Siena ciao

internet prices are way cheaper in siena than they were in venice.

we got kind of city'ed out so we passed right through Florence and came to Siena instead. We are ready to get out of tourist-overrun towns in hopes that we could find some decent food.

I am grumpy this morning because I've put my neck out. Seems a waste to be grumpy on vacation. In search of ice we bought something the farmacia lady said (as close as we could tell) would help sore muscles -- a tube of gel so innocuous that it can't be smelled or felt on my skin. Perhaps it is imbued with Italian magic that will help.

Today we will either tour Siena or catch a bus to a smaller town with a Roman ampitheater <(Venterra). Tomorrow probably off to Pisa and then CinqueTerra.

In Venice we saw many wondrous things including some shriveled up feet the sign claimed belonged to Santa Lucia, she of the eyeballs on a platter. Who has her eyeballs, I wonder?

If you would like to be fashion forward you will need to adopt the European fad for absurdly pointed high-heeled shoes. Itàs like footwear as an extreme sport. I am talking about points that extend 4 or 5 inches past the human toe and sometimes curve upward. And the stilettos are 5 inches high and needle sharp, and are used for navigating cobbled streets. I did not see one woman fall down. They hardly even teeter. Myself, I walked into a couple of walls just gawking at other women's incredible footwear.

As we took the train out of Venice (who knew trains could get to Venice? Turns out thereàs a spit of land that connects train tracks to the island) I peered down between tall buildings in the mainland town of Mestre and found myself startled to see pavement, not water, between the narrow sidewalks.

My minutes are winding down-- more later--