siena and florence part 2

I found the picture of the flier! Haha here it is... see left. Paha. Man that is so funny. Ok so Siena. I woke up that morning, very tired I might add because I had stayed up until 4 am being Dj EG, and hopped on a bus to visit Veronika, one of my roommates in Cork who lives in Siena. 1 hour later, I was in one of the prettiest little cities ever, also frequented by several hundred more tourists, but not as bad as Florence. It was so nice to see a familiar face! Veronika showed me all around the city, so I don't really remember the names of everything because she told me them in passing, but I loved the little city! Apparently, I was going to miss one of the biggest events of Siena by a few days. On July 2nd is The Palio di Siena, which is this huge horse race where the different horses and riders represent the 17 different societies-city wards of Siena. Its been a tradition for forever, and many protest it because it follows many of the old horse racing traditions, such as riding bareback, and shooting a horse if it gets injured. Aside from this, it is still a crazy day because the whole city crowds into the city square (see left), and stands underneath the hot Tuscan sun all day, until 8 pm, when about a 6 minute horse race occurs around the dirt track circling the square (see right). Crazy. But its tradition, and a huge deal, so it attracts huge crowds with no fail. Veronika doesn't like it because she feels bad for the horses, so she said that she wasn't going to stand under the hot sun all day for it.

We walked around the city some more, and saw a really beautiful church (below), which was styled similarly to the one in Florence. The streets in Siena reminded me of the ones in San Gimignano, but they felt more traditional because they lacked the throngs of tourists. Also, the streets were quieter and simpler. But still very beautiful all the same. Also, man I could not believe the views. When you walked to the edge of the city on top of the hill, you could see out and the Tuscan hills surrounded you and faded into the distance in what looked like a scene from a movie. I can't believe Veronika got to walk past that every day. So jealous.

Also, please look at the view outside of her window (right). I couldn't stop taking pictures the whole time because I couldn't believe how beautiful it all was! It was so calm and so Italian.

I got back to the hostel that night and was so tired, that I only was Dj EG for like 2 songs, and then went to bed, officially ending my short but very fun career as a professional Dj. Haha.

The next morning, I woke up with the plan to see David, the famous statue by Michelangelo. When we got to the museum it was held in, though, the line snaked all around the building, all the way to another building, and all around that one. And the line didn't move. So, we (the 3 NY guys and me) canned that idea and wandered around the city some more. We walked up this hill and saw another really pretty view of Florence...

We walked around some more, and then decided to go to see David due to the fact that we were in Florence after all. Therefore we camped out in line, and paid 10 euro, and went inside to see what all the hype was about. I am torn. On one side, it was 10 euros to see a statue, but on the other, it was completely huge and very impressive. You can get an idea of how big it was from the picture on the right because there are people for perspective. I had no idea he was that big. Not going to lie, though, but his arms were awkwardly long. And his hands were wayy too big. This might also be why he is famous, and I'm curious as to if Michelangelo did that on purpose, or he had no idea about perspective, but I think it was most likely the first.

That night, we hung out at the hostel and watched the final of the European Cup. Spain v. Germany. I was hardcore for Spain, and was very excited they won, as were about 89% of the other hostelers there. Idk why no one really was for Germany. Perhaps it was because I don't think Spain won the cup since like 1970 something so good for them. 1-0. Was a good night. The next morning I checked out and made my way to Munich.