Arrivederci from Siena

Well, we're just about ready to wrap up this trip.

We've spent the last day and a half exploring and re-exploring Siena, a medieval town in Italy that we first visited on our honeymoon nearly five years ago. It's been slow-paced, relaxing couple of days, and a great way to wrap up our trip.

Last night we went back to one of the same restaurants we'd visited on our honeymoon, and had another great meal to go with our great memories of the place.

Today we started with a visit to the Duomo di Siena, a gigantic 13-century cathedral. The sheer scale of the place and attention to every intricate detail was really amazing.

Following that we climbed to the top of Torre del Mangia, the enormous 13th-century tower looming over the town square.

We had originally done this on our honeymoon, so it was really fun to retrace our steps. After the 400-step climb to the top, the view from the top was every bit as incredible as we remembered it.

We wrapped up the afternoon with a late lunch, some further wandering around the old parts of the city, and a quick call home to talk to our little girl (who we miss like crazy). After that we headed out for what was probably our most enjoyable dinner yet, at Antico Osteria da Divo, where we ate in old Etruscan caves under the city. On our walk back to the hotel I couldn't help but snap one final shot of the tower in Piaza del Campo:

This was the last full day of exploring and "touristy things" on our trip; from here, it's about ten hours of train rides tomorrow back to Nice, and then a flight home on the following day.

It's with mixed feelings; we've had an incredible time, and part of us doesn't want it to end. Still, another part of us is ready to sleep in our own bed again, and get a big hug from our adorable little girl. :)

That's all for now! Thanks for reading :)

-Brad