Hello to Siena

We are on the train from Florence to Siena - an unexpected trip for today. We intended to hike the Cinque Terre villages along the northern Mediterranean coast, but it was pouring rain outside our hotel window, and the forecast (which we primarily comprehended by the little cloud-with-raindrops icons on our Italian TV station) looked the same virtually all over Italy. Furthermore - brrr!

We're not so sure how far Siena is, but we really don't care since out the train window is the Tuscan countryside: rolling hills, stone farmhouses and golden stucco villas with red clay tile roofs, orchards of cypress and olives, and a variety of deciduous trees in shades of green and yellow and red and brown, harvested grapevines and corn stalks in fields, a rushing stream, a football game in the rain, a castle/fort up on the hill. The further we get from Florence, the more rustic, pastoral, and peaceful it feels.

The train slides through Italian hill country towns along the way with names like Castelfiorentino, Certaldo, Poggibonsi. Now a long tunnel, now we're slowing down. Do we have a place to stay yet? No, of course not. Let' see what's in store! Ah, Siena!