Italy Day Four- Siena and Rome

Day four in Italy brought rain... and lots of it.  The day started out nice enough.  We woke up to breakfast being served in the common area of the B&B.  There were eggs, toast, sausage, tea, and so much more.  I tried Italian coffee, too.  Now, it may just be me not liking coffee, but I really thought it was quite gross.

(Ceiling of the B&B)

The only thing on our itinerary for the day was to go to the Duomo down the street.  It was a beautiful old church.  We got inside just as it was starting to rain, too, so that was quite convenient!  The church has beautiful designs throughout it.  I loved the mosaics of Romulus and Remus on the floor.  That specific design is seen all over Siena (they have statues depicting the tale at the entrances to the city).  I kept up my tradition, and lit a candle inside this church as well.  Where I lit the candle, there were a few women praying together.  One of them smiled at me and welcomed me in when I stepped up to the doorway.  Later, Allie told me that the same woman came up to her as she (the woman) finished her rosary and motioned that she prayed for Allie.  I thought that was really nice and definitely something that Allie will remember about Siena.

(V's up in Siena)

(In front of the Duomo)

(Romulus and Remus)

(Ceiling of the Duomo)

Back outside, we went for a walk around town stopping in all of the shops.  The rain halted for a little while and we were able to see the few of Siena from one of the school yards and look down the alleys of the town.  Other than that, we seemed to dodge from one store to the next to avoid being caught in the rain for too long.  Allie made friends (yes this is a common theme) with a woman who owned an antique jewelry store by the Campo.  She had to have gone back at least three times!

(In the streets of Siena)

(A shop in Siena)

(View from the school)

We waited out the rain for awhile in a cafe where we had cappuccinos to warm us up.  We were drenched all the way through our clothes.  My purse stained my sweater and my jeans (thankfully it came out at the laundromat!) because the dye seeped onto them.

(Cappuccino)

It would be our luck that there was thunder and lightning while we were there!  It was crazy!  Although it didn't last long, it startled us because we never have thunderstorms in Ireland.  The only time we had one all semester, everyone was very confused that that could happen.

Luckily, Fabrizio had let us keep our bags in the B&B until we had to leave for our train that afternoon.  We stopped back to pick everything up later in the afternoon.  It was such a relief to sit down and be dry for a little bit before heading back out into the rain.  The trek back to the train station wasn't as long as the night before, but it certainly was wet.  Torrential downpours filled our walk down the winding streets of Siena outside the city walls.

(Outside entrance to Casa di Antonella)

(Inside door to Casa di Antonella)

Our connecting train from Siena to Rome was delayed by an hour... which meant that we got into Rome around 9:30pm and to the hostel around 10pm.  We immediately set out to get dinner around the corner.  Thankfully Italians like to eat late because we were very hungry from our travels and needed one last Italian dinner!  Afterwards, we topped off the night with a last trip to Old Bridge Gelato and walked to the edge of Vatican City for a few minutes before the guards began to look at us for leaning on the gates...whoops.

It was nice to have one last night by the Vatican under clear skies before our second day of rain on our last day.

To be continued...

"May good luck be your friend
In whatever you do.
And may trouble be always
A stranger to you."