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Aquila Fountain

Istrice Fountain

Torre Fountain

Torre

Pictures of Contrada Fountains and Signs

For the past week my mom, dad, and I have been looking for every contrada fountain and headquarters. It is like a scavenger hunt looking for signs to see what contrada your in. There are even plug covers with the contrada animal on them.

This will be my last post without pictures.

Here are some pictures of fountains, headquarters, and signs of the contradas that I will post next.

Contrade and Palio

Siena is split up into seventeen sections, like neighborhoods. They are called contrade. Generally, you can only join a contrada if you are born into it. Every July 2nd and August 16th is the Palio, which is a horse race and a pageant. It started in the 11th century. The Palio is in honor of the Virgin Mary. Ten contradas compete on each of the days. The Palio combines both chance or luck and preparation because the horses and the order that they race in line are drawn out of a hat at random. The contrada can choose its Fontina or jockey and he can train the horse. We saw the Palio when we were here five years ago and again three years ago. The night before the Palio the members of the contrada have a feast in the streets, the streets are decorated with festive lights and banners. We were guests of the Onda or wave contrada feast. The morning of the Palio the horse of the contrada is blessed in the contrada’s church. During the afternoon there is a parade that shows each contrada in medieval costumes. The winner of the race is the first horse, with or without a rider, to circle three times around the Piazza del Campo. The Palio itself is a banner that the winning contrada gets. The members of the winning contrada go to the Duomo and give thanks to Mary. The contradas help Siena to not be city of very much crime because every one takes care of the people in their contrada.
The contradas are:
Pantera or panther
Chiocciola or snail
Istrice or porcupine
Civetta or owl
Leocorno or unicorn
Drago or dragon
Selva or forest
Tartuca or tortoise
Bruco or caterpillar
Onda or wave
Oca or goose
Torre or tower
Lupa or wolf
Nicchio or seashell
Valdimontone or literally means valley of the ram
Aquila or eagle
Giraffa or giraffe

Assisi

On Friday we also went to Assisi. It was very cool! We went to a lot of churches. Saint Frances is the patron saint of Assisi. He was a animal lover and there is a painting of him preaching to the birds. I really like Saint Frances. We went inside one of Saint Frances' church and in the church were paintings of his life. There happened to be, when we came, a Saint Frances monk gathering were monks from all over the world come and sleep on the ground to enjoy nature in honor of Saint Frances. I really liked Assisi!

Perugina Chocolate Factory

On Friday I went to the Perugina chocolate factory with all of the Siena Italian Studies program my mom, dad, and friends that are visiting us. First we saw a video about how the make the chocolate. I didn't think that it went through so many procedures. I also found out that Nestle is Swiss, I thought that it was American. We then had a tour. The factory smelled so good! We walked on a hallway over the rooms were they have conveyor belts to moves the candy from place to place. There is a very popular candy of Perugina called Baci or Kisses it is dark chocolate and has a hazelnut in the middle. I think that it is really good! Our tour guide said that there were 1,200 or so people who work at the factory. There is even a job for putting a hazelnut in the middle. I thought that that sounds like a very boring job!

Easter

Yesterday, Easter morning I went to the Duomo with my mom, dad and a family friend who just got here. She is coming to visit us for a week and a half. The Duomo is the Bishop's church. The Bishop was there and he gave a sermon about something about the world and ghosts. It was cool! There was also singing. There were a lot of people. I was suprised that the native Italians were not dressed up at all. There was also communion but, I did not do it. Here there are really big chocolate, hollow eggs with toys inside them. They don't dye eggs here but, they do eat lamb for Easter dinner. I really like Easter!

First Time Riding a Motor Scooter

Last Wednesday I rode a motor scooter with my dad and my aunt and uncle (who came to visit us) were on a motor scooter too! At first I was scared and I was afraid of falling off but, then I got used to it and I was not as afraid. It is really thrilling and you feel so free. I would recommend renting a motor scooter. We rode to Asciano, past Murlo, Montalcino, and back to Siena. I had to wear a big helmet and it was heavy. Once I got off the scooter in Asciano my neck felt weird. It was a very cool experience!

The Mangia Tower

The Mangia Tower is the City Hall’s 330-foot-tall City Tower on one of the sides of the Campo. It is Italy’s tallest secular tower. It was named after a the bell ringer who enjoyed life, when he got his money from work, he used his money on food. That is why it is called the Mangia Tower. Mangia means to eat in Italian. In front of the City Hall or Palazzo Pubblico is his statue. I just learned that and I thought that it was funny. Also, now you can climb up to the top of the tower which is very fun, especially because you can see the Campo, the countryside and most of Siena below. I really like climbing all the towers it is a lot of fun!

Lucca

On Friday I went to Lucca with the students of the Siena Italian Studies program, my mom, brother, who came to visit for three weeks, and dad. We went to the San Martino cathedral and there was a very different Jesus on the crucifix, Volto Santo. It is said to have been by Nicodemus in Jerusalem and put in a boat. The boat landed on the coast of Tuscany, where wild oxen miraculously carried it to Lucca. The Jesus is black, has a beard, a moustache, does not have nails in his feet, is wearing a crown of gold, not thorns, and has Asian eyes. I thought that this Jesus was very cool because it is so different from all the other paintings that you see of Jesus. I would have a picture of the crucifix but, we were not allowed to take pictures.

Pisa

Mara, Beth and I went to Pisa on Thursday last week. We went up the Leaning Tower. The tower was built in 1173 because of a poor foundation and soft soil it started to lean. Then, the construction was stopped for almost a century. Then, in 1272 the construction started again and the architect added more floors and had those floors tilted the other way to try to correct the lean. That made the tower lean a little bit to the other direction. Now the tower is curved because of this. The tower is still being restored from corrosion and blackening. The tower is really cool! After the tower we went into the Duomo. We saw Galileo's lamp which is called that because Galileo looked at it and it was swinging back and forth each swing the same height and he discovered a new idea.

New Guests

On Saturday, Mara and her mom, Beth came to visit us for 9 days. The first thing that we did with them is we went to a pig farm. We went with the students who are in the program that my dad is the leader of. The pigs are called Cinta Senese. They are black with a band of white on around their bellies. They were actually pretty big and we even got to see piglets., which I thought were cute. They were also very loud. At the pig farm there was a black cat too. Then, after the pig farm we went to the Copra farm or goat cheese farm. They had a lot of goats. It reminded me of the goats at Catlin, but there were a lot more. We didn't get to try the cheese though, because it was not the season that they make cheese. There was even a rooster. We learned about how they make the cheese there. I learned that different kinds of shapes of the cheese molds and what size the wholes there are, make the chesse a different consisitency. I really liked both of the farms!

The Uffizi

I went to Florence with my Aunt and my mom and dad. We went to the gallery Uffizi, which means offices because the Medici family, the richest family in Florence had there offices there. It has lots of paintings in it from very famous artists. It has the very famous The Birth of Venus and Primavera painted by Botticelli. All of the paintings are very old. My favorite two paintings are The Birth of Venus and Primavera. I like the three godesses dancing in Primavera and also I like Primavera because I was born in Primavera or Spring. To give you a example on how big the Uffizi is it would take a day to look at all the paintings. We got tired and stopped at almost two hours. There is the Ponte Vechio or Old Bridge with a lot of shops on it now, but when the Medici lived they used it to cross the Arno river without having to walk with the common people. The Medici even had secret passageways to go to church and see a service without the common people seeing them or being near them. The Medici family ruled all of Tuscany. Sienese and Florentines don't like eachother still today because a long time ago Siena won a battle against Florence. I really like the Uffizi, but you get really tired of walking and you can't take too much in.

Eating in Italy

There are things that are similar and different about eating in Italy. First of all, Italians eat their biggest meal for lunch. Italians eat dinner at 8:00 P.M. A lot later than America. Italians and Americans both like pasta, pizza and sandwiches. Italian pizza is very thin and it does not have very much crust. Italians have a Antipasti or appetizers then Primi or first course, Secondi or Second course. After that they have Dolci or Dessert and Contorni or Sides.
Typical things that you would find on a menu in a restaraunt in Siena:

Antipasti
Bruschetta: toasted bread with sauces on top (both easy to make and tasty)
Pane con formaggio e miele: bread with chesse and honey

Primi
Ribollita: a vegetable soup
Papa al pomodoro: tomato and stale bread soup (really good)
Carbonara: spaghetti with a cream sauce and ham (good, but really rich and filling)

Secondi
Ossobucco: veal with olive oil and a sauce (very delicious)
Fiorentina: stake (I have not had this yet, but I am sure it is great)

Contorni
Spinaci con olio e aglio: spinach with olive oil and garlic (I like this)
Patate Fritte: patatoe (good, but it is different for every restaraunt

I usually just get a Primi, since I would not be able to eat Secondi too. Almost all Italian restaraunts are good!

Montalcino and San Gimignano

On Tuesday I went to Montalcino and then to San Gimignano. Montalcino is a very pretty small town in Tuscany, about an hours drive from Siena. Montalcino is known for its wine. My parents and Aunt like the wine. There was not very many tourists there at all. We were very lucky to have such a beautiful sunny day to travel. I would go back to Montalcino anytime!

We also went to San Gimignano. I looked at shops and my Aunt got me a scarf. San Gimignano is another small and pretty town. Almost all the towns are on top of hills. There were a lot more tourists there. We went to our favorite restaruant. Ristorante Chiribiri. They had very good food! All the people in the restaraunt were tourists. There were British people, French people, and when we left some Chinese or Japanese people were coming in. There were people talking in so many different languages. I think that San Gimignano is a great city!

Cortona

On Monday I went to Cortona with my mom, dad, and Aunt. We rented a car to drive there from Siena. Cortona was on a very high hill. We went inside a church during what seemed to be a windstorm. Which was very loud and cold. We ate at Dolce Maria or Sweet Mary. We were the only ones there. The manager/chef Luigi was very nice and the food was really good! I had Ribollita a vegetable soup. We walked through the streets of Cortona. After that, we looked at the countryside and the Lake Trasimeno, from an overlook. The movie, Under the Tuscan Sun was about and filmed in Cortona. The book was written by Frances Mayes. I liked Cortona!

School

I forgot to say that I have school from 8:20 A.M. to 1:20 P.M. It is a very short school day. I have school on Saturday! I wish that school was longer and only five days. I really like having two days of no school. I don't get very much homework just some practice worksheets for learning Italian. But my other friends get a lot of homework. My class is a music class. So, on Saturday I have music. I just play the claves because I don't know what the people in the class are playing. I know the names of them though. They are learning some songs from Pinocchio or pine-eye and a song called Olyem Goylem. The songs that they play are classical. The instruments that they play are flute/flauto,clarinet/clarinetto,piano/pianoforte,oboe, and guitar/chitarra. I am learning a lot of Italian and enjoying it!

Carnevale di Foiano

Sunday night I went to the Carnevale di Foiano with the college students that are in the program that my dad is working in. Foiano is a small town an hours drive away from Siena. There is silly string and confetti that you can buy. I got silly string and sprayed it at people. There are four segments that Foiano is split up into. Each segment makes a float, out of papier mache, and it represents something that they wish for the New Year. Some people dress up in costumes. There is music played from the floats and bands that play. It was really fun! Soon I will add pictures of both Carnevale's!

Here is the link to a photo album of Carnevale of Foiano. Copy and paste it to your URL.

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=277511444/a=27920112_27920112/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=comcast2

Peter and The Wolf

Today, my whole school went to Florence to see Peter and The Wolf By Prokofiev or Pierino e Il Lupo. At first, there was man who talked about the story and then he had each person play the part of their character. Each character in the story has an insrument and song that goes with them. The Bird is a flute, Peter is violin's, The Wolf is french horn's and so on. After that, the man told us the story, but I didn't understand it because he told it in Italian. During the story, when, for example Peter was in the story the violinists would play. I did really like the music! But I didn't know the story.

Carnivale

CARNIVALE is part of the church calender that ends at Lent. That is forty days before Easter. People make a personal sacrifice in honor of Easter because the Bible says that Jesus made the biggest sacrifice for mankind. In Piazza del Campo the Sienese kids dress up in costumes, spray foam, and throw confetti celebrating Carnivale. Yesterday, was the last day of Carnivale because of this last night there were people on stilts, two bands, and dancers on a stage in the Campo. Soon I will add pictures of Carnivale!

The Opera, Pagliacci

Yesterday, I went to see the opera called Pagliacci in Florence. Pagliacci means clowns. Pagliacci is by R. Leoncavallo. Paggliacci is about an acting troop of clowns. There is a husband and wife, who's name's are Canio and Nedda. Nedda and Canio are both in the acting troop. There are two other men named Tonio and Silvio. They both are in the acting troop too and both love Nedda. Nedda loves Silvio and hates Tonio. This is really about a story about Canio and his wife Nedda, Tonio who loves Nedda and she hates him, Silvio whom she loves and who loves her. Canio finds out that Nedda loves somebody. In the end he finds out that she loves Silvio and he kills them both. Although, this is a sad opera I really liked it! It is a very famous opera!

Siena Pictures of The Palio horse race, The Duomo, and the Piazza del Campo

The Dolomites

The Dolomites are a part of the Alps. When we got to the Dolomites, the next day I went to go skiing. In Italian ski is sci pronounced "shee." There was a lot of snow. Skiing was very fun! I also went bob sledding, which is different than what we call bob sledding. Bob sledding in Italy is more like our sledding. It is not like the bob sledding that is in the Olympics. We stayed at the Hotel San Giacomo which was pretty nice.  It had a pool and a spa. The food was good too. I just learned today that snowboard is exactly the same word in Italian. My first time in the Alps was a good one!

Verona

On Monday I went on a bus to go to the Dolomites and on the way we stopped in Verona. Verona is where Romeo and Juliet lived in the play. In Verona there is Juliet's  house. I saw the porch were supposedly Juliet talked to Romeo, the famous words "Romeo o' Romeo where art' thou' Romeo." There even was a statue of Juliet and for good luck you were supposed to rub  her breast. I did not. Verona was pretty and bigger than Siena.  It was also a different atmosphere because it did not have a wall surrounding it like Siena. 

A New School, Scuola media San Bernardino

Today was my second day of school. The first day I was very nervous. The school in Siena is different because they call the teachers professore or prefessoressa. There is a textbook for everything and they have a Religion class, which I think is different. They also have Gym only once a week and I am so glad that we have Gym every day. They also give more homework and you stay in one classroom for almost the whole day. The teachers come to the classroom. Soon, I will post a picture of San Bernardino.

First dinner in Italy

When I first got to Italy. My mom, dad, and I went to a restaurant called El Capitan and I noticed that when they gave us bread for an appitizer that they did not put olive oil out. At first I always thought that in Italy they would have olive oil with their bread, but they don't. Although, all of the Italian restaurant's in Portland have olive oil with bread. But, my mom said that Italians do have olive oil with their bread, but not very often.

The Good and The Bad

The good part about going to Italy is I am going to see my friends that were in my class in second grade. The bad part is that I am going to miss my brother, who is staying in America, and my friends.