On Thursday the we had a group trip to Siena. First we went to the Synagogue there and learned about it's history and the history of the Jewish Ghetto in Siena. After listening to the speaker (or at least Prof. Cooper's translation of the speaker) we took a quick tour of the Synagogue before heading out to get lunch.
For lunch most of the group went to a very interesting restaurant at the bottom of the hill. It was situated on a farm, and in one part of the farm ther were making a recreation of a medieval farm with all, and only, the the vegetation that would have been found on one. Another interesting thing about the restuarant was that it employed people with mental disabilities and people who were being reintegrated in society.
What struck me the most about Siena was how different it was from the last time I had been there. Since I had come for the Paleo the last time I wasn't able to get a feel for what the main Piazza actually looked like. I also didn't have the time to explore the rest of city and see things like the church that we walked through. This time I got to experience Siena for itself, rather than just seeing crowds of people all around. I really enjoyed seeing the church, even if the mummified bodies were kind of creepy. It was also interesting to see how it had gone from a convent to a school.
