Laowai

Here are some photos from the first part of our trip to Italy.

We flew into Milan and spent one night in Modena. And then we drove on to Sienna to spend a few days.

20 years ago – for our honeymoon – we traveled to four Italian cities (Verona, Bolzano, Venice and Sienna). It was the first time I had been to Europe and looking back I think I spent a lot of the time feeling nervous and out of place. 

But I still enjoyed myself and it was amazing to me to see so much ancient architecture everywhere. I remember flying into Milan and noticing that all the roofs were the same red tile.

We ended our honeymoon in Sienna and it was one of our favorite places. I tasted pecorino cheese with honey on top for the first time at our little hotel. 

Unsurprisingly the town of Siena hasn't changed in the last 20 years.

I, however have changed in the last 20 years. Brian has taken me all around the world and so now I don't feel so nervous when I encounter other languages or strange places.

We always joke about how we got into an argument at about 3:00 each day of our honeymoon. It was usually when we were flummoxed by some travel logistics issue. But this trip seemed very relaxing. 

Brian and I are still happy to just walk around all day when we travel. I still like to take an afternoon nap. And my never-tired husband likes to go out for a run while I sleep.

In Siena you can walk around all day and talk and stop for gelato and you won't run out of interesting things to see.

And towards the end of the day, but before dinner, you can stop for a drink and do some people watching.

That's our hotel's garden above. There was a pet turtle. Or is it a tortoise? He walked around and around and I think sometimes people would feed him bits of fruit from their breakfast.

Here are some more photos from our lovely old hotel. 

On one of our days we left the city for a hike in the countryside.

We hiked on the Via Francigena – "an ancient road and pilgrimage route running from the cathedral city of Canterbury in England, through France and Switzerland, to Rome and then to Apulia, Italy"

I remember 20 years ago being struck by the Tuscan landscape – they really do have those tall pointy trees dotted around. It's just like the iconic illustrations you see on wine labels.

We hiked to the hilltop fort that you can see above. It was a defensive position between Florence and Siena.

What a pretty hike we had. 

The next day it was time to go to the wedding venue. Whenever we got in the car Brian put on one of his favorite cycling podcasts. The Giro D'Italia bike race was going on and as we zoomed along in our tiny rental Fiat we would listen and catch up on the race's progress. And Brian did all the driving while I sat back and put my hand out and rested my palm on the woosh.