Funny, that’s the main reaction from people I showed it to…
It may help that this quay is a dead end - there are steps down to it out of shot about 4-5 o’clock, but no other way out unless there’s a boat tied up. (And the canal/river it’s on is really quite tiny.)
Wow. Never seen a maximum security library before.
Gotta keep the magic in?
This was the library near where I worked in 1999 (thus the 640×480-ness of the photos):
It’s been closed now (replaced by a new much smaller library nearby), and the building is gradually falling apart because nobody wants to buy it.
Can’t imagine why. It’s… lovely.
The oldest book in the library is from 800 CE - the cathedral is approximately medieval. Books were extremely valuable then!
In our local woods today, surrounded by bluebells and the occasional white cloud of stitchwort. Feels like the colour has dropped out of the sky and flumped onto the ground.
Greetings from Siena. Our first time traveling in a while. Mostly were here to drink espresso for breakfast, eat gelato or possibly pizza for lunch, follow that with aperitifo and move directly to dinner. We may also walk around old cities, visit wineries and beautiful gardens or just enjoy the scenery.
Love Siena.
Haven’t been, but the Florence vibe is big on this one…
Siena is a bit smaller than Florence and has fewer tourists, though you wouldn’t believe it walking through the city by late morning, early afternoon (but I’ve been to Florence on a previous trips, there are far more tourists there). But sit in the Campo in Siena at night and the ratio from locals to travelers is much more even. Yesterday we went to Montalcino and Montepulciano—where we had the best ice cream so far. If you ever get to try ice cream made with lemons from Amalfi… try it. We may also have bought some wine.
If this wasn’t still pandemic, we would probably have organised this as a road trip spending our nights in different places. As it is we have 5 nights here in Siena just outside old town and then 5 in Volterra and 1 night in Como coming and going to break up the long drive (10-11 hours is just too much to drive in one day).
Vigneto?? It is Viñedo in Spanish…
I consulted Translate and it suggested all kinds of wild things like azienda vinicola or cantina but when I saw a place called “Vineria di Montepulciano” I looked up the translation and it translated to Weingut (the German term is surprisingly short) and so I think the next time I need it, I am using Vineria. I have never formally learned Italian. I think I can count to three and I can order at restaurants and I can say hi and thank you and “we have a reservation” that kind of stuff. But I cannot even ask questions because questions need verbs…
I drank a lot of peach vodka in that Campo about 21 years ago 
Actually, my first visit to Siena was either 20 or 21 years ago I didn‘t drink any vodka though… probably beer or maybe wine. We were there with some people from uni for a conference and we stayed at a hostel and brought home bedbugs—fun times. I visited again in 2013 with my partner. No bedbugs that time. And now we‘re back. Siena is a great city and Il Campo is one of my favorite places ever. Absolutely worth a trip. Or two. Or three.
So today my son’s 8th birthday party was at ‘Adrenaline Quarry’ in The Dark Lands. He wanted to go on the ‘big swing’ but wanted someone to go on with him for support. Neither children nor adults seemed keen so I felt I should do the proper dad thing and offer to do it, despite my genuinely crippling fear of heights. I told myself that there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for my kids.
It turns out this feeling is not reciprocated because my son wisely yelled to be let off as we perched on the gallows waiting for the drop. I felt a huge sense of relief at our stay of execution as we were led down from the block, but in a calmer mood back on Terra Firma, my son opined that he might feel safer with two other people, not one.
Another brave dad volunteered as my heart sank and we were led back up to the swing and the circulation-restricting harness was further tightened. Once again, as the cranking began, my son expressed his strong and vocal desire to not be on the swing any more, and as he exited stage left, a final brave dad appeared to keep the two of us company, and effectively cutting off any hope of my escaping.
Dads 0, my son 3. I’m the one on the left (not the tree).
