However, I have to let you know that I did not make it back to Cinque Terre this weekend as I woke up yesterday morning not feeling well and decided to stay home and work on my paper and study all day, which actually ended up being pretty productive. I was very sad that I had to miss the trip there, but also ok with it as I'm pretty sure I will be back someday. You can't always fit everything in to your trip that you want to.
I did make it to Pisa and Lucca this weekend though. Pisa was pretty cool, but I was seriously impressed with Lucca - what a cool and cute little town! Appparently, when Napoleon conquered Lucca, he liked it so much that he gave it to his sister as a gift. After he died, his wife and sister made the medieval walls of the city into a great promenade that you can walk and bike on. It was seriously cool.
With that said, here's a snapshot of my weekend, my trip to Siena last Thursday and a few pictures I had promised from Mercato Centrale:
SIENA:
The cathedral in Siena was incredible: 
You can't really tell from this picture, but the ceiling was painted dark blue with golden stars to look like the night sky. I loved it.
Me and the enormous Piazza del Campo (I think that's the name) in Siena:
PISA:
The cathedral and the Baptistry were both very moving. The Baptistry was very sparsely decorated, but while we were in there and up in the gallery looking down, a man started singing creating some beautiful harmonies with the acoustics and echos and totally gave me goose bumps all over my body. It was a cool, unexpected experience and I was glad we had a chance to witness it. After he was done singing, he began preparing to baptise a little boy whose family was gathering to witness the event. Pretty cool.LUCCA:
Part of the park on top of the walls around Lucca:
Piazza Napoleone in Lucca:
and some random shots around town:
Hopefully that will be enough photos for now as I have to run to class. Ciao!!!
