Siena,Italy

Tues 16 Feb.We awoke to church bells thanks to the under employed priest. We went downstairs to greet Gina for breakfast. We packed our things then jumped not quite knowing where the ground was. We headed out across the walking bridge not knowing where we were going to atay in an unfamiliar city. Not knowing is a liberating feeling. After a short wait, we caught the bus back to Orvieto. We had some time before our train lwft so we walked into the newer part of Orvieto to shop for some food and wine for the train ride. We had a nice relaxing 1 hour 20 min ride to Siena. Now it gets really magical. After taking the usual few minutes to read the signs showing us the way to the busses. This is really a joint adventure. Sheila reads the maps; I read the signs, and we both ask questions. By the time we arrive in Siena, it is nearly dark, and it's raining hard.We find the bus buy a ticket to the city center near a hotel recommended by Rick Steves. We ask an elderly lady where we should get off, but she speaks no English. A young lady in front of us turns and in perfect English asks what were looking for. We explain and she directs us to the hotel without a problem, and It's very close so we don't have to spend too much time in the rain. We arrive at Hotel Bernini, and Carlotta, the young lady at the desk, greeted is warmly. We explain that we have no reservations and we'd like accomodations for 4 nights. She grimaces, but soon she looks up, smiles, and says she can make it work. We landed on our feet once again. She showed us to our room, brought us some wine potato chips(a common appitizer in Italy) and while the day darkened into night, Sheila and I sat in the common room overlooking this ancient city and congratulated ourselves on our travel skills and our good fortune. We were tired and hungary by this time so we set out to find dinner and more adventure. We decided to eat our leftovers from deli rather than waste it. We walkes to Il Campo, the city center. On the spur of the moment, we followed a crowd into a 17th century courtyard. It was amazing, There was a festival taken from medieval times. Children in costume danced to 15 century music--drum, pipe, and horn. The performers were all in period costumes. Soon the dancers were replaced by falconeers. The falco flew low over the audience. They brought ot owls. They too flew low over the crowd so low in fact that as I looked up, the owl's tllon scratched my nose. The birds gave way to acrobats including a woman on the tallest stilts I've ever seen. There is much ore to this event that I'm not going to describe, but the culminating act: tw young ladies who were placed on top of a table and they performend feats of flexibility and balance the like of which I'd never seen. The entire event was overseen by a king and his retinue all in period costume. It was a magical, beautiful, and thrilling experience made all the moreso because we were willing to take the risk.