Caccia al tesoro

This morning was very relaxing since we slept in, had breakfast with Stella, then met the group in the Piazza for a picnic. Giusi, one of the Italian roommates, made us all lunch, and we walked to ­­Orto dei Pecci to have our picnic. The garden was very pretty and green, filled with flowers, and there was a small farm with goats and donkeys nearby. It was a little chilly during our lunch, and then it started to rain. We went to an apartment and relaxed, had “caffe” and dessert, and talked until the rain stopped. Then we had a “caccia al tesoro” (treasure hunt) around Siena. We were divided into teams, and each team was assigned several contradas to go find and take a picture with its specific fountain/animal associated with it. It took my group two hours to find all of ours since they were at opposite ends of the city. Plus, we got lost several times, went in circles, only to find out that there was a shortcut right where we started. However, through the game (which we lost – it was a race), we learned different parts of the city and got a very good workout power-walking up and down Siena’s many steep hills. By the end of the scavenger hunt, we were all exhausted. However, it was helpful and fun to become oriented with all of the contradas. Ana Rose and I made a quick run to the grocery store, Conad, afterwards to pick up some things for dinner. We had salad, gnocchi (premade!) with sauce, and bread to compliment the eggplant from last night and ricotta, pinenut, and spinach stuffed red peppers that Stella made us this morning since she will not be home for dinner tonight. We were quite satisfied with our meal, and enjoyed chatting the rest of the evening while planning out some potential day trips around Tuscany.