Let it snow

First item on the list for the week was to make some progress with our residence papers. After trying unsuccessfully to get our Australian documents translated we headed back to the local government office, but the nice English-speaking women we dealt with before wasn’t working that day.

We left. I’m starting to realise we’re going to be seeing a lot of this building.

We decided to commiserate with lunch at a local deli (and somehow in the excitement of it all bought half a kilo of prosciutto in the process).

There was snow forecast for the next day (for the first time in years), so weren’t sure if the kids would be going to school.

When we woke up there was some light snow falling, but not enough to build up on the ground so there was no snow day. I did however get a chance to live out my Rocky IV fantasies some more.

By the afternoon though, the snow was getting heavier.

We crossed our fingers for a snow day. 

The next day there was snow on the ground!

But school was still open so we got ready and headed to the car to defrost it. 

And write “I ♥ Siena” in the snow.

After dropping the kids at school we decided to head up into the hills to see more of the snowfall.

We ended up at Castellina in Chianti where we stopped for hot drinks before heading home.

You take the high road and I'll take the low road.

More exploring and organising this week. I was thrilled that four weeks, five carriers and twelve SIM cards later, we all finally have Italian phone numbers!

We’ve also been succeeding in our missions to find good playgrounds around Siena. Audrey seemed pretty pleased with this one.

The weather forecast was pretty bad for most of the week so Mandi and I decided to make the most of a stunning day on Wednesday and head to Florence by ourselves.

After the hour-long drive I needed a coffee so we headed to the first cafe we found. Turns out we’d stumbled onto the most Sydney-style cafe in Tuscany (thankfully I’ve never seen avocado toast on a menu in Italy before).

After some wandering we headed to the bar at the top of the Westin and enjoyed the view (and an Aperol Spritz, of course).

Some more wandering and it was time for lunch. As we headed down one particularly busy pedestrian street, we noticed that everyone was there for the same (massive) sandwiches.

We decided '“when in Florence” and joined the line. It was worth the wait.

The next day we had to go look at houses to rent. Even though we love where we are now, we really want to have a place with a pool for the spring, so we headed into the Tuscan countryside in the rain.

We saw some amazing places with stunning views.

But we didn’t really find anything with the right combination of location, availability and price. On the way back we inadvertently found an outdoor sculpture garden - kind of a Tuscan ‘sculpture by the trees’ lining the road.

We’ll definitely have to head back in better weather to see it properly.

On Friday night we were invited out to our first dinner with a school family. They took us to a great (almost literal) hole in the wall in Siena.

After dinner the kids walked the dog.

And played in the Piazza.

On Saturday the kids went to their first school birthday party then on Sunday we headed to Pistoia, just over an hour north of Siena. We decided it was time for a bit of history, so the first thing we did was buy tickets to an underground tour of the city’s medieval waterways.

The tour was great, with the guide explaining how the waterways were used to transport goods in and out of the city (and in the 14th Century were accidentally used to spread the black plague from the infected garbage that was dumped into it).

After an hour underground, it was time to head up - climbing the four hundred steps to the top of the bell tower.

Looking out the arrow slits, tt was easy to imagine what it would have been like during one of the many attacks that devastated the city in the middle ages.

The sun was setting as we climbed higher - perfect photo time!

And then we were at the top.

After that we headed back to Siena to get ready for the week and cross our fingers that we get the snowfall that’s been predicted (for the first time since 2012!)

Three little maids at school

On Monday we woke the kids at 7am (which is about two hours later that they used to wake up in Sydney), got them dressed and fed and headed to school for their first day. After a few tears (I won’t say from whom) we said goodbye and headed to the weekly local market.

This was the first day Mandi and I had had to ourselves so we decided to ditch the errands we should have been running and celebrate with a nice lunch in Siena.

The next day I decided to brave the traffic and the subzero temperatures and run up the hill to Siena - about a 10K loop.

I made it!

We decided to spend the rest of the day at home as a mental health day before settling our immigration situation once and for all.

The next day we decided to face the Italian bureaucracy head-on and apply for our residency permits. We headed into Siena on the foggiest morning we’ve had so far.

With all the horror stories we’d heard about the process running through our minds, we found the right place, took a number and waited to be served.

When we got through we were helped by an amazing woman who laid everything very clearly. Of course, we’d been given the wrong advice by the Italian consulate in Sydney so most of the documents we’d already paid to be translated and certified were useless, but at least we knew what we had to do. Stay tuned…

On Thursday, on a typical Tuscan winter morning we decided to reward ourselves for our success with the Italian government, and do some exploring on our own.

We headed an hour South, to a little hilltop town called Montalcino.

We wandered the town aimlessly and shopped for local wine.

Then found a great little restaurant in another town on the way to pick up the kids from school.

The next couple of days were pretty low-key so on Sunday we decided to be a bit more adventurous. Mandi had read about an area about an hour from Siena where thermal springs had built some interesting limestone formations and were open to the public. We packed our swimsuits and headed off (enjoying more time on stunning Tuscan roads on the way).

We found the trailhead and headed down the path.

There were signs forbidding climbing and bathing, which everyone (including one naked couple) was ignoring, so we decided to join them (by going in the water, not by being naked).

We changed back into our clothes, grabbed some hot drinks to warm up and headed for lunch in Pienza, which is famous for its Pecorino cheese (so of course we bought half a kilo).

It was getting late so we headed home to get everyone ready for another week (after taking a few more sunset photos).

The final countdown

It was only a few days before the kids had to start school and we all had to begin some kind of normal routine. We decided to spend the time continuing to explore Siena and the surrounding towns. On Friday we headed to San Gimignano, about an hour drive north of Siena to see the town and (more importantly) eat more pizza.

San Gimignano is a terrific town, with great alleys and archways around every corner.

Then we had to hustle back to Siena to pick up school uniforms and get the kids hair cut before school. Mandi took them to the salon which give me my first change to walk around Siena by myself. I made the most of it.

I found my new favourite photo spot in Siena.

Well, maybe equal-first.

We made it home and everyone tried on their new uniforms.

After dinner I managed to convince the rest of the family that we should watch Cliffhanger, which was shot in the Dolomites (where we’d just been). It’s still awesome, and almost none of the kids had nightmares afterwards.

The next morning I decided it was time for some exercise. Looking at the weather, I had visions of Rocky IV running through my head.

I crunched through the frost and got everything set up. It was great for about twenty minutes.

At which point I started to have serious concerns about the possibility of frostbite and came inside.

That night we (finally) went to the second (of two) restaurants in our little village - the pizzeria. We had a great meal and impressed the locals with our skilful use of Google Translate.

The next day was Epiphany, which is a big deal in Italy. The weather had warmed up a bit so we decided to go for a hike in the morning then head into Siena for the festivities.

On the way we met a local farmer raising ‘next season’s prosciutto’.

We got back home, cleaned up and headed into town. On the way to Piazza Del Campo we passed my new photo spot.

We got to the piazza and spent some time making stockings and watching local magicians perform.

The kids convinced us we needed a final gelato to celebrate the end of the holidays.

And then we headed into the Piazza to watch La Befana descend and disperse candy to the waiting crowd.

After that it was back home for an early night before school the next day.

The new year

We kicked off 2019 with another stunning Tuscan Sunrise.

Then it was back to the city to find a playground with a killer view.

And explore some more.

I've started to become a bit obsessed with the iron rings all over Siena that were originally used to tie up horses.

And the fact that there are amazing views down every street.

The next day we decided to take our first trip into Florence.

It was beautiful.

And definitely took the prize for ‘most creative Italian parking’.

It also had the most tourists (and the first English accents) of any place we'd been. Not to mention photobombing tweens.

We decided to take a break from our usual casual meals and go somewhere fancy for lunch. We found a great little trattoria down an alley to escape from the cold.

We had our first (amazing) Florentine steak.

And then enjoyed the atmosphere as we walked the streets.