Pienza, Siena, and the national anthem

Are you tired of Italy posts yet? no? well great! I only have one more for you after this one; Katie’s bridals part 2, and trust me you are not going to want to miss those! but today, here are a few of my favorites from the day we went to Pienza and Siena. Pienza was not an originally schedule stop, but I’m so glad that we took the morning to visit because aside from Montalcino, this was my other favorite town we saw. It was very tiny, but I think thats part of its charm :) So we explored Pienza for a while, then headed onto Siena. We didn’t spent too long here, and if I could go back and do it all over again I would have scheduled more time in this city, because it was definitely worth seeing and I feel like we hardly scratched the surface. guess that just means we’ll have to go back for round two, right? right! :)

ps- make sure you check out Katie’s blog, as she has been sharing her Italy Diaries as well :) anybody want to guess what the thing on the right is? they were everywhere! 10 points to anyone who can name it :) Hello Siena! according to the tour guide this is ‘the most important church in the world!’ .. along with just about every other church/building we saw ;) and as always, ending the night the correct way :) ah! i miss it already :( 
So here’s a fun surprise.. my first video! I have finally started playing around with the video feature on my camera, so Katie and I made sure to document throughout the week, and here are some little clips!

Some important things to note in the video: 1) Katie explained PERFECTLY why the first song in the video is what it is, please read her explanation (and the rest of her blog) HERE since it took her so long to type out :) 2) Yes, I realize we mention gelato approximately 190283 times in this video, and yes, it was in fact that delicious! 3) No, we never did get nexflix to work.. baaaaah! :)

4) The very last clip is my faaaavorite! we were having lunch at this little family owned restaurant that sits RIGHT across from the Vatican that our tour guide recommended (he is the tall bushy haired guy with the beard you see right at the beginning) when their entire table started singing! and then you have the rest of the cast of characters… the owner of the restaurant joining in on all the fun on the right side in the blue shirt with the towel over his shoulder… his wife, who walks by at the end with a “ah c’mon, get back to work!” look on her face… the tourist who happened to be walking by on the street outside the restaurant who decided to teach this group our national anthem… my mother, who clearly thought we were at an Orioles game and threw in the extra big “OHH!” at the correct moment… and of course the star of the show, our friend on the left conducting the choir ;)