a personal style blog by Lauren Pfieffer

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Siena, Italy!

Denim Top, White Skirt, Earrings: Thrifted.
Sandals: TJMaxx.
Backpack: Herschel.

Hello everyone!

Sorry it's been a little while since I last posted. Most of my weekends consist of traveling nonstop, so by the end of it I'm quite exhausted and need time to recharge! So excited to show you all some photos + an outfit I wore to a school field trip to Siena though on Friday.

Siena is about an hour and a half from Florence by bus and it was a competing city with us, so it reminded me quite a lot of Florence. It was far less touristy for a change though which was rather nice! We stopped in a beautiful cafe where the pastries were super cheap compared to Florence, and I got a little sugar donut (called a Ciambelle I believe) and a cappuccino. Ha, that's all you can pretty much get in Italy coffee wise. Either 1. cappuccino or 2. an espresso. I'm getting used to the coffee here though although it was a big shock at first. Here in Italy, they just simply don't mess around with their coffee. No syrups, fancy additives, or even sugar or cream often times. I miss all the frou frou-ness of American drinks (craving a french vanilla latte, a salted carmel mocha from Starbucks, and without a doubt iced coffee which they don't have here), but am getting accustomed to and beginning to like the choices here. Right now I'm currently drinking some instant coffee I made here at the apartment this morning and it isn't too bad! When I say instant though, it's not like a kurig that we have back in the states, but this little pouch of grounds that you pour into hot water and stir up. Not too bad I must say!

Anyways, enough about coffee. Siena was spectacularly beautiful and we visited some of the museums there and studied the frescos inside that featured fashions of the time. We also climbed this, I can kind of describe it as a wall, in the central area of town where we had to go up these tiny, steep little spiraling staircases. It was kind of terrifying and I'm not even claustrophobic, ha. But the view on top was SO worth it. In the pictures above, it's the big look out across the city.

Finally, we visited the Duomo in the town which was phenomenal. I've never seen such detail..such beauty as inside this cathedral. It was pretty cool to see the inside of it and study all of the religious aspects having been raised Catholic, and I thought it was interesting that they gave you a cape to cover your shoulders when you walked in if they were bare.

On the way back from Siena our school stopped at an Italian farm that produces all the food they serve in a restaurant. I love how Italians do eating big. It's usually a four course meal, starting with an anti pasta (which was salami, bread with olive oil, and ham), then a pasta dish (penne with a ragu sauce and Parmesan cheese), and main course usually of meat (sausage, a rib, pork chop, and a salad), and then a usually very light dessert (almond biscotti). Just an interesting way to eat unlike how we do in the US where we put it all on our plate at once. It's also interesting how you always have the option to drink sparkling or still water no matter where you go. I don't quite get the concept of the sparkling water yet--I've tried it once and don't like it at all! They also gave us apple juice to drink which literally tasted exactly like applesauce in a cup- it was amazing, ha. 

Yesterday I went to Venice and cannot WAIT to write all about that! My favorite city yet. x

With much love, Lauren.

P.S. one of my lovely blog friends, Miranda, of Little Gold Pocket Watch, did an interview with me on her blog awhile back! She's the sweetest and I'd love for you to check out the her blog + the questions I answered if you have time! :)
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3 comments

Sophie said...

Siena is so so gorgeous!! All these pictures are bringing back so many happy memories of my time in Florence. I miss it terribly. You neeed to go to the San Lorenzo Markets & to the medieval village, I think it's the oldest in Florence San Gimigiano. There was the most amazing gelato place there which apparently is world renowned. My goodness. I did a tour that went to the designer outlets too which is worth a visit, even if just to look at all the high-end things. Let me know if you want the name!

So glad you're having an amazing time.

Sophie xx

Anonymous said...

All I can say is gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous! These pictures are about as close as I can get to Italy for the time being, so thank you for sharing a piece of your adventures with us :)

xoxo, Alesha
www.oldfashionedwhimsy.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

I love reading these posts, and this was my favorite so far! spectacular pictures, and I loved hearing about the differences in food and drink.

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