Saturday of Serive Italian Style

Today, I was given the opportunity to participate in a service activity where we would go as a group and help clean up a section of the wall where they are going to put in a walking path. If you don't know, Siena being a very old city, is surround by a wall that used to protect it from invaders. Even though it is a city, there is a huge green space in the middle of it that was originally used in case the city was surround and they needed to grow their own food, but now it is just a small farm run by a family. We were given the opportunity to enter in it and it was beautiful. Not only were we close to the wall, but we also got to see other buildings not to mention I hadn't seen or touched grass for so long. One of our program leaders even showed us a special entrance in/out of the wall where they used to run water out to people who lived outside the walls, but the could also use it as an entrance. It was mostly gated up, but a few of us decided to go through it and it was so worth it. Unfortunately, I hadn't brought my camera because we were doing service and I didn't want it to get broken, but other people did so I will show you once they post those pictures.

As for the service, we had to clear the wall of bamboo and another type of reed plant. They gave a few of us knives and literally we cleared our area in like 15 minutes flat. We couldn't take down the bamboo, but there were people there who had chain saws and we would just clear it out as they were cut down. Then we could explore the land a little bit and that's where going through the gate comes in.

After that my roommate and I had lunch in the Piazza del Campo (which is the biggest and most famous plaza in Siena). You actually aren't allowed to sit down in the piazza, but most of the time the cops don't care. Then we went home and changed and explored the city a little bit. We hung out at a café for a little bit and enjoyed coffee and pastries. The pastries here are seriously wonderful pillows of sweetness. The hot chocolate here is thick, creamy, and almost pudding consistency which is wonderful. If you come to Italy, order cioccolate calda!!!  We also found this really nice look out spot on the edge of the wall that looks out over Tuscan landscape on out city adventure. It is a spot I'm going to have to remember for relaxing when the weather gets warmer.

-Cori