In all we spent 6 days in Siena. It was nice to have an extended time in one location, especially one as dramatic as Siena. I discovered that I enjoyed being in a tourist location. Since I only knew 3 words in Italian (si, grazie and ciao), it was comforting that people tried to speak to us in broken English. Between that and pantomime, we got along quite well.
Within a couple of days we figured out how to get to the piazza without having to climb those steep hills. We found a favorite breakfast gelateria and restaurant for dinner. Breakfast was different than what we had been used to up until then. It consisted of a Panini-like sandwich with cappuccino and fresh-squeezed orange juice. Dinners were pasta (we loved it!).
Because we were in Siena during the time of the Palio, the streets were crowded with tourists. All the souvenir shops were selling the flags and scarves of the contradas, much like hockey and football jerseys in North America.
Narrow streets with interesting shops curved to totally disorient new visitors like us. After the Palio, one of the press staff said, “See you next year.” Would we come back again? Si Siena!