Siena 3

Wednesday November 17, 2010
I'm quite enjoying these lazy days where I don't have to do anything. Rosie thinks I need to get out and explore the city more and make the most of the opportunity while I'm here, but I figure there's no rush to explore Siena since I'm here for a few days so I'm getting to know it gradually. She's also frustrated that I'm not keener to go out and visit places in Tuscany. I'm open to go wherever, but I don't have a strong preference or urge to see any one thing in particular.
Today I just surfed the net in the Economics faculty while Rosie was studying Spanish. Then we ate at the Mensa for lunch, with Rosie's boyfriend Sam also.

Pizza for lunch at the Mensa in Siena.

Chips and pizza for €2, bargain.
We then headed to the to a cafe/bar which had a pool table, the only one Sam has found in all of Siena, and had a three-way game of pool.

Playing three-way pool with Sam and Rosie.

Somehow Rosanna won. I had another game with Sam, who beat me, then he played a random Italian guy who had shot-gunned to verse the winner. This turned out to be good, because they organised a man-date together on Saturday for another game of pool, and also they will probably do a tandem sort of thing like Rosie is doing with Lorenza, but this Italian guy will teach Sam Italian while Sam will teach him German. It's interesting that Sam can't really understand Italian but he's studying at a university that teaches in Italian. He will sit in class and have no idea what the lecturer is on about. The text books are also in Italian, so Sam has to use Google Translate to translate and understand the text. Not very efficient, but it does the job.
Here is a shot of the Piazza del Campo, the main city square:

Siena's Piazza del Campo

Some typical buildings in Siena.

A typical narrow street in Siena.

Siena, Italy.

Meanwhile I went to the bike shop to investigate getting a new wheel. There is only one bike shop in Siena! Apparently the city is not big on cycling, Rosie reckons because of all the hills, which is probably true since people are lazy (there's a sweeping generalisation for you). I reckon it's a great spot for cycling though, the steep hills can really test you on the bike, and this city is full of steep hills.
Anyway, the guy at the bike shop had a few 26 inch wheels, for €38 and €60. They weren't exactly made for touring (both had 32 spokes instead of 36 as I currently have), but I guess they will do the job, and I don't think my wheel will last much longer so I'll probably have to get it.
I left it for the moment though and rode to one of the bigger supermarkets further out of the city, stocked up on juice, milk and cereal, then had to ride back up very steep streets with one hand, carrying the plastic bag over my shoulder, it was difficult!

The cereal section in one of the supermarkets in Siena.

For tea we went to a place called Arpeggio, where you can buy a drink and then eat as much food as you want for free. They had pizza, pasta, rice, bread and dips, some if it was bread left over from during the day that the cafe didn't sell.

In the Arpeggio for tea.

Rosanna, Sam and Lorenza in the Arpeggio.

Sam and Rosie walking back to her house in Siena.

One of the streets in Siena at night.

Back in the flat I played some guitar and surfed the net, just like I do at home.
Rosie can be rather grumpy at times, and lacks the kind of tolerance that I have, if I don't say so myself (that's one area where we differ significantly). She will often make false or flawed statements or arguments and then gets angry when I calmly point out the logical fallacies in her arguments. So yeah, she was rather grumpy tonight, but I'm used to her short temper.

Ride stats:
Distance: 6.61 km
Average: 11.7 km/h
Maximum: 37.5 km/h
Time: 33:59