Last week in Siena...no that was 2 weeks ago (or MORE!!)

Hi all, yes I have been on the move for 2 weeks (or more now!! Ha) now after leaving my beloved adoptive home and family in Siena!! I have seen and done lots and moved quite a way but that will have to wait whilst I tell you about my last week in Siena...

It was a bit of a whirlwind actually, especially as it was a short week due to the public holiday on the Monday. I cant even remember what it was for...maybe all saint day?!? haha

But I spent that day doing some sight seeing around Siena...since I had neglected to do this up until this point....it is too easy to forget when you are living somewhere!!


It was a weird last week at school though, for a number of reasons;
1. There were only four of us left in our class; two older women (Liv from Norway and Susanna from Swizzerland) and another young girl (Mirjam from Swizzerland) and myself

2. We were all finishing on the Firday so our class would be no longer for the following week and so we were all gearing down
3. The school was only holding classes for one more week after we all finished before closing for a few weeks for Christmas and New Years holidays so it was extremely quiet there on the whole
4. The teacher who we had all had for most of our time at the school who was from Naples, had to go home at the end of the week before for a family thing. She was very quirky and took a while to get used to but wasnt going to be back for our final week and left in a very odd way...and so we had a different teacher (one I had had a few times for my second class) ofr our last week and she was great but very different

That is Chica pronounced "Kika" (or Christina), the teacher next to me

Then I had promised my family...or offered I should say, much to the delight but also the hidden concern of my host mother...that I would cook them dinner as a 'thankyou gift'. The response to this suggestion was "Will it be an Australian dinner?"...so I had my work cut out for me, but WHAT IS an Australian dinner I ask you?!? haha

So I cooked Roast Chicken with stuffing, roast potatoes, roast carotts, steamed beans and gravy for them all...and it was my brother Michael who gave me all the instructions for this (via Facebook of course!!), and this made them even more impressed!! It went down well but they thought I had served them too much cos I gave them as much as they would eat in their normal 2 courses, or less even, on one plate and in one course!! haha...BUT, the hit of the night was the Apple Crumble!!!! With ice-cream, or gelato as they call it of course. My host mum couldnt get her head around serving hot with cold, but as soon as her daughter who has lived in Oz and the US before, declared that this is one of her favourite desserts and her son and his girlfriend went back for seconds, she asked me for the recipe!! Unfortunately I dont have any photos of this night cos it was a bit crazy and even later dinner than the normal 8pm!!

For the rest of the week I did a lot of sight seeing in Siena...all the things I hadnt done for the 3 weeks I had already spent living there. These included climbing La Torre di Mangia, the main tour in the main Piazza which has great views of all of Siena.

I also visited the Duomo (big church...exact traslation I promise!!), La Pinacotecca (main art gallery), Museo Santa Maria Della Scala (museum in the old pilgrims hospital), and much more!!

On the Thursday night I went out to the locals' favourite restaurant in town with the women from my class and a few others as a farewell type thing before our last day of school...it was fantastic!!

The last day of school was a bit weird as it was the end of all that was planned for me!! AND I was saying goodbye to all of these people that I had become quite close to in a weird way.

But there was still more with school people on the Saturday as it was a big festival day in Siena...St Lucia's Day and school had organised an excursion to check it all out and to have a bit of an explanation of everything.

SO...St Lucia is the saint of eyes and we went to the church and I had my eyes blessed!! YAY!! As though they arent already stuffed!! haha
And then we wandered as a group through the market that was set up for the festival along the street...there were stalls with lts of bells that were hand painted with motives of the different animals that represent the different areas of Siena...

And many many stalls making the traditional thin chip type biscuits that had an aniseed taste, with automatic machines...

It is yet another festival for lots of sweets and lollies, but this was not a problem for me!! You all know me and my food.

Then Sunday I took a day trip to Pisa...and YES, I saw the leaning tower, but I must admit that the tower definitely wasnt the best thing that I saw in Pisa, I thought the Cathedral was much nicer and more spectacular. So I spent more time looking around in there and the baptistry rather than paying 15 euros to climb the tower.

And yes, like everyone else I had to have one of those photos of me touching the tower...

But are you impressed, they are ALL self-taken!!

Officially as part of what I paid for with the school I was actually suposed to leave my home-stay on Saturday but my host Mum insisted that I stay on to see St Lucias day festivities and then also offered that if there were more things that I wanted to see around Siena, to stay and do day trips...and she wouldnt let me pay her more money too!!

So Monday I then took a short day trip (due to the restrictive buses) to a small mountain village called Volterra which was very cute, but VERY cold and quiet!!

But I think the best part of the day was the bus trip to and from through the gorgeous Tuscan winter countryside!!

So my time in Siena came to an end; my host parents dropped me at the station in a rush to catch my train to Bologna, the start of my travels through Italy...

I think this final photo sums up my time in Siena quite well...umbrellas, wet pavement and christmas lights!!

Ci vediamo

Jo xoxoxo