Richard is French, by the way, not Italian like I thought. I was a little made fun of for not recognizing, but the accent sounded kind of Italian because he speaks Italian too. Before I digress, the Piazza is SO beautiful that I walked around it probably a dozen times. Two people were married in the city the day I was there in City Hall, right inside the Piazza. The whole people clap and cheer when the couple comes out of City Hall. Precious.
The Duomo is a bit of a hike from the Piazza...not far, just steep. Siena is very hilly. 3 Euro to go inside the church but OMG amazingly worth it! I took tons of pictures to try and capture the grandiose but it's not possible. The alternating black and white marble reminded me of Beetlejuice and Nightmare Before Christmas. Before I met up with Richard, I enjoyed ensalata de caprese in the Piazza Del Campo. Peaceful.
Richard lives a 20 minute walk outside of the city center. Not conducive for carrying 30 lbs extra, but not unbearable. Later, we met up with his friends for apertivo, or in U.S. speak "Happy Hour", which was enjoyable and thankfully only 5 euro.
Richards friends speak little English, but they tried. It's nice, but a little frustrating at the same time to hear beautiful Italian that you don't understand. I forget her name but she looked like Amanda Peet, Richard's friend read my love fortune last night. I was to shuffle cards and think of someone of whom I care deeply...Dave, of course.
I gave Amanda Peet the cards and she did her thing. Immediately she asked if I was engaged --- Um, NO :) She laid down 4 cards and said the Man I think about is very good for me and we love each other very much. We have similar personalities, which is why our bond is so strong, hence why she asked about engagement. Curious.
Richard's fortune was no so endearing as mine. This was weird because he and I had spoken earlier about his girlfriend and his relationship, which matched his fortune...girlfriend infatuated, him not as much, only because it'll be long distance soon...
Anyway, it was a nice night overall. The next morning, or today, I sweated my butt off carrying my load to the bus station, only to find that where I want to go is train ONLY. This was very upsetting because the train station is like a 30 minute walk from the bus station.
I started heading towards the train station when a man on a scooter saw me and asked, "You go to train?? You want ride?" I thought, wow, Siena is so great and the people are so nice! Mind you, I had a conversation with Richard the day before about how Siena is one of the safest cities in Italy and people are very friendly. I declined a couple times but the man insisted.
So I hopped on his scooter and we headed to the train station. To my shocking surprise, and also THANKFULLY at the END of the ride (train station in sight), this savior in disguise grabbed my hand and pulled it close to his crotchal region. I moved my hand up immediately because I thought he just wanted me to hold on since we were going down a hill.
WRONG. He grabbed my hand again and moved it down. Firmly, I said, "NO! Boyfriend! NO!" He said, "Oh! But just a little bit?" He gestured with his index finger and thumb to make the 'little bit' symbol. --- NO! A million times NO!.
Goddamn you, Siena. We almost said our goodbyes on the happiest note. In fact, I was looking forward to telling this store about how kind people are --- but in this case, this guy had asked for a price. So glad I'm on the train now and headed to the CINQUE TERRE!!! :)
No comments:
Post a Comment