August 27th 2023, Saturday
Woke up and went for a walk in the charming farm house.
Lovely place
Rustic charm
Saw the swine huddled together in the fields
The backyard
The farmhouse we stayed at
Breakfast off the tree
Picked figs
Lots of them
Pigs waking up
The pretty farmhouse
Went for a walk around the little village
Cyprus trees... they use the Cyprus tree motif a lot in block printing too and I love those Cyprus printed sheets and curtains.
My sister
Of course I had to sit in my meditative pose in the Tuscan countryside
Walking back to the village
We came across these two friendly dogs who followed us around
The picturesque village
I felt like Khaleesi with these dogs never leaving our side... Mother of Dragons vibe.
Pretty curtains
Green canopy
The village church where they discovered some really ancient paintings and the place remains closed now...
The lovely dogs still following us around
My father picking figs
One last goodbye to the cute swines
This lone sheep was among them
S/he wanted a pat too
The cute little homestay
The swing in the backyard
Picked as many figs as we could... they were falling all over the place and the hostess said to help ourselves to them. After taking a family picture in this rustic village, we got ready to leave around nine am.
We drove to Siena which took half an hour
Vinod stayed with the rented car, cause we couldn't find proper parking spots. While mom, dad, me and Nam went searching for St. Catherine's church in Siena.
Siena is like a labyrinth of many such streets and pathways where vehicles hardly ply. It took a while to find the church, cause every street had a church and every street looked the same with this monotonous brick look
Finally found the church (church 41, I'm counting the number of churches we've visited on this trip).
Every building is the same shade in Siena
St. Catherine
Inside St. Catherine church. There was a cute shop nearby that sold pretty things.
Jesus at the church entrance holding a heart...
Mother Mary at the other end of the gate
Typical Siena... Pretty brick work all over.
The church courtyard
Siena with its confusing lanes
You never seem to know where you are
Siena is beautiful, I loved the quiet vibrancy of the place. You need time to explore the many lanes and streets that look similar to each other yet they seem to stand out with a distinctive charm. Some were long, some had beautiful arches, some had fascinating shops, some had pretty windows, others had cute chapels... each street held some sort of treasure that only time would unveil.
The defining symbol of Siena
Another cute arched way
I took pictures like this to find the path on the way back. We found our way back to the car and drove straight to Firenze. Reached in an hour and ten minutes, filled the tank and dropped off the car right on the dot, around 1pm. Then took a taxi for 20 euros to the station. Me, mom and dad got on the train and found our seats while Nam and Vinod picked up some food at the shops nearby. It was a quite journey, we ate sandwiches and pizza. In one and a half hour we reached Roma termini and took a taxi for 55 euros to our Airbnb located near the Vatican.
And the host came and let us into a three bedroom apartment
with a kitchen
Me and Nam slept here
Mom and dad stayed here. Took a shower, rested a bit and then got ready to meet another friend from our hometown who works at the Vatican.
Fr. John Peter came to our apartment around 18:15 pm and it was good fun, just sitting and talking.
We went out for dinner to Kohinoor restaurant, nearby.
The Vatican at night
Rome buildings
Ornate buildings
St. Peter's cathedral in the distance
Ate nice gelato, pistachio obviously
Went walking to Piazza Navona
Where there were massive fountains
With stunning figures...
See the human form... the ripple of muscle, takes skill to carve or mould like this.
It was nice just walking around taking in the sights of the beautiful fountains everywhere. We bid goodbye to Father halfway and came walking back to our Airbnb. It was a tiring day, but I'm glad we found the church in Siena and caught the train to Roma on time.
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