October 11, 2003- From Arrezo to Siena

We awoke at 6A (I had control of the alarm clock today). We got breakfast and went out to see Arezzo. The hotel provided a small map.

We walked down to the Duomo - there's a Piero della Francesca fresco on the side wall of the Madonna. The museum was closed (the woman working the small offerings table walked over to check for us).

We circled over to San Domenico. This church is unusual for its asymetric facade, which is unique for churches of this period. The inside is covered in frescos from various artists.

We walked around to Vasari's house. The ceilings are painted, some by him and some by his students and people he hired. There is one floor of rooms.

We walked over to the Pieve di Santa Maria, which is an old large church. Inside are some relics including a skull and bones, and two whole bodies in glass sarcophagi.

We ate lunch at a very uninteresting place (a pizzaria really), and then went for the big event, a viewing of the frescos of Piero della Francesca in San Francesco. The frescos tell the story of the one true cross, including the torture of Judas (no, not the biblical one, but he was Jewish) to tell where the cross was buried.

We then got our car and drove to Siena. We were fine until we got to Siena, then the fun began. We ended up having to back up yet again (see our tail in Assisi), and finally someone on the street told us we were about three blocks from the hotel... The room is nice and so are the people running the place. We have a truely fantastic view from our window.

We ate a quick supper at a local joint (with two table of children and adults around us - I think I agree with Aviva, at least the children in Italy are louder than the kids in the U.S.). We headed back to the room for a deserved night of rest.

And, I'm almost done with the book on Sparta.