Museum Hopper

on our last afternoon in sienna, we finally visited sienna's duomo .  we reserved entrance tickets a few days earlier to confirm our entrance time.  it was an extra euro to reserve.  i highly recommend the reservation! the duomo is pretty spectacular.  the exterior of the building is fantastic.  it is in the very traditional italian renaissance style.  we could spend hours just looking at the outside of the building.  it was overly ornate.  i loved the vibrant stripes and the decorative statues.  i cannot think of a single building built today that is this ornate and detailed (then again, labor is a smidge more expensive than back then)! Full View of Siena's Cathedral Jason waiting for the cathedral to open. Check out the stripes and sculpture behind his head! Gorgeous statues of angels.  Love the gilded painting Zoom in on the left side of the cathedral.  Unbelievable detail! the ceiling was spectacular....

one of our first true touristy stops in siena was at the torre del mangia , the tall tower in their main plaza, palazzo publico .  the next day, we went to the museo civico , which is also housed in the city hall off the plaza.   the view from the top of the torre del mangia is pretty fantastic.  it has a great vantage point on the top of siena's duomo as well as the surrounding countryside.  their system for climbing the tire could be expedited a bit, but it does prevent the horrible problem of tourist crossing in very narrow stairwells.  this stairwell was pretty typical for stairwells built in the medieval ages/early renaissance.   Siena's Duomo Palazzo Pubblico from up high   the museum is in the right side of the building below.  torre del mangia is at the top of the tower (obviously)!  the square is pretty spectacular. the museum consists of a number of frescos and is within the old civil building on the squ...