Snow Day

    Yesterday, there was a little snow storm in Siena.  Like Seattle, Siena is not used to snow, so when it snowed all-day, they decided to cancel our afternoon classes yesterday and all classes today.  The ground was wet yesterday, so the snow only really stuck to roofs and bell towers of the churches and became slush in the streets.  Today when I woke up, the snow had melted!  So, we got a snow day when there wasn't even any snow on the ground!  I spent today and yesterday studying, because midterms are coming up next week.    
    In addition to studying, I've had a little extra time to do some research into the locations of each contrada in Siena and its fountain.  If you read my "The Search for the Contrada Fountains" post (if you want to read it, find it in my "blog archive" to the right of this post) from January, you would know that I have the goal of finding all 17 of the contrada fountains in Siena.  So far, I've found only 3: Onda (Wave, also the contrada I live in), Torre (Tower), and Aquila (Eagle), but thanks to some research I've done, I have an idea of where many others are.  Please check out the map I've been compiling at the bottom of the right-hand column of this page.  Pink markers with black dots in the center signify suspected locations of contrada fountains.  Pink markers with no dots are confirmed locations.  Other places of interest are blue.  As I have time, I'm going to go check out these locations and do some more exploring to see what I can find.
    Also, here are some pictures I took last week that I thought you might like.  I just discovered this urban oasis right behind Piazza Mercato (which is just behind Piazza del Campo, the main square where I live).  Most of the land here is a public garden where you can get a plot to grow a garden if you live in an apartment building somewhere in the city without a yard of your own.  Many Italians live in apartment buildings so they don't have a yard.  Most people who own land here are farmers, so it makes me feel fortunate for the big backyard I have back home.  There is also a little animal farm there with chickens, turkeys, goats, a donkey, geese, and two tiny little dogs who were helping their owner herd the goats around while they were out to pasture.  Excluding this crazy spell of snow and colder temperatures leading up to it, the weather here has been progressively sunnier and warmer as we get closer and closer to Primavera (Spring).  The day that I took these pictures was perhaps one of the nicest days I've seen in Siena so far.  I just can't wait until the day when I can start wearing skirts to class!

Above: Piazza Mercato.  The big building center background is the Palazzo Pubblico which functions as a town hall and civil museum.