Siena

We loved Siena. This is a town largely within its old medieval walls. It is ancient: the city symbol is the wolf suckling Romulus and Remus. Siena claims that it is from the latter's line that the city was founded. The Duomo in the city is magnificent with carving and artwork extraordinaire. The political wards or contrada send a contingent to other wards every Sunday, all dressed in medieval costume. They wave flags and play drums and other instruments. In the summer, they have two horse races in the main city square, vieing for honors for their own contrada. Well worth a return visit.



Their sense of humor was also on display.

Climbing near Lake Como

It was a joy to climb to the Refugio Menaggio above Lake Como. It was definitely more challenging for me than for the boys. My breath gave out, but not my legs.


From the Refugio, the boys took a different and much steeper route than I. The distance was probably the same, but the rate of incline decidedly different. Julian describes their traverse:

Menaggio

Menaggio is located on the west side of Lake Como. The hostel there is marvelous -- clean, hospitable and reasonably priced. (See www.menaggiohostel.com/ ).The view from the window alone was worth the stay, but we also rode a bus to the foot of a mountain and spent a day climbing. The bus ride was an adventure, hurtling through narrow twisting roads, often at more than twice the speed limit. How do I know? The one time there was a radar speed indicator on our whole trip was on this bus ride when we were slowing down in a 40 km speed zone and the radar report was 82 km. I took the movie below when it was safer -- other times we had tree branches coming in the windows. Negotiating switchbacks required the bus driver to honk his horn and forced oncoming traffic to back up.

Nurnberg

Our first stop this past summer was Nurnberg. The skies were often blue, the city is historic and beautiful, and the hospitality of the Hagens was generous and warm. They arranged for us to climb one of these towers and to walk under the roof and above the ceiling of the cathedral. The medieval construction was intriguing and the views from the steeple balcony were stunning.