Make a Wish

What would your perfect day be? Make a wish. 

Today was nearly perfect. What could be better than having a great adventure! On this Mother’s Day we celebrated by taking a steam engine train ride for the whole day. 

First of all the train was remarkable. Straight from the early 1900s. We were the token americani on the train, and as such, a bit of a oddity. We shared our car with delightful people from Germany and Croatia. 

We had a traveling band with us all day. 

Our travels took us  through our corner of Tuscany enjoying the scenery, stopping to give our train water and having lunch in Asciano. 

After arriving back to the Siena train station we headed into town for an apertivo. How relaxing watching the people walk by. They call it the passeggiata; an evening stroll through town. A time to see and be seen.

 

My thoughts exactly!

and then…. 

The Goose family invaded. You see Siena has 17 neighborhood contrada. Each year they compete in a no holds barred horse race that takes place twice; July and August. This is the famous Palio. Each contrada is named for an animal or symbol. Just a few are the Snail, the Dragon, Unicorn, and of course the Goose. And that takes us back to the invasion. Evidently this large parade took place in the adjacent contrada so this was a bit of a challenge. 

Our day was complete. A grand adventure on a beautiful train. We met wonderful people from around the world, we relaxed and watched the passeggiata and finally we experienced a spectacular parade of a proud neighborhood. The example these neighbors set for us brought tears to my eyes. 

That is all for today. Time to get some rest so we can continue our fun tomorrow! 

Ciao Baby. 

Gina