Our Easyjet plane arrived on time from Rome and made the return flight from Palermo to Rome on time and arrived at Fiumicino Airport on schedule. Pakdokter had arranged via the internet a transfer from Rome to Siena on an 8-seater Mercedes van. Roberto, our driver who met us at the airport was a handsome tall hunk with a bald head in a smart black suit, and could easily pass off as a bodyguard for Barack Obama.
Pakdokter's daughter, Raena, had flown in from Edinburgh that morning and had waited for us to arrive at the airport. Her Ryanair jet, however came in through the Ciampino airport. So she had to take the express bus to Stazione Termini in Central Rome and from there hop on to the express train to Fiumicino airport. For pakdokter and partner, it was so nice to meet up with our beloved daughter again, especially for this special occasion of pakdokter's partner's birthday as well as our wedding anniversary in two days time.
The road journey from Rome to Siena took slightly more than 3 hours. we left Rome at around 6 pm and checked into out Hotel Athena at about 915 pm. The long daylight hours of summer made us feel as if we had arrived in the afternoon. The hotel was good enough to anticipate our late arrival and had reserved a table for the group to have a somewhat late dinner.
our first Tuscan meal...Raena had the Caprese as starter ( tomato and buffalo cheese)
pakdokter's partner had the Ribolita ( a Tuscan vegetable soup)..
Dollah and Sandra tried the lamd and rabbit...
pakdokter settled for a pasta...
After dinner, we decided to walk to the city centre just and what a surprise it was to see that the city was still buzzing with activity although it was nearly midnight. There was an orchestra performing tunes to which different groups of dancers were performing in a dance competition. All these events were part of the build-up to the Palio Festival whcih will take place on the 2nd of July.
the above are pictures of the Il Campo, the city square..
the city orchestra played classical music as well as dance tunes..
tango...
cha cha cha...
these young beauties from various precincts of Siena
were happy to pose for photographs...
they all took part in the team dance competition...
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