Siena!  I didn’t take a lot of photos of the cool narrow streets and old buildings, since I was mostly too busy taking pictures of cool churches and store signs to purposely misinterpret.  But Siena has a lot of narrow streets and old buildings.

Today was mostly just walking around, checking out churches.  The Duomo looked like a well-organized zebra and it was amazing, but the best part was definitely the synagogue we visited.  Just the two of us there at the time, so we got a personal tour of the place.  The people who designed and built the place were all Catholic, so a lot of the details were more in line with what you’d expect from a church.  It’s either amusing or depressing, depending on what kind of a mood you’re in.

I had asparagus for lunch.  Becca had a salad.  For dinner, we spend awhile looking for an Irish pub that existed only in the mind of Google, but we ultimately found a little brewpub called La Diana.  The reason I was so intent on finding an Irish pub and then relatively happy with finding this brewpub was that I really wanted a Budweiser on our nation’s birthday.  No luck on that front, though there was a Budweiser sign in the bar.  I ordered a Brooklyn, which was the most American thing I could fine.  Anyhow, it was fine, but the La Diana La Pia beer was much better.  (Also, I think that’s a pun- La Pia La P-A, like Pale Ale?  Right?  It was a pale ale.  That’s an important detail.)

I’m sure I’m forgetting a ton. Oh  Yeah, I am forgetting a ton, but I did want to mention the Palio di Siena.  It;s basically a big horse race that pits all the local neighborhoods against each other.  It’s held twice a year, once on July 2, aka a couple days ago.  The Drogo neighborhood won, which meant there were people draped with Dragon flags celebrating all over town.  Also, they had pacifiers.  Kinda odd.  But the big race, which I’m sure you read about, leads to a big party on Saturday, which is cause for all the ‘hoods to hang their local flags all over the place.  Which is awesome.  The neighborhood pride around here (contrade is what they’re called) is OTH.

Here are some photos.