Nedly on his Treadly

Saturday, November 27, 2010

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.

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

San Gimignano, Tuscany, Italy.

Rosanna in 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

Siena 4

Thursday November 18, 2010
So I've had three solid rest days, now I feel like I need to do stuff. So after breakfast, I got writing on my blog, which is high on my priority list, somewhat to Rosanna's dislike I think. She thinks I'm wasting my time by writing it, and that I should be going outside to explore the town or doing some site saying and daytrips, of which she's suggested a few to do together, but I haven't taken any initiative in getting them happening, since I'm content to stay in and write my blog at the moment. I quite enjoy writing and reflecting on the trip so far, and it's good to be staying in one spot for a while. Also Rosanna has class during the week so don't want to be pulling her out of class to go out for a day trip.
One problem that I've run into though is that her internet connection is utterly terrible. She has one of those prepaid USB modems which cost about €100, and then you load them up each month; it costs €10 per month. It's so unreliable that it often drops out every couple of minutes, it's the worst connection I've used since dial-up at Dads place in Mount Franklin, Victoria, which mind you, was only a year or two ago.
And for some reason when I criticize the connection, Rosanna defends it. I think the four of them in the flat should share the cost of a router and ADSL connection and it'd be much cheaper, faster and more reliable.
So anyway, I became so frustrated with the connection that I decided to head across to the Economics faculty which is less than 100 metres away, and use their Wi-Fi with Rosanna's password.
Sorry, not too much to write about today, I'm rambling about internet connections.
I spent the day trying to catch up on my blog, then for tea we went to a Chinese take-away joint, which Rosie frequents quite often. I love curry and haven't eaten one for months so I ordered a chicken curry.
Later on we went to an establishment in Siena called the Tea Room, with eleven other English, Australian and American students, mostly from the Erasmus Programme (European Region Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students). This is what they call their exchange program in Europe, and it's a very popular program. There are some six-hundred Erasmus students at Siena, Rosie said that four-hundred of them were Spanish. There are only five Australians. Erasmus students are typically fairly slack, and have the attitude "I'm just an Erasmus so my study doesn't really matter". I'm not sure what the arrangement is in terms of how it fits into their course, for Rosanna I think she just has to pass.
Anyway, presently I was in the tea room with eleven Erasmus students. Everyone ordered a pot of tea, which costs €4 each, so it's not cheap, but there is a huge range of tea's to choose from, I had no idea what most of them were. Rosie ordered a licorice flavoured tea which she shared with me, 'twas very good.

Some of Rosie's friends in the Tea Room in Siena, Italy.

Gradually everyone left, leaving me and Rosie. We waited around because some of her other friends were coming: Sam (Rosie's boyfriend, from Belgium), Mo (Mohamed, from Libya), Mattieu (from France), Derick (from Mexico City).

Sam, Rosie and Mattieu in the Tea Room in Siena.

We chatted, and we had a pack of cards so we all pulled out the card tricks we knew. Rosie knew a couple, I only knew one. Sam was impressed/tricked.
We had wanted to play a game of Monopoly, but another table had the Tea Room's Monopoly set. So Mo suggested a game of chess. He said he didn't really know how to play, so we'd have to teach him exactly how to play. I ended up being his opponent. I'm not great at chess, but it's a great game.
Mo absolutely demolished me; I could tell he wasn't, in fact, a beginner! I only killed three of his Pawns before he had me in checkmate. Then he told me he is actually the sixth best chess player in Tripoli, the capital city of Libya.
Mo challenged me to a second match, which I was reluctant to take up, but he talked me into it. My opponent may have been smoking some pot, which may have been from the bar tender, who seemed to specialise in more herbs than just those for tea. So in this round, I went much better, I had Mo stumped at one stage. He didn't know what to do, but I noticed he could take my queen with his horse. It was a big error by me, couldn't believe he didn't see it!
We'd both taken about eight pieces each when I made a fatal error and my queen was killed. I was saved by the bell though, because at that point we were politely told that the Tea Room was closed. It was about 2 am after-all, so we had to pack up and leave.

Piazza del Campo, Siena.

Rosie, Mo, Sam, Mattieu and Derick in the Piazza del Campo, Siena.

Rosie and I walked back to the flat, and I got to sleep at about 4 am.

Ride stats:
No riding

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