Siena

Monday 27 October 2008
Today held another adventure of transportation. We made our way out of Pisa to Siena first via train and then we transfered trains at Empoli ad made it to Siena around 12:30. We then trecked a good 30 minutes up hill and on a street with no sidewalks to our Hostel: a room with 2 beds, a tv, an armour, and a bedside table. It's definitely "quaint" I took a shower (we have to share a bathroom, but we had to at the hostel in Pisa and it was rarely available), then we siestad until 4:30 after which we went for a walk. We're outside of the historic Siena so there wasn't much but housing, a McDonalds at a gas station, and a café or two. We stopped at one to get some Fanta. It was now 6:15 and we're pretty bored, it was already dark outside and had been since 4:30/5. And we didn't feel inclined to take a bus when we can't see anything to know our stops. So we watched Italian MTV waiting for 8pm when we felt ok about eating our dinner: bread with Nutella, an apple, some almonds, pretzles, and water. Tomorrow we're getting bus into town. I feel so incredibly disallusioned. I think that's the right word. I've had this picture in my head, a hope that parts of the world could remain untouched or that wurope would be different. But it feels poor. Everything seems run down, the buildings, the countryside, the people. But this may just be my impression from a cool, rainy fall day. We are incredibly spoiled in the US. We have so much and it comes so cheaply, or at least I feel it comes cheaple. i just want to have a place I can call home and I dont feel Europe is that place. Once, before industrialization, Europe's countryside still held something. They lie to us now when they tell us there is something to discover here. That was lost with the birth of the Tourist industry. I'm sure I would feel differently if I grew up here, if I saw more than dirty cities full of foriegners. But all those dreams of my childhood were based on history books and PBS specials. Sometimes it's like that, but the things I can afford are not.