Buonasera

My original plan post Germany was to head East, but one of my new friends lured me in with the siren song of Gelatto, and so sort of last minute I decided to join her in Siena for 4 days. As I blog, I am sitting on a terrace overlooking a 14th century monestary as the moon rises above the main Duomo of the town. The reddish-brown brick homes slope up towards the church, following the steep slope of the hill, and bright shirts and pants sway in the easy breeze as they dry. After 4 weeks of intense museums and Bach innundation, this is a perfect respite from the harried--if utterly enriching--pace of typical Erupean travel. I arrived yesterday, and have already eaten homemade ravioli (exquisite!), mulitple flavors of gelatto (it would be too incriminating to say how much), a chocolate croissant, and thin crust Italian pizza. I have organized, rested, gone running (it's a hill work out for sure, which I need with my present diet), and explored a gorgeous church, in addition to meandering and checking out expensive leather. While Germany was beautiful in its own way, I love that I can sit on a balcony for two hours and feel almost desparate to take the same photo of the same view every 20 minutes because it is just that beautiful. I will spend Friday in Florence, then fly out of Pisa airport on Saturday for Krakow, then train down to meet Ginette in Budapest in a week. I truly am having one of the best summers of my life, a fact never more clear than in this moment, looking out at the moon sweeping over this stunning town, sitting on this Italian terrace. Buonasera indeed.