After Rome, we decided that we wanted to spend some time in Tuscany. Mike does not like renting cars in Europe (long story) and we did not want to be in the chaos of tourists in Florence. Instead, we decided to go to Siena – still full of tourists but fewer than Florence. We realized that most people were taking bus tours to Siena during the day but staying elsewhere, so we fell in love with the feeling of the city in the evening when everyone cleared out.
I booked an Airbnb that was perfect for us. It was an old Italian apartment with giant rooms and completely outdated elegant furniture. The kitchen had every gadget you could imagine so I enjoyed zesting citrus while the girls used the parmesan cheese grinder. Unlike these cookie-cutter Ikea Airbnbs, this one was the kind where they took their grandmother’s house, cleaned it up, and turned it into an apartment to rent. It even kind of smelled like a grandmother’s house. It was exactly what we wanted for this part of the trip. The kitchen alone, with its dining table, made this place magical for us. The view was also spectacular as you could see the skyline of Siena from our balcony.
Siena has some beautiful sites like a Duomo Cathedral and a tower well worth climbing. The outskirts of the city were pure Tuscan magic and we hiked one day amongst the olive and cypress trees. We also attended a soccer game since the Stadium was less than 100m from our apartment. Julie and I lasted until halftime but Isabella stayed for the whole game with her dad.
We took two day trips, finally getting to show the kids how the Eurail passes worked. We went to Florence one day and took another walking tour. Both Michael and I had been to Florence before but we had fun walking the city and showing the girls places like the Ponte Vecchia. Then a few days later, we went to Pisa and got the required photo at the leaning tower.
Siena was a great week of adventure coupled with fun daily living stuff. Living in a more “complete” home meant that we caught up on school, did lots of laundry, and cooked. It was amazing having not only a great grocery store nearby but also the Siena Agricultural Consortium which was like a treasure trove of Italian goodies. We were craving home-cooked rather than restaurant-cooked meals and were not disappointed. I even cooked a roast chicken dinner since we’d missed a few holiday meals and Julie told me that she did not remember what “stuffing” tasted like. For the record, she approved of the taste! Now we leave Italy on our most epic travel day yet (7 trains in 13 hours).
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