Siena

We decided we'd been in Ferrara for way too long and were wasting precious travel time, so we got in the car and drove up to Siena. Siena is in the Tuscany region of Italy, and the drive out there was gorgeous. Our area is more flat--kind of marshy farmland. Almost immediately upon entering into Tuscany the scenery changed to how we pictured Italy--beautiful rolling green hills, vineyards dotting the landscape, and small, quaint little towns all over.

Apparently our Italian geography is terrible, because we were pleasantly surprised when we drove through Florence on the way to Siena.  We thought it was much further away, but it's only about an hour from our house.  We'll be sure to put that on the itinerary soon!

Siena is a gorgeous town and I was really excited to see the famous black and white duomo (cathedral.) It was worth the trip! The streets were narrow and some of them very, very steep and made out of cobblestones.  The city spans a few hills, so there were great views from all over.

After eating lunch our first stop was to see the duomo, designed and completed originally in the 1200s.

This cathedral is stunning.  It is made of white and a greenish-black marble. The outside is predominantly white, but there is more black on the inside making it so unique and striking.

The floors are covered in marble mosaics throughout the cathedral depicting scenes from the old testament.  These were added in the 14th-16th centuries. I was reading that the whole floor is only uncovered for viewing for 6-10 weeks out of the year, generally for the month of September. So we got lucky that we were able to see so many of them.

 

Connected to the cathedral is the Piccolomini Library which has some of the most bright, vibrant, colorful frescoes I've seen so far (not that I've seen many, but they were still pretty incredible).  This room also held some of the large music books. The frescoes tell the story of the life of cardinal Piccolomini, who eventually became Pope Pius II.  His nephew (was eventually the archbishop of Siena and later became Pope Pius III) commissioned the frescoes to tell the story of his uncle.  They were done by a painter named Pinturiccio and they think they were designed by Raphael.

 

 Piccolomini Library



Music books

 

There is so much artwork in this cathedral including pieces by Donatello, Michelangelo (cue the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles references), and Berini.  One of my favorite parts was near the front of the cathedral where the tops of the walls are lined with sculptures of who I think are all the previous popes.  Unfortunately, you aren't allowed to use a flash so a lot of our pictures in here didn't turn out very well. 

 Pope heads

Painted dome of the catheral

 

After walking through the cathedral, Michael was getting a little antsy so we parked the stroller outside to let him crawl around a little bit.

 



As we were sitting there, a man walked over and started looking at the side of the cathedral.  A guy who worked there asked him a question, then led him over to a spot nearly in the corner. I watched him take a picture of what looked like a normal spot on the wall, then he left. Of course I was curious, so I went to look and found this:

 



We did some research when we got home, and apparently it's called a Sator Squareor Square. They've been found on Roman ruins and religous sites all over Europe.  It says Sator Arepo Tenet Opera Rotas, and can be read from left to right, right to left, top to bottom, and bottom to top.  I guess the exact meaning of them is still up for debate.  It was fun to see it and then research what it was when we got home.

Once Michael had gotten some of his energy out, we went down into the crypt to see more of the old frescoes on the wall  There was no photography allowed down there. The frescoes were very old and faded, but depicted scenes from the New Testament. 

After that, we went to the cathedral museum. Michael wasn't big on looking through museums, so we did a quick run through looking at all the relics, paintings, and statues preserved in the museum.  Then we went to the top of a structure adjacent to the cathedral and got a great view of Siena. 

After this, Michael was pretty worn out, but I really wanted to see the Piazza del Campo, the main square in Siena. This is where the Palio (the famous horse race) is held twice each year.  The city is divided into neighborhoods, each represented by a different flag and they come to cheer on their riders... very enthusiastically from what I understand.  Unlike the Palio in Ferrara, in Siena the spectators stay in the middle of the square while the horses race around them.  The Piazza del Campo was where this scene from the James Bond movie Quantum of Solace was filmed too!  We hung out here for a few minutes and then had to head back to the car so Michael could take a nap.

 

He fell asleep in his stroller on the walk to the car, so we popped in to see the Basilico of San Domenico which was right near the car.  It was much more open and less ornate than the cathedral, but still a neat, big church. 

 

 

 My favorite part were the stained glass windows which were really bright, colorful, and a little weird looking.  Some of them were almost abstract and didn't look like any sort of pattern until you looked at it closely to see the story  in the glasswork.  There was no photography allowed, but here's a picture of them I found online:

 

 

We loved Siena, but even after spending the whole day there we don't feel like we got to see everything and really experience the town.  We're excited to go back again soon and see everything we missed!

Michael's First Birthday!

I can't believe Michael is already a year old!  It's hard to believe he started out as a little 8 pound, 3 ounce ball of sweetness.

 

He's still very sweet... just much bigger, louder, and more mobile. We're still pretty new here, so we weren't going to have a huge birthday party for him. He wouldn't remember it anyway, but it was important to me that we do something. So for the last couple weeks I've been collecting "party" things at the PX, commissary, and around town. 

 

After his morning nap, we rode our bikes to a park to play for a little while (and get really, really dirty. Part 1).

 

 

 

 

By the time we got home and ate lunch, it was time for another nap.  Then we did his big first birthday party!  First there were presents:

 

Then came the cake:

 

 

 

I've heard some people talk about how their babies were afraid to get dirty and just poked around at their birthday cake.  Not this kid. He tore the candle out and dug in with both hands.  There was cake everywhere. But it was really cute, he had a ton of fun, and it really didn't take us too long to hose him (and the high chair) off in the bathtub afterwards to get him clean. 

 

We went to the doctor last week and he's grown to be 20 pounds and 31 inches.  He's a sweet, funny, happy, healthy little boy.  In honor of his first birthday, here are some fun facts about Michael:

• He loves to eat.  Anything. But particularly grapes, bananas, cheese, and deli meat.
• He can say "mama", "dada", and "hi!" (very enthusiastically, while waving.) He also might say "banana", but we're still a little up in the air about that one.
• Likes to "talk on the phone"--he picks long things (like surge protectors or remote controls) up, puts them to his ear, and says "hi!" before handing it over to me.
• Loves the "stinky foot game" where daddy makes his stuffed animals sniff his feet and then fall over because they're so stinky.  He will bring over stuffed animals, then hold up his foot for you.
• He likes to read books.  He'll crawl over to his bookshelf, pick out a book (or four), then hold it up to you and say "huh?" until you read it to him. 
• Not walking yet, but he'll stand up on his own when he doesn't realize he's doing it.
• Is afraid of our washing machine.
• Still loves his blanket.
• Shakes his head "no." This is actually really helpful at meal times when he can tell me he's finished rather than just spitting everything out.
• Knows where his tongue and nose are.
• Looks at the door and whispers "dada? Dada? Dada?" every time he hears a noise while Robbie is at work.
• Loves to dance and listen to music! Especially in the bathtub.
• Hates getting his diaper changed or putting on clothes--but loves his shoes.

 

We had such a crazy, amazing, wonderful year.  I am so thankful for this little boy and so excited to watch him grow up this next year in Italy. 

 

Happy Birthday Michael!

 

 

 

Ferrara Balloon Festival

Catching back up here...  We moved into our apartment about two weeks ago! We're mostly unpacked, but still have some pictures that need to be hung and some general organizing to do, so once we get that done I'll post some pictures.  The first weekend in the apartment was a little crazy with unpacking boxes and trips back and forth to the hotel.  We didn't do much that whole week as we got settled. The next weekend we were still worn out from all the unpacking, so we decided to stay home and hang out in Ferrara for the weekend.  Lucky for us, the annual Ferrara Balloon Festival was just beginning!

We went out the first night--it's set up more like a fair with lots of food tents, games, and activities. The night we were there, there was only one hot air balloon and while it was in the center of the park, it wasn't really a huge part of the rest of the festival.

On obstacle course at the festival. There were also big trampolines, jumping castles, and lots of other stuff.

Of course, we were mostly excited about the balloon part of the balloon festival. A few minutes after we got there, they started blowing up the one hot air balloon that was there that night.  It was fun to watch--they look so much bigger up close! 

Michael was cute--he loved watching the balloon and even though he wanted to crawl around, kept looking back to check on the balloon.

We stayed for a couple of hours and played in the grass while we watched the balloon.

Then Michael started getting a little tired so we went back home.  The festival went on all week, and one morning we woke up and saw this from the balcony:

So we did get to see some balloons!  Later that morning we were driving out of town and they were landing the balloons in a field next to where we were driving.  Then when we got back that evening, they were up (but getting ready to land) again.  It was fun--definitely not as many balloons as I remember there being in Tucson or like Robbie remembers from the Albuquerque festival, but still something unique to Ferrara.