Moving on swiftly from our disappointment, we were nearly disappointed again by the Palazzo Chigi Saracini being closed. However, just as we were leaving the courtyard, out popped a man with an envelope who kindly offered to give us a private tour of as much as he could before running off down the street to the post office. Luca also generously gave us a book on the place for free before he left, which shows the full extent of how beautiful a building it is. I'm thinking of going to one of the concerts there although I'm not much of a classical music buff.
Off we trotted too to shop for essentials such as milk for our tea and jam (how British!) at Conad upon which the fog lifted to reveal a beautiful day so we decided to seize our chance and hire some bikes to head out into the view from my balcony. Wolfed slapdash spag with pesto and pecorino for lunch to fuel us along.
Once biked up, we promptly got lost and thought we were going to get killed on the motorway which was far too close for comfort. After much debate we turned back, ate an excessively pippy orange and returned the bikes to the lovely man at the Rossi bike shop who shows us where we should have gone and only charges us 10 euros for the two bikes and a good map which alone should have cost 7 euros.
We bought chestnuts from the man in Piazza Matteotti on the way home to cheer ourselves up - so warming on a chilly day. After sprucing up a bit, we tried the art gallery which was also closed ( one of the less convenient Italian habits, they don't really do Mondays) so we end up at the natural history museum instead which is fantastic if not a little grim in places (think mummified human limbs and stuffed Siamese lambs) and free!
After having had the place to ourselves for a good hour of ogling biological oddities we went home for Proper tea and lime and chilli chocolate which isn't for wimps. We then pass the time until dinner trying to think of what we'll make with what we have that could be interesting with the aid of two extremely useful books; 'Scuola di Cucina: Verdure e legumi' by the Slow Food movement and 'The Italian Cookery Course' by Katie Caldesi.
We end up doing polpette di cicoria (chicory) with bulgar wheat (in white wine and yesterday's stock with chopped tomatoes and anchovies). It didn't entirely go to plan as there was too much liquid for the bulgar to give it a strong taste and I didn't squeeze the boiled chicory enough meaning that the binding egg was diluted and therefore they fell apart on frying. Still tasted good though.
After an unintended post dinner nap, we went for late drinks at my bar of choice, 'Bella Vista' with Senem and her friend Stefano. We talked about all sorts of things like nudity and feminism in different cultures over mojitos and my personal favourite, the cocktail Bella Vista of ginger and orange which is brilliantly intense! It's an enlivening sort of place full of interesting things on the wall if you're ever bored by the conversation (not that you ever will be, interesting places attract interesting people) with the kind of relaxed atmosphere where you can dress to kill or go in your sloppy joe. You can dance if you do or don't want to which you won't feel self conscious about doing at all, at least not after your first cocktail - they're generous too.
#Accademia Musicale Chigiana, Via dei Citta, 89 http://www.chigiana.it/
#Cicli Rossi Martino, Via Camollia, 204/206
#Bella Vista Social Pub, Via San Martino, 50 http://www.wherescool.com/spots/bella-vista-social-pub-siena/
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