Tuesday 28th August – Siena cont.

The lofty, graceful heights of the First Gate seem far beyond our reach as we stumble about the van, horribly drowning in epic shab. Nonetheless there is the rest of Siena to be seen: Cathedral, Baptistry, Crypt, Museums, Churches. Pass me the nurofen? Noush seems irritatingly ok. Jon on the other hand is close to death. Obviously must have drunk more, yes, this can be the only reasonable answer!

We ascend the escalator travel thingies with no grace whatsoever and stumble through the First Gate, furnace enorme, Noush has to stop and indulge in retail therapy in the form of more shoes and a precautionary Cathedral shawl. This proves more exhausting that you can imagine and we stop at the first café we see for a hair of the dog and an excuse for a Panini (very cheap bar just down the steps to the Campo) Much restored we launch ourselves at Culture.

The day is scorching, we are dying of shab, all the fountains have disappeared and there is a prohibitive queue (in full sunny glare) for entry to just about anything. Taking matters into our own hands we execute the queue jump of the century and five minutes later are armed with entry to all things cultural and excellent.

First stop is the Cathedral. The Cathedral provides all the panacea that a person could ever need.  It should probably be the first and last stop for everybody ever. It is quite simply the most mind blowing execution of human endeavour and imagination. Glory, grace, grandeur, humility, excellence, dedication, gothic imagination and a freedom of something realised beyond the capability of the modern man. It renders modern art, the likes of Tracy Emin and Damien Hurst, pathetic, transient and insubstantial.

Cathedral ceiling and cathedral

Library and library ceiling

Tiled Mosaics on the floor (how do they cut the marble so fine?).

Museum stained glass window, nigh on 800 years old (that you're not allowed to take photos of. Didn't see the sign until after. Honest). 

We are overwhelmed; Noush is almost tearful with the beauty of it. It is beyond compare. The streets of Siena and the treasures strewn so casually throughout are almost too much. Paying €8 for two cokes upon exiting the museum was definitely too much, but for such a place you can forgive such a price.

We have zoomed through the streets, the sights, the churches, the piazzas and we are utterly in love. There is no finer place than Siena. We will be back.