Siena & Pisa Italy - Day 2 thru 5

     After a hectic first day we arose early to get a jump on our 2nd day in Italy.  We were staying at a well-maintained quaint hotel in Siena (Hotel Arcobalino).  The hotel was owned and run by Lucca who was young and personable.  Christiana seemed to be 2nd in command also with a very friendly personality.  If you read my previous story (Italy our Big Vacation - Day 1)  you are aware that the airline lost our luggage, all of it.  So the four of us, Mimi & I, plus our good friends John & Cindy were traveling light but not by choice.  Our lost luggage had not yet arrived by morning but we had bought a few new clothes on the day we arrived, so we would make due, surely the luggage we be here when we arrived back at the hotel on our 2nd  day in Siena.  Our 1st night we walked to the Antica Trattoria Papei Restaurant in Siena, we had a very good pasta dinner with amazing dessert.  We took a cab home and slept like a rock in dirty clothes.

     We awoke the morning of our 2nd day still without luggage but we were undeterred by this unfortunate issue.  We had made arrangements for a wine tour for our 2nd & 4th days before we left to tour the city of Siena.  We planned on making it a leisurely morning touring the city taking in the Italian scenery mingling with the locals who were very friendly, before taking our afternoon wine tour.

     Paola, our guide picked us up at the hotel for our Chianti Wine tour.  We went to 2 wineries plus an outside market and fortress, beautiful scenery.  We had 2 other couples with us in the limo, Graham & his wife from UK and Mike (retired mailman) & Leslie from KC Missouri.  Mike and Leslie were a hoot, they were on a 6 week trek of Europe each traveling with only a backpack of clothing which they had to get laundered every few days.  At one of the wineries Cindy met a cute little girl (3 or 4 years old) and asked what her name was, but got an odd look from the little girl, Cindy then realized she's Italian and doesn't speak English, Duh!

     That night we ate dinner at the hotel the food was very good and the dessert was great.  The Italians like their dessert.  Still no luggage and now we were getting conflicting stories on their whereabouts.  Crashed in bed.

     We woke up the 3rd morning with no sign our luggage, great!  The girls were getting a little emotional about this now, shedding a few tears because they said they looked like a crack heads.  John & I sympathized as we sipped our cappuccinos in the Al Fresco breakfast cafe.  This day was spent touring all around Siena had some great pizza and did a little more shopping.  John and I bought some underwear (can never have enough underwear) but it was Dynamic Mens Underwear, What the Hell, way to tight, made tight whiteys seem baggy, not good.  We walked around all day visiting Piazza's (Town  
Squares) and Duomo's (Churches), just taking in the sites in this interesting Tuscan city.  It was a fun a relaxing morning with many things to see including the street performers posing as statues which was the first time I ever saw such a thing, now it seems to be commonplace wherever there are tourists. We got a little confused on how pedestrians cross the roundabout with the crazy drivers and got called "stupido" a few times. When we arrived back a the hotel, still no luggage.  We were told it was in Rome, then Florence then Rome with a courier and might not arrive until Thursday due to the holiday (Freedom of Italy". We were leaving fro Venice on Friday, would we ever see our luggage again?  John and I went out to get some fiber, don't ask. Didn't sleep thinking about the luggage all night.

     It's the morning of our 4th day, still no luggage and now Customs is asking for our passport numbers so they are authorized to break into our luggage, really, why?  We have another wine tour booked today which includes a tour of San Gimignano.  Great wine tour, the winery owner was hilarious but John and I were toasted so we were ready to laugh at anything.  John was poking me in the face asking if I could feel that, yeah, toasted.  San Gimignano was a cool town, it would have been a great place to stay.  We dropped Joe & Brenda (the other couple in the limo) at their remote location in Castellina  (back in the corner in the dark), they said they like the quiet.  Our tour guide Mariano got more talkative on the way home so he and John had a good
chat.  When we arrived back at the hotel we had a great surprise, our luggage was here, WooHoo!  We would be going to dinner in style tonight.

     Our dinner reservations for our 4th night were at a small restaurant (Nonna Gina) that was a fairly good walk from the hotel but it didn't matter because there were many sites to keep us occupied and we had our new duds.  We arrived early at the restaurant (dinner time starts at 7:00 pm) but once seated we enjoyed a pleasant meal with the house wine which was cheaper than the bottled water.  After our meal the waitress brought us a complimentary glass of Amaretto or grappa (which is an Italian brandy distilled from grape skins) which has a high alcohol content, while our wives drank Coca Lite (diet Coke) also more expensive the house wine.  We called a cab to take us back to the hotel and had a driver with an attitude.  I commented about the narrow streets just to start a conversation and quickly retorted that the roads were built for horse and buggies which most foreigners didn't understand, Well then ok.

     Day 5 our last day at Hotel Arcobalino, we bought train tickets to Pisa to see the leaning tower.  We were told don't spend more than a day there not much else to see but the tower.  It was a 2-hour trip with stop in Empoli.  The tower was awesome; we climbed 300 steps to the top.  It was an amazing view, stood where Galileo dropped stuff to test gravity.  John touch the highest stone, I touched the lowest stone (oldest), always a competition with us.  We had lunch at a street cafe before going back to Siena.  After a rest we had another great dinner and dessert in the hotel restaurant.

     All in all it was a great stay in Siena despite the missing wardrobe, next time we are taking a backpack with at least 3 days of clothing.  Off to Venice tomorrow, Ciao!