Siena 12

Friday November 26, 2010
So today was to be the day I finally left the lovely Siena, but you know how sometimes time just gets away from you? It always seems to get away from me, anyway. I just can't get a hold of it. Time is fascinating, I think about it all the time, it's such an important thing. I'm always so conscious of trying to use my time effectively, and always like to be doing something.

Rosie and Pedro in their living room in Siena.

During the mid-afternoon, it was so cold that it briefly snowed! I was chilling here outside the economics faculty.

Out the back of the Economics Factulty at the University in Siena.

In the late afternoon, I was still working on the web-log, and Sam came over. I got distracted with music, and playing the guitar with them.

Rosie and Sam playing the guitar.

Rosie and Sam playing the guitar.

And then it was dark. Hmm. I've left in the dark before, Vienna for example. I hadn't eaten since breakfast though, so I rode to the supermarket, bought food for tea and for the trip. I decided it wasn't worth heading off that night and that I'd head off early in the morning instead, and be fully ready to go.
Rosie and I cooked pancakes for tea, with Nutella and ice-cream.

Rosie cooking pancakes for tea.

Rosie eating a pancake with Nutella for tea.

Maja eating a pancake for tea.

Then I cooked a beef stroganoff to take with me for lunch.
A few people came over to hang out. Notice how all these Europeans smoke. Not good!

Some of Rosie's friends in Siena.

Folks hanging out in Rosie's living room in Siena. Rosie on the left, Sam on the right.

I opted not to go to a party at Mo's place with everyone else, so that I could be fully organised and ready to go in the morning.
Then it started snowing, it was amazing!

Standing just outside Rosie's flat in Siena, with light snow falling.

Standing just outside Rosie's flat in Siena, with light snow falling. 

Thinking I had plenty of time though, I went into inefficient mode, and so I was up until after 5 am, still not organised. I'll have to pack up in the morning, and download maps in the morning before I leave.
But hey, at least I've brought my blog fully up to date, for the first time since the start of the trip! Now I just have to keep it up-to-date.

Ride stats:
Distance: 4.24 km
Average: 15.9 km/h
Maximum: 39.3 km/h
Time: 16:09

Siena 11

Thursday November 25, 2010
So today was to be my last day in Siena, I planned to head off the next morning, just had a few tasks to finish off, including finally getting the web-log up-to-date, which I worked on all day.
When you wake up at 1 o'clock and it gets dark at 4:30 pm, the days seem so short!
For tea I borrowed Rosie's Mensa card and went there on my own, since she'd gone to volleyball training.

Dinner at the Mensa in Siena.

After midnight, Rosie returned, with Sam, who despite being pretty tired was insisting that I come out since it was my last night in Siena. I still had a few things to organise (blog posting, buying supplies, washing, packing, downloading maps, backing up photos, booking a hostel for London) but I figured I could do that later. So we drank a bottle of wine between us while playing a cool little drinking card game that Sam taught us. Then we headed out at about 2:30 am, the bar was just closing but we caught lots of people we knew outside the bar and chatted to them.

Out the front of one of the bars in Siena. Sam Conix in the centre.

Out the front of one of the bars in Siena. Derick on the right.

Out the front of one of the bars in Siena. 

Afterwards we walked home again; I worked on my blog and backed up my photos, and got to sleep at about 7 am. Man, my sleeping pattern has gotten so out of whack. It's almost a full 180 degrees out of phase with the sleeping pattern I had in the week preceding my arrival in Vienna, where I was waking up at 6:30 am every day, as opposed to sleep at 6:30 am!
So I still have a few things to do tomorrow, it will probably be a late departure.

Ride stats:
No riding

Siena 10

Wednesday November 24, 2010
Really not much to say today but I'll still post this post since I'm posting a post for every day.
The only thing I did was write my blog. I quite enjoy writing, but I'm getting rather sick of it now, I wish it was all already written. Why do I always have to go into so much detail? I just can't help it.
The only other thing I can say is that Rosanna is being quarrelsome again. I think she's sick of me being in her space, and on her computer all day. She thinks I'm being ungrateful for all her hospitality and hosting (untrue allegations of course, I'm very grateful that she's having me here, especially for so long). She also can't understand why I'm not getting out and about to see places and thinks I'm missing the opportunity while I'm here in Europe. Of course I'm conscious that my time here is limited, but as I've mentioned, I'm not satisfied not having my blog up to date, so it's high on the priority list and I'm focussed on it now. It's different for her, since she's been living in a fixed location for the last three or four months and going out on occasional day-trips or weekend trips, whereas I've been on the go for two months straight and haven't stayed put in one spot for more than a few days, so I'm happy to stay in the one spot for a while for once. I guess I've satisfied that urge now though, and I now I need to get going very soon.

Ride stats:
No riding

Siena 9

Tuesday November 23, 2010

The view from Rosie's balcony in Siena.

I really don't have much to blog about today, since I spent all day inside trying to catch up on my blog - again. I'm just not going to be satisfied until I've documented my trip up to date, I like having things organised and complete. I am actually keen to hit the road again, I think I'll have to go by Thursday whether I'm ready or not. I think I'm outstaying my welcome at Rosie's place, but I'm very grateful to her and her housemates for having my stay so long, I've been here for almost a week and a half and the time has just flown by.
If I don't get going soon, I'm going to start losing fitness too. Already I've noticed that I've put on weight - seriously, I have noticeably more fat on my belly, and I don't like it at all! I'd be interested to weigh myself if I could find a set of scales.
We've had wet and showery weather for the last four or five days, so hopefully I'll get all the wet weather out of the way before I start riding again.
For quite some time now I've been having to put up with my pants continually falling down, since the button has come off on both my pairs of pants (I only brought two with me, and they're both exactly the same, except one pair is medium and one is small). Today Rosie kindly bought me some assorted needles from the 99 cents store, so I sewed the button back on each pair of pants using the cotton and buttons I found on the ground at a flea market in Brussels when I was there several weeks ago.
Rosie also had her exam today, which she's been studying hard for the past few days. She said it was so easy. It was a two hour exam, but she walked out after forty minutes because she couldn't add anything more to her responses.
I also got a call from Leah on Skype, who told me Silkom is really sick at the moment, and has either tonsillitis or glandular fever :(
Okay, since I haven't got much to say, I'll keep this one short and leave it at that.

Ride stats:
No riding

Siena 8

Monday November 22, 2010

A few detailed sculptures at the Piazza del Campo, Siena.

I'm getting into a bit of a pattern here in Siena. Staying up late so I can use Rosie's laptop to type my blog, and consequently getting up late (around mid-day), and writing my blog. I never realised it could take so long to write a blog! It's getting out of hand. So yeah, that's what I've been doing today, not too much else to say.
I went for a wander to the Mensa after breakfast and found Rosanna there, then wandered back to the flat again.

Rosie, Pedro and Maja studying in their living room in Siena.

The most exciting part of the day was tea; we went to a Chinese restaurant with the Conix's: Sam, Eva, Bart and Merline. Stijn and Lise had already gone home for uni classes and work respectively.
As always, it was difficult to decide on what to order, since there were so many options. I ended up going with spring rolls, then mixed fried seafood which was just calamari and shrimp (quite a mix, hey?).

At a Chinese restaurant for tea in Siena. Mixed fried seafood.

At a Chinese restaurant for tea in Siena. Sam, Merline and Rosie.

At a Chinese restaurant for tea in Siena. Rosanna clearly enticed by the fish.

At a Chinese restaurant for tea in Siena. Bart and Eva.

At a Chinese restaurant for tea in Siena.

At a Chinese restaurant for tea in Siena: Eva, Sam and Merline.

Conversation covered various topics, such as Belgian beer. Bart reckons three of the top five beers in the world are Belgian, and that monks in convents brew beer and make cheese, because traditionally that's all they're allowed to do.
We also learnt a bit about Bart and Merline's history. Bart grew up in Leuven, and he met Merline in Leuven. Bart is a back surgeon and Merline is a hand surgeon, but Rosie reckons they don't really like their jobs and want to retire soon. Bart is actually very interested in farming, so he's been asking a lot about our farm at home.
They lived in Africa, in Zimbabwe for five years. And one time there was music concert there with artists including Simon and Garfunkel, Sting, Bruce Springsteen, Tracy Chapman and I forget who else. But how good would that have been?! It was a protest gig for something or another to do with South Africa.
Rosie also asked Sam's parents what Sam was like when he was younger. Apparently he was a bit of a pyro, and would light little fires on the floor inside. One time he lit a piece of paper on fire, then put it out and thew it in the bin and went downstairs to tea. When he went back up to his room 20 minutes later, the whole place was filled with smoke. Merline put on the wet towell and went in, and the whole bin was on fire, so they had to carry it outside and let it burn out.
I think everyone's a bit of a pyro at heart though, it's natural to be fascinated or attracted to fire, right? I used to love burning off in the Wombat Forest with my friend Chris Nixon and his old man Bob at their place. One time we played this game where me, Chris, Tom and maybe Charley were the firelighters and Robin was the fire-fighter. So our goal was to run around the bush and light fires wherever we could, try to get lots of fires going, and Robin had to chase around after us and put our fires out. At one point I found a mass of dry eucalyptus leaves and lit them up, Robin had no chance of putting that one out! That was the end of the game, we stopped and watched it burn and made sure it didn't get out of hand. Don't worry, this was a very safe game.
Anyway, back to the restaurant...the food was good but we couldn't finish it. I ate as much as I could: Sam's left over fish, Rosie's left over tofu, Merline's left over fish dish, some of Bart's left over duck, and some of the left over curried rice and fried rice. It was a shame to see some of the rice go to waste but I really couldn't fit it in.
Rosie also told the story of the time when me, her, Rachel and Silkom were in Shanghai Dumpling in Chinatown in Melbourne once, and Silkom went to get us all Chinese tea. She came back with the tea and she was the first to try it. She'd never had it before, she took a sip and was like "hmm...I don't think I like Chinese tea." It turned out she'd actually accidentally gotten soya sauce instead of Chinese tea, hahaha, so funny.
And Marline is learning Arabic, has been for about four years. The whole family knows several languages. Dutch is their native language, but they can all speak English very well. And I think they all know French and some German too. Eva's and Sam's German is supposedly quite good. And Sam and Lise also know Spanish, Lise went on Erasmus to Spain. And Stijn also knows Portuguese. So this is a typical European family for you. Man I feel so inferior to these Europeans, I know only one language and everyone else seems to know at least three! Fair enough though, it's much more important to know all these languages if you live in Europe, considering all the bordering countries they have.
The Conix's are a lovely family, they all get along well and seem really close. They're just a really well functioning family, there doesn't seem to be any dysfunctionality in it, on the surface anyway.
After three hours in the overheated restaurant, we walked back to their apartment, said our goodbyes (the Belgian way of saying goodbye is one kiss on the right cheek), and walked back home.

Out the front of Rosie's flat in Siena.

Out the front of Rosie's flat in Siena.

Then I spent the rest of the night writing my blog, and being frustrated with the blog app (BlogPress) because it crashed and lost the post I'd just spent an hour or two putting together.
So it was another late night, in bed at about 6 am, and the pattern continues.

Ride stats:
Distance: 1.25 km
Average: 10.7 km/h
Maximum: 26.0 km/h
Time: 7:02

Siena 7

Sunday November 21, 2010

Piazza del Camp, Siena.

A lazy Sunday, I rose at around mid-day again.
The Conix family had hired a five person car for their visit, but they had six in their family, and they were all heading out for a day trip. Then Rosanna went along with them as well, so it would have been so squishy inside the car with seven people in a little Italian five-seater car! So they were out having fun while I was stuck inside on the computer.
They went to visit the Terme di Petriolo (the hot springs), and even though the weather was a bit cold and wet, the terme would still have been good since the water temperature ranges from 34 degrees to 50 degrees. After that they went to a town called Montalcino, which is known for its red wine.
I just had the day to relax on my own. I spent part of the afternoon downloading some podcasts, finally. I got some podcasts of Dr Karl, John Saffran and Richard Kingsmill (all from triple j), and the podcasts recommended by Simon: WNYC Radiolab, The Economist, This American Life, and thought I'd give a few others a try: Mysterious Universe which Jim reckoned was meant to be good, Energy Weekly since I'm interested in energy, especially renewable energy, Hamish & Andy (they must be popular for a reason right?) and I thought I'd give a few ABC Radio National podcasts a try, the kind of stuff Dad always listens to in his work shop and in the Hilux on the farm (his radio is constantly on). It's good stuff, quite informative. So I'm looking forward to wrapping my ears around all these podcasts when I hit the road again.
Then I did some blog posts from when I was in France and Belgium. It's taking so long to catch up on the blog!
At 8 o'clock I went for a wander to find something to eat, and happened to stumble across Stijn, Sam and Mo in a pizzeria, so I tagged along with them for a while before walking home again. I hadn't picked up any food but I had some pasta at the flat so I cooked that up, and continued to blog into the night.

Ride stats:
No riding

Siena 6

Saturday November 20, 2010
Time has just flown by here in Siena. I've been here for a week already, and have barely been on the bike. I actually haven't been missing the bike though, I've really enjoyed just relaxing here in the one spot, wandering around Siena and meeting various people, staying in Rosie's beautiful spacious flat. I could happily live in Siena actually. I think I should have done exchange during my degree actually, although you can't do engineering just anywhere. You probably couldn't do it at the University of Siena.
So today was another lazy day, although I did achieve some things. I got up at about mid-day, and spent much of the afternoon just uploading some blog posts, quite a job considering how detailed my posts are, and how many photos I put in.

Rosanna's flatmate Nani studying in the living room of their flat in Siena.

Later in the afternoon, I ventured to Siena's only bike shop, to get a new wheel. The bloke there could not speak much English so he just spoke in Italian to Rosie and then she translated to English for me. Rosie said he was difficult to understand though because he spoke very quickly and without pausing much. He also had a strong Tuscan accent where they clip their c's off. And he was talking about technical bike stuff. However the messages got across. He only had a thirty-two spoke wheel, whereas a thirty-six spoke wheel would have been ideal, but it was going to be too difficult to find one, I couldn't be bothered wasting time going to other cities to find one, so I just went with this one.

I got him to change the cassette over too, since I didn't have the tools for it.

Rosie and the bike mechanic in the bike shop in Siena.

Rosie trying to explain something to the bike mechanic.

The bike mechanic changing my cassette.

The wheel cost €38, which was much cheaper than I expected, and he only charged me €4 for labour and a new plastic guard that sits in between the wheel and the cassette. Maybe I got it cheap because Rosie was with me.
I walked back to the flat and changed the tyre over to the new wheel while Rosie went to the public library to study.
For tea, Rosie had arranged with Sam and his family to go to a restaurant. Sam's family were over to visit Sam for a few days, and will be flying back on Tuesday.
Anyway, I was tagging along to the restaurant with Rosie. She was actually really nervous because she hadn't met Sam's parents before. She was practicing saying a Dutch phrase meaning "how are you" and another one for "pleasure to meet you".
When we got to the restaurant, the family were already there: Sam, Stijn, Eva, Lise and their parents Bart and Merline. I just said hello in English, and Rosie did to start with too, then she gave her dutch phrases she'd learnt a go, she said "ik hou van vogels", and then "piemels!" to which the whole family erupted in laughter.

Dinner at a restaurant in Siena: Lise, Sam and Rosie.

At first Rosie thought she'd just pronounced it badly, but they kept laughing, it was something else.

It turned out that Sam had taught her a phrase that meant something else entirely, as a practical joke. He'd been working on it for weeks; he'd even typed it into Rosie's phone for her to practice it. And it had worked, Rosie had inadvertently told them "I like birds", then called them "dicks". And man was she embarrassed! As you would be though. It would have been an interesting way to meet your boyfriend's parents!

The restaurant was quite good, Rosie's Italian friend Lorenza had recommended it. I had a beef casserole kind of thing and some of Sam's steak because it was huge! And it was a really tasty steak too.

Dinner at a restaurant in Siena: Stijn, Eva and Bart

Dinner at a restaurant in Siena: Merline, Lise and Sam.

Dinner at a restaurant in Siena: Lise, Sam and Rosie.

Afterwards we went to the tea room again, and set up a game of Monopoly.

In the Tea House in Siena: Lise and Ava puring tea.

Playing Monopoly in the Tea House in Siena: Rosie, Matieu and Sam.

It's about the shortest game of Monopoly I've played, we each had about two turns before people were missing, forgetting who's turn it was, being distracted by drinking tea or beer. And we only had two twenty-sided dice so we had to divide each number by three and round it down.

Anyway, we packed it up before long, then Sam was demolished by Mo in a game of chess. Afterwards we checked out the Conix's flat which they'd rented out for while they were here.

In the apartment that the Conix's rented out for a few nights in Siena.

Then we walked home, I blogged some more, and went to bed.

Ride stats:
Distance: 1.72 km
Average: 4.7 km/h
Maximum: 13.5 km/h
Time: 21:46

Siena 5

Friday November 19, 2010

Maja and Rosanna's bedroom in Siena.

The view from the balcony of Rosanna's flat in Siena.

Slept in until 12. We were a bit slow to get going, Rosie was being grumpy and quarrelsome. But we thought we'd ride to the Terme di Petriolo (hot springs), which is 34 km away. There are a number of terme in the region, I think this is one of the closer ones though, and it's free.
I had a chat to Dave Rowbotham on Skype, a friend from my home town of Daylesford. He's also traveling around Europe at the moment. He started in Hong Kong, he's been through the UK, is now in Germany, will be heading to France next and he's hoping to stay with Rosanna in Siena in December too.
Anyway, Rosanna and I decided it was too late to ride to the terme so we decided to go to San Gimignano instead, which is a small walled medieval hill town famous for its architecture, especially its towers, and it attracts a lot of tourists.
We rushed to get to the station just in time for the train, then discovered it wasn't running because of a strike. Ah, good old public transport, so reliable isn't it? You don't get that on a bike.
The next train we could catch was in 25 minutes, so we ducked into the supermarket to get some supplies for lunch. We got back to the train just in time and we ran into one of Rosie's Erasmus friends Alise, from France. I'd already met her a few days ago, and she'd said she used to be a cocaine addict until she gave it up six months ago. Currently though she was heading to Florence to pick her Mum up from the airport.

On the train on the way to San Gimignano, Italy.

This was the first train I've caught since landing in Europe. Nothing too exciting, just the same as catching a train in Australia eh. We hopped off at Poggibonsi and hopped on the bus to San Gimignano. Just as we were getting close, it started raining quite heavily. We weren't prepared for wet weather; we didn't have coats or an umbrella.
We ate lunch in the bus shelter when we got there.

Attempting to use plastic cutlery to cut an Italian loaf of bread.

At the bus stop in San Gimignana just after hopping off the bus.

When we got there, Rosie bought an umbrella for €4, a good investment because it rained the whole time we were there.
We wandered the streets like your typical tourist, with a travel guide book and our cameras. The place was pretty cool, it reminded me of Siena, except it was much smaller. Apparently there were originally sixty towers in the city, fourteen of them are still standing. We would have had some really good views if it wasn't dark and foggy.

San Gimignano, Tuscany, Italy.

San Gimignano, Tuscany, Italy.

One of the fourteen towers in the town of San Gimignano, Tuscany, Italy.  

San Gimignano, Tuscany, Italy.

San Gimignano, Tuscany, Italy.

San Gimignano, Tuscany, Italy.

San Gimignano, Tuscany, Italy.

Rosanna in San Gimignano, Tuscany, Italy.

San Gimignano, Tuscany, Italy.

San Gimignano, Tuscany, Italy.

San Gimignano, Tuscany, Italy.

San Gimignano, Tuscany, Italy.

San Gimignano, Tuscany, Italy.

We checked the bus time-table and there wasn't another bus for forty minutes, so we thought we'd have a further look around the town. We checked out a church over the opposite side of the town, and thought we'd take an alternate route back. We got a little lost though, and we started running for fear of missing the bus. With the help of the iPhone GPS we found our way back to the main drag, then we saw the bus pull in at the bus stop a few hundred meters down, so we had to run for it, and just made it, phew! Otherwise we'd have been stuck there for another hour. Trust Rosie and I to be running late for a bus!
We got back to the flat, and Rosie got pizza from the local pizzeria. The guy that runs it always seems so bored, I see him just standing in there every time I walk past.

The pizzeria just up the street from Rosanna's house.

He's a friendly fellow though. When I bought pizza from him the other day, Rosie was like "and this is my brother, he's ridden 6000 km to be here in Siena", and he said (translated through Rosie): "wow that's very good. I do some cycling too. See, have a look at my calves..." and he pulled his trouser leg up and showed us his calf." And he made another comment about eating lots of pizza to keep you strong". And then he said "and if you get sick of staying at Rosie's you can stay here with me, and we can run the pizzeria together and eat pizza all the time..." He likes to dream, this guy. Tonight he asked Rosie (translated from Italian) "how are you going, beautiful?"
To which Rosie responded: "Yeah good thanks"
"What kind of pizza would you like today?"
"Hmm, I would like that one and that one please"
"You can have a third piece for half price because you're so beautiful...So what did you do today?"
"I went to San Gimignano with my brother"
"Oh so you went with your brother and not your boyfriend?"
"Yeah"
"Do you have a boyfriend though? A beautiful girl like you must have a boyfriend?"
Rosie replied "Yeah, he's from Belgium. But he'll be going back to Belgium in six months and I'll be going back to Australia, so I don't know what will happen." And the pizza man was like "well if he doesn't want to go back to Australia with you, I can come back with you, and we can open a pizzeria, and go for swims at the beach, and then go back and cook pizza... You're a very beautiful girl"
"Hehe thanks for the pizza bye" replied Rosie awkwardly.
Haha, he's a funny man. Always up for a chat, probably because he gets so bored standing in the pizzeria all day. Rosie says he just stands in there watching French television all day. So Rosie brought me back some pizza for tea.
After tea I blogged some more.

Pedro, Rosie and Nani cooking in the kitchen in the their flat in Siena.

Pedro and Rosie in the kitchen in their flat in Siena.

Then we walked to Mo's place past the bus station for a bit of a party he was holding. I knew a few of the people there, but half of them were American's that I didn't know. The American girls seemed rather slutty, not that it worried me.

A party at Mo's house in Siena.

A party at Mo's house in Siena. An American girl (Emily) on the left, Derick in the centre.

A party at Mo's house in Siena. Sam Conix on the right.

A party at Mo's house in Siena. Rosie with the bright red bandana,  Mo in the doorway,  Emily and Derick at the front.

A party at Mo's house in Siena: Rosie, the American girl and Derick.

I didn't drink anything, had a chat to a few people. Derick, the guy from Mexico City, was living in Siena for a year, just to absorb the Italian culture and to learn Italian. He said he'd wanted to get into the University in Mexico City, but reckoned only 22 people out of every 1000 applicants were successful. He's gotten into Oxford University instead, and will be commencing his degree there later next year. This American girl, Emily, was all over him. She was all over a few people actually, but especially Derick.
It became time to leave, there was a club night happening, what the Italian's call the discoteca, and it was pirate themed, so you were meant to dress up like a pirate.

The queue for the discoteca in Siena.

I didn't have the clothes to dress up in, nor had I had a shower or been drinking, and I had my blog to write, so I walked home, while everyone else seemingly was walking in the opposite direction, towards the discoteca.
It still turned out to be a late night for me, and I got to sleep just before 7 am.

Ride stats:
Distance: 5.24 km
Average: 12.2 km/h
Maximum: 39.7 km/h
Time: 25:46