I’m thinking maybe I will quit staying in vacation apartment rentals. I love the extra space, the washing machine and when travelling with Scott, the ease of getting myself breakfast while he sleeps in. But last night some new neighbours were partying right above my head well past midnight. Even ear plugs courtesy of KLM did not dull what sounded like a cheering crowd and the pounding of hooves at a horse race. I could not get to sleep because of the noise and there was no front desk to call and complain.

Additionally, there was no hot water in this apartment. That was on me. I already complained and they said run the water longer but today the shower just got colder. I complained again as much as my Canadianess disliked causing a bother.

Something I learned on yesterday’s walk: In English we call things related to Siena “Sienese” but in Italian it’s “Senese”—no “i”.

Another thing I learned is the building in the title photo is the music academy, one of the most prestigious in Europe.

Today, because my plantar fasciitis had not gone away as fast as I’d hoped, I did less walking and stair climbing. After another gelato lunch, I only took a small walk around. Found another contrada symbol, an eagle:

I went back to the school (which has fewer stairs to climb) to do my homework. I’m finding this level a bit too easy. Today we started on the imperfetto verb tense, something I have worked on for years. While I have trouble remembering the conjugations, its existence and generally when to use it was nothing new. It was new for some of my classmates. But I’m only here for a week and at this point I don’t want to change.

My afternoon activity was going to il Duomo. This time I went with a guide, one of the teachers who knows art history, Giulia.

According to her, Nicolas Pisano, the sculptor of the pulpit, was the father of Giovanni Pisano, the sculptor of many of the external statues on il Duomo.

Here’s a better photo of the Donatello St John the Baptist:

Giulia also commented there is a Michelangelo statue in the Duomo. I get 10 points for finding it.

The Michelangelo is the only one with a classical or Renaissance posture, contraposto, where the torso is turned, the knees bent and weight is on one leg.

Also, not all the statues in the Chigi chapel are by Bernini. I get another 10 points for picking out which ones are Bernini.

Wikipedia says these were designed by Bernini but executed by his workshop. That sounds right to me. St Jerome and his lion look less like they were carved by a genius than, for example, the Pluto and Persephone in the Borghese in Rome.

The Borghese works were done in the 1620s when Bernini was in his 20s. The Siena sculptures were delivered in 1663 (you do the math). If these were carved by Bernini himself, it gives me pause about his efforts in the period when he was old, rich and famous.

When I got back to the apartment, someone stopped by and fixed the hot water problem. The boiler had been turned off. Hot shower tomorrow! This period with no hot water was bringing back reminders of the discomforts of Calgary during water reduction.

For dinner, the apartment manager and Enzo recommended one of the restaurants steps from this apartment called Osteria Cice, which as far I can figure, is the same word as ceci or chickpeas. As my next three afternoon/evening activities involve food or wine, this seemed the last chance to go to Cice. As it’s always been full when I tried to get in, I made a reservation.

They had half bottles of wine. And lamb chops and beans baked in tomato sauce.

It was all pretty good. Maybe tonight I can sleep through the noisy neighbours.