Our hotel here has a balcony. My view right now includes the soccer stadium and a large Ferris wheel. Yesterday we got here from the train station on a really long, really steep series of escalators. Our walking in hilly Port Townsend has prepared us for the Siena terrain.
We bought an inclusive pass for the town center of churches and museums. One attraction included was called “Panorama” which sounded like a sweeping view so we were in! After a long wait we were allowed into a corridor. I was first. Quickly I was leading the line up a narrow passage that turned into a narrower circular stair. The kind with about nine inches of step to put your foot on tapering to the point of a triangle on the inside. No railing just the wall to hang on to. Oh oh. This was not my thing but I was line leader so I gamely headed up. It was dark. It was about 30” wide. It was a long way. Finally with relief I saw light and arrived at the landing. “Half way!” the guide said cheerfully. The next passageway was narrower so I let everyone pass me. I just couldn’t do it so I spent ten minutes alone on the landing and tried the pano function on the iPhone. Here’s what I got:
Dear Mike was waiting for me at the bottom. It was only 60 steps in the dark but I was ready for a calming Campari-soda with him.
Thanks to those of you who commented on the dinner review. Please feed me synonyms for “delicious!”
I wasn’t planning on food commentary today but I had an incredible salad for dinner: bitter greens and tomatoes with little black figs, Parma ham (yes perfect with the unsalted bread) and a chunk of fresh feta cheese. I’ve never had anything like it: slightly rubbery on the outside giving way to a creamy runny inside. Not salty at all, but tasting like rich sour cream. All this was drizzled with honey.
It was so simple: bitter, salty, sour and sweet.
Sunny Siena has been such a contrast from Venice which now seems murky and gloomy in comparison.
Art for the Day possibly a new feature of my blog!
Always attracted to red, I liked this little picture of some holy persons by an artist with a limited sense of perspective.
Katy’s Blog Trip to Europe 2019 
synonyms: delectable, appetizing, delightful, scrumptious, mouthwatering, enticing, luscious, exquisite, heavenly …
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Love it!!! Grazie
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OMG Katy you tackled the tower! That’s real courage! When I visited Sienna I looked at the tower. And then I looked at it again. No climbing for me. I also visited the cathedral, in the company of a group of devout tourists from the Philippines. As their group approached something – a painting of the Assumption of Mary or maybe a relic of Mary – they all started screaming and sobbing with emotion and holding each other. Too heathenish to grasp what it was, I was still impressed with their group response. Also in Sienna is where I figured out that getting coffee consists of going to a bar, asking for a caffe, and tossing it down standing up at the bar. It looks like you are having a grand time on your travels!
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Yes if you stand at the coffe bar it costs half.
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