weather was perfect, the scenery was incredible, and everyone was in good spirits.  We have so many amazing photos of that day, it was hard to narrow it down to the ones here.  If you notice that some people appear in the photos more often than other people, keep in mind that some people much prefer being photographed than other people.  And, while it's hard to capture the majesty of the Cinque Terre on film (does that phrase still work?  should I say in pixels?), I think our two photographers did a pretty fantastic job of it.