Tuscany - Italy
The cheesiest tourist picture that I could not resist
May 3, 2012:
Today we arrived in Siena, a Tuscan medieval city so well preserved it seemed strange to see motorcycles and cars cruising past pedestrians down ancient lanes. Siena is famous for the Piazza del Campo, a historic town square that originally served as a marketplace and centre of social gathering. The centre still hosts the bi-annual Palio di Siena horse race. The vibrant University crowd swarming the Piazza del Campo created an upbeat and welcoming atmosphere. It was a pleasant feeling to retreat back to the hotel after a full day of exploring.
Piazza del Campo with a sprawl of locals enjoying the late afternoon sun
May 4, 2012:
We woke up to the natural alarm clock of a beautiful and vibrant morning— what a refreshing feeling! We quickly made our way down for breakfast before it ended at 10 a.m. Conversation with Tom and Reid is always easy, devoid of social rules to follow other than to thoroughly enjoy ourselves. Following our meal, several people recommended that we rent a car to tour the Tuscan countryside; we took their advice, and our day spent rolling along the pavement is now permanently etched in my visual memory.
What it looks like to hold up the leaning tower of Pisa from a different angle
Our first destination was Pisa, the historical town home to the infamous Leaning Tower. Sightseeing with Tom is hilarious because he is not really interested in this type of ‘mindless’ tourist activity and he often couldn’t contain his laughter when he saw the tower. Humans travel from all over the world to see a campanile that is almost 56m above the earth and leans due to an incompetent design that required several separate stages, beginning in 1173 and ending in 1372. Following construction of the second story, the tower began to sink due to a feeble foundation and unstable soil. The tower originally had a lean of 5.5%, but after restoration from 1990 to 2001 it has been “leveled” to 3.9% and has been deemed structurally stable for the next 300 years.
Despite the obvious precariousness of its construction, engineers and laborers nevertheless continued building this now famous monument, only pausing their work to fight wars. The various engineers did their best to compensate for the structure’s tilt, but they obviously failed—and yet this tower is now one of our most recognizable and celebrated human creations. I guess, at times a mistake can work out better than you could have ever imagined. “Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck” –Dalai Lama.
The highway driving was easy as long as you stayed in the slow lane, avoiding drivers that seemed willing to sacrifice their front bumper to maintain their speed. The unfolding landscape, the inspiration for thousands of artists throughout the centuries, was blanketed in bountiful soil, giving life to vineyards, wheat, barley, and canola.
Our day ended in the ancient hilltop village of Monticello, where we located a restaurant that offered authentically made polenta – a welcome change from our regular pasta dinners. Dinner with Reid and Tom never contains awkward silence, only moments when we are enjoying our food or simply lost in our own thoughts. I think a comfortable shared silence is the moment you realize how much you enjoy another person’s company.
The Piazza del Campo had a perfect slope for me to enjoy my skate board
May 5, 2012:
I was completely exhausted after a day of travel from Siena to Rome. “When in Rome?” I guess so… although I’m not really sure how this old adage applies to modern times.
There is no one who knows how to push my buttons better than Reid. I am proud of how well we have gotten along as friends on this trip—but, in a split second it suddenly seems as if we have returned to our old sibling relationship, where anything and everything seems like a good reason to quarrel. At least we can count on our brotherly love…all disputes are easily forgiven.
