Il Giorno Italiano Sogna

Since getting back from Verona on Monday night, we've had a busy week. Our number one priority has been trying to plan our time once we leave Siena (at the end of December). We thought about trying to spend one or two more months elsewhere (one in the South and/or one in Verona) but realized there are a lot of places we want to travel to and we could either travel for a short period of time (three weeks) and see the places we want to see, or choose one of the many places and move there and...

Two Italian girls that I know here (both from southern Italy) always describe Siena as a museum and say that living here is like living in a museum. It is kind of true. There is so much history within the walls and when you stop and read about the city it is quite interesting. On Saturday (while Reed was working), Ollie and I took a walk around the city to get pictures of some of the more interesting buildings around Siena.Siena was on the main pilgrimage route from Northern Europe to Rome...

Christmas time has finally arrived here in Siena. Yesterday I happened to be walking by Palazzo Salimbeni (the home of Monte dei Paschi bank) and noticed that they were putting up the Christmas tree. Today as I walked home with Mr. O, they were putting the finishing touches on the lighting. It is quite nice......even if it is a little scraggly. We've seen a few other "public" trees around town set up in piazzas or on streets. We joked the other day that they were worse than Charlie...

One of the stops on our Southern Getaway is Puglia, also known as Apulia. This region is the heel of Italy and has only recently become a tourist destination. It looks beautiful! It is very Greek and very Italian at the same time (it was actually part of Greece at one point). On our trip we are heading to Alberobello, Trani, Locorotondo, and Ostuni.Alberobello- the trulliTraniLocorontondoOstuniMost people know little about the region or it's products. In fact, Apulia produces 20% of the...

There is officially a full blown trucker strike going on here in Italy! The 5-day strike began on Monday as a result of truckers protesting the high price of fuel. Some drivers blocked highways and roads with their trucks, while others formed convoys that deliberately slowed traffic on major highways. This is causing a crisis as no food, merchandise, gas etc. can be delivered anywhere! With more than 70 percent of Italy's merchandise delivered by truck, this is a huge problem! By this...

On Friday we headed off to Cortona for a long weekend visiting Tania and Keith. We had a really great time and ended up spending an extra day and only coming back on Tuesday! There was lots of food and lots of wine! A great weekend all around.....Cortona is in eastern Tuscany on the border of Umbria. It is perched high on mountain overlooking the Valdichiana. On Friday night we headed into town to have dinner....the Christmas lights were up and it was quite festive!We headed to Osteria del...

After coming back to Siena from Cortona, one of the main priorities of the week was to figure out how to get Oliver a pet passport, which would facilitate travel back to the U.S. We were able to find out where the office of the Azienda Sanitaria Locale per Veterinaria was in Siena, and luckily there was a very nice vet who spoke English that I was able to talk to. He told us to come in on Thursday morning with all of Oliver's paperwork.Thursday we took a 12 Euro taxi ride out to the ASL only...

****A series of Posts about our travels through Southern Italy*****January 1, 2008-January 2, 2008We arrived in Napoli on New Year's Day after seven hours of traveling on trains only to find out that the circumvesuviana train (the metro system in Naples) was not running. Just our luck!! Our hotel, Casa Mazzola (which our friend's Lawren and Steve from Verona had recommended), was in Sant'Agnello, a hill top town near Sorrento and 50 km from Naples. We had many bags and Ollie, so taking a bus...

*** A series of posts about our travels through Southern Italy****January 3, 2008Puglia was probably the place that I was most excited about visiting...I was not disapointed. My only regret is that we did not have enough time there...we'll just have to go back! The writer, Carlo Levi, who was exiled in Puglia referred to the region as "that other world...which no-one may enter without a magic key." It is a very special place that should not be missed and we look forward to exploring it more...

Wednesday was a long hard day! One of those days that makes you wish you could snap your fingers and be back home. We awoke early in the morning eager to leave Siracusa behind and ready to try our luck in Palermo. I had read a decent amount about Palermo and we had opted to stay there for three nights and were at this point hoping it was not a huge mistake! Because we both refused to have a train "lay over" in Catania after Monday's incident there, we were forced to change trains back in...