Province of Siena

Yes, I know I promised the happy face but I’m going to start with a moan. My justification is that the moan is in relation to yesterday, so I think it’s allowed.

Anyway, last night’s apartment was pricey. 80€. About double the going rate. I didn’t expect it to be twice as good, these things don’t work like that. It was adequate. But you may have noticed I have got used to pilgrim hours. Lights out well before 10pm and up before 7am, on the road by 7.30am. However this “apartment” was really the basement cum ground floor of a house. Absolutely no sound-proofing from upstairs, where the owners lived. I had tiled floors and I assume the upstairs had as well. Every slight noise upstairs was heard loud & clear downstairs. It became apparent that the kids upstairs were going completely feral. Come 10.30pm they were still high as kites, not just noise that can be muffled by ear plugs to some extent but thudding and banging reverberating incredibly. Much against my usual “avoid all confrontation” style, after several futile shouts, I got dressed, went outside and rang their bell. Had an animated discussion and then returned to bed. Things calmed down and once I had calmed down as well I went to sleep. On reflection I suspect that grandparents were babysitting and just let the kids do whatever they wanted. No attempt at control. That’s fine except I wanted to sleep and I had paid quite a lot of money to try and get that. I could have stayed in a dormitory in a hostel for 10€ and not slept.

Sorry about all that. I feel better now.

Duly on the go by 7.30am after usual breakfast in a bar.

Todays destination was a hilltop village visible for miles. It is over 800m high which meant the last 8km was an uphill slog, not really what you want at the end of the day when it’s quite warm. Its tower can just be seen in the distance through the arch photo. Took ages to get even slightly closer. But very pleasant walking. Went past some thermal baths. Then hit a slight problem. Without any advance warning I came to a closed bridge. Big, solid and very high. A detour was possible but involved back-tracking and extra distance. I reckoned my recently depleted frame shouldn’t cause any problems so went over the barriers and crossed it anyway. Got away with it (obviously as I wouldn’t have posted this if I was lying in the bottom of some gully).

Tonight I am in another apartment. This is more of a house. No noise from anywhere. As soon as I finish this it’s lights out and snoring for me.

But first, dinner. After much indecision I went for the mixed grill and chips. Very good. Problem was the wine. 3€ for 25 cl or 4€ for 50cl. Although there was no need whatsoever I went for the the half litre. Had to celebrate Europe’s good start to the Ryder Cup. Yes I know that’s a bit contrived but it’s the best I can do. And because I had wine left over after the main course I was forced to have profiteroles.Read more