Last weekend was a long weekend so I decided to fill it up with random travels. First on saturday I went to Genova by myself to see the sea. It turned out to be a beautiful day, and of course I enjoyed wandering around with no real specific goal or direction. Probably the highlights of the trip were eating some oranges I bought at a fruit store, and walking out on a dock and watching the ripples in the water.
Sunday, I spent in Milan, went to church and ate lunch with some friends. Then I hopped on a train and went to Florence. I also very last minutely brought along my friend/co-intern Changduk. We stayed in Florence Sunday night and early in the morning woke up and caught a bus to Sienna. I have been wanting to see Sienna ever since the pre-existence and so I was really happy to finally go. We ran into some mucky weather, and we also ended up having to stay an extra day in Florence because all the trains back to Milan were full, but overall it was another grand adventure. Some of the highlights were:
1. We stayed in nicest hostel in Florence (I found it on www.hostelbookers.com). It was like 50 yards from the Duomo, and brand new. Well, it was newly opened, but obviously the building it was in was probably a few hundred years old. Check out the immensely tall ceilings in our room!
2. The bus to Sienna was really crowded. Somehow me and Changduk managed to get on board even though there were no available seats. We were lucky to find a relatively comfortable staircase, to share with some nice gypsy ladies. The bus ride was about 1.5 hours long, through the hilly tuscan countryside. Even though it was mostly gray and brown outside, it was a bus ride I've been waiting to go on for a long time.
3. We got to Sienna, and as we looked at it with squinty eyes (because it pouring crazy rain in our faces), we were totally stunned. Sienna is a beautiful and extremely old city almost completely covering a hill side. 
4. Changduk's green poncho. We had both imagined that going 4 hours south of Milan would mean going to warmer weather. Unfortunately that wasn't the case and to make up for it Changduk purchased this classic green poncho to keep warm and dry. I had luckily brought a jacket so I didn't get in on any of the poncho fun.
5. We spent a lot of time taking cheesy pictures. If you look closely at this one you will notice that our umbrellas are spinning. 6. And of course we made sure to enjoy the INCREDIBLE architecture of Sienna.
