Wet Siena: I Can Still Hear Mark's Whining

We woke up to rain pouring down in buckets. Reluctantly we had bid farewell to our cozy place and run to our rental car to drive ten minutes to central Siena. 

Siena turned out to be not what I envisioned...because of the rain. All the pictures I had seen showed this sunny vast market square, Piazza del Campo, where people just lounge around and eat gelato. For us it looked more like this. 

It is indeed a beautiful piazza but as you can see we were simply soaking wet, so no suntanning for us.  

This is Robert and the big kids by the Fonte Gaia, The Fountain of the World, built in 1419, with smiles that almost look real. 

You might have noticed that Mark was missing from all the pictures above. Yeah...there is a reason. This kid was our "bear who spoilt the raspberry bush" from the moment we stepped out of the car into the wet cold weather. We brought his rain coat that is very good quality but he just HATES it, so he was moaning and whining and moaning again the whole time we were walking around about how miserable he was, refusing to get under my umbrella or even put on his hood. I wanted to cry with him:)

Siena was surprisingly crowded for such a rainy day. Many tourists walk down the narrow streets of this city, souvenir shopping and eating gelato. We stopped by one large cafe and indulged ourselves in some yummy pastries plus bought another umbrella. 

Then we walked over to the famous Duomo (Cathedral). It's said to be one of the most beautiful cathedrals in Europe. 

Unfortunately, because of one little boy who was soaked through and still whining a bit, we chose not to go inside (we had to wait in line to get in and pay). 

Instead Katya decided to dance with the local crowd looking at the cathedral. 

Can you spot Alex? 

Still moaning....but at least we got him to put on his sweatshirt hood. 

We had a quick bite of hot pizza at a stand-up pizza bar sort of place, got warm and then walked through the city back to our car. 

I am happy to share this real life experience and write it down here, so that I will always remember that traveling with kids is not a piece of cake, but is great most of the time and IS possible:). To be honest, we were all happy to get away from the rain and get warm in our car on our drive to Florence:)

To be continued...

Lyana.