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