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5/8/02 Wednesday
We're in Siena. We drove around and around. Very lost. Finally parked near the fort. Went to the first church-S. Dominico. It has lots of stuff concerning S. Catherine, including her finger and head. Interesting stained glass. Some looks like scribbling in glass. Several different styles and artists. Modern stuff. Then we went to find some lunch. We're at an outdoor cafe under awning. It's drizzling. "Vatta" restaurant. [Via Montanini 14/16] I'm having buffalo mozzarella and tomato salad to start. Elaine's having asparagus aux gratin. Both are pretty good. Next I have ravioli with butter and SURPRISE!, Elaine's having gnocchi and pesto. I liked mine. Elaine's is "OK". The shrimp I ordered wasn't what I expected. Had to shell themand cut off the head but wonderful garlic flavor. Dessert Elaine's is chocolate covered cooked cream and I'm having "typical Siena cakes". I didn't like mine. They had that paper stuff stuck to the bottom and a flavor I didn't like. Ginger, honey and sugar.
We have gone to the Duomo. It's the majorchurch. Rented an audio guide. In the library there were some great frescos showing the life of the pope and the illustrated books from his time. Very impressive. Snapped a bunch of pictures of doors wandering back to the car. We skipped supper and made it back to the house with only one or two wrong turns. Florence doesn't have many street signs or directional signs. Another thing they do is put directions to business' that look like they should be traffic signs, so you have to check them out before you can dismiss them as spam. It's very easy to get lost. We do it regularly.