A Birthday (weekend) to Remember

I'm 20! My birthday was Friday. (Thanks to all of you who wished me a Happy Birthday. You made it a wonderful day.) We wanted to go out and celebrate, but we also wanted to take a trip to Siena this weekend. We decided to go to Siena on Friday and then go out Saturday night to celebrate. If we went out Friday night, we'd be too tired for a trip on Saturday. And Thursday night was rainy so we stayed in. I watched No Reservations on my computer, and it is now one of my favorite movies of all time. I loved it. It was about food. And love. It was sad; I cried. So obviously, it was great.

Friday morning I woke up and got ready. The rest of my apartment was asleep, but I walked across the river to Mama's Bakery to get breakfast. It's an American bakery where they have bagels, muffins, and American coffee. (I don't like Italian coffee. It's very strong and served in a very tiny cup and takes two seconds to finish drinking.) They also serve sandwiches for lunch, and cupcakes, brownies, chocolate chip cookies, all the good stuff that's harder to find in Italy. I ordered a plain bagel with plain cream cheese. (I would have ordered blueberry or something, but besides plain they only had like onion and other savory, not sweet flavors.) The guy was really nice. He toasted and cream-cheesed it and put it in a bag for me to go, because I didn't want to eat there by myself. I also got a coffee. It was seriously the best coffee I have ever tasted. I drank almost all of it on the walk back home. When I got home, I ate my bagel. The guy had put sooooo much cream cheese on it! I'm not complaining. It was delicious. I was in bagel heaven for a good ten minutes. This is going to become a weekly tradition.

When I got back, the roomies were up and getting ready. We met Lindsey and Brittni at the train station and took the 10:10 train to Siena. It took about an hour and a half to get there. There is a mall in Siena right next to the train station, so we did some shopping. No one bought anything, though. From there we walked a pretty long walk to the city center instead of taking a bus. We made our way to Siena's main square, Il Campo. It's enormous. It's the heart of the city, with the City Hall and a 330 foot tower (more on that later), and a fountain.

Me, in the Middle of Il Campo

There are no cars on the square, only pedestrians. In the afternoon and evening, the people of Siena walk around town and the square is a popular place to just sit. It's like a giant playground for everyone.

(We were very lucky to have gorgeous weather. It was warm and sunny during most of the day and I didn't even wear my coat for a while.)

Once we finished taking pictures of the square (which don't really help; you have to just go there and see it in person), we set off to find Osteria la Chiacchera, a hole-in-the-wall restaurant from my Rick Steves' book. After walking right past it a couple of times, we realized that it literally is a hole in the wall. It's very easy to miss. The lady inside was very nice. The menu was hand written, and she explained to us what each thing was in English. I ordered spaghetti bolognese, spaghetti with meat sauce.

Spaghetti!

After a delicious lunch, we were ready to try a Sienese specialty, panforte. It's "a rich, chewy concotion of nuts, honey, and candied fruits that impresses even fruitcake-haters" (Rick Steves' Florence and Tuscany 2011). We found the cutest little bakery with very cheap treats. Hannah and Brittni got chocolate-filled croissants. I forgot what Kate and Lindsey got. (Sorry, I was kind of in my own little world here.) Meghan and I tried a chocolate panforte. I ate mine. And half of Meghan's.

Chocolate, Chewy Deliciousness

After dessert, we went to some shops. Clothes, home decor, books. Hannah bought a new white dress that she wore out Saturday night. When we had walked around a while, we headed back to the square to climb the tower. It costs 8 euros to climb. It is worth every penny. The 300 steps to the top have some pretty narrow and short areas to squeeze through. The view from the top of the tower is breathtaking. You can see for miles up there. I took tons of pictures. If you want to see them, click on the "Siena" album on the right of this page.

We had to hurry up and down the tower because we got there about 20 minutes before they close for the day. I'm so glad we decided to go ahead and do it, even if we didn't have much time. It was the best part of the trip to Siena.

Second best was the Duomo. Siena's Duomo sort of makes Florence's Duomo look plain. It's a 13th century Gothic cathedral with a six story striped bell tower.

Front View of Siena's Duomo

The inside is incredible. This picture doesn't really capture what it's like seeing it in real life. But here it is, anyway:

Main Part of the Cathedral

After seeing the Duomo, we were tired. We walked back to the train station and took the 6:30 train back home to Florence. Friday night, Hannah, Meghan, and I booked our flights to Athens for spring break! We plan on taking a train to Rome to spend a few days there, with a day trip to Naples and Capri, and then we're flying to Greece for the last half of the break. It's going to be so much fun!

Saturday morning I woke up and made my birthday cake. I didn't have/don't know where to find all the ingredients to make a "from scratch" cake, so with help from my roommates, we bought a ridiculously expensive Duncan Hines cake mix and frosting from a specialty grocery store with things that are harder to find in Italian stores. My cake turned out well, but I ran out of frosting for the sides. (There was a lot of frosting in the middle and on top.)

Meghan and I went for a run and then we came back and showered and got ready to go meet Lindsey, Brittni, and their roommate Alexis at the food market. I bought a loaf of freshly baked bread. I don't know what kind it was because there are so many different kinds to choose from! It's wheat and is has some seeds on it, but there were a lot of loaves like that. Whatever it is, it is delicious. I'm going to buy more. After this semester, I won't be able to go back to buying Sara Lee bread in a bag from Walmart. The real fresh bread that you have to cut yourself is just so much. . . better.

After grocery shopping, we went to my favorite gelato place so far where I had my favorite flavor I've had so far, cookies and cream. But it wasn't like oreo cookies and cream. It was like chocolate chip cookies and cream. I also got a chocolate kind. It was the most chocolatey thing I've ever had in my life. It was almost too much. But just almost.

Saturday night we had reservations at Tijuana, a Mexican restaurant in Florence. We had all been craving Mexican food because we've had so much pasta. I had chicken fajitas. That meal hit the spot. It was perfect with the margarita pitcher we shared.

After Stuffing Ourselves with Delicious Food

We came back to our apartment and watched YouTube videos together for a while. Then we decided it was time for cake. We didn't have any candles, but they sang Happy Birthday to me anyway.

My Wonderful Roommates and Friends

The Cake!

Then it was time for some celebratory drinks and getting ready to go out. We went to Space Club. It's a discoteca, a dance club. There were lots of people there. Lots of boys. Lots of Italian boys. We stayed out late and danced the night away. 20th birthday celebration: Success.

A 20th Birthday to Remember