Ok... I owe Italy a final recap

Ok.. So on Monday, we were sitting on the tiled rooftop patio adn I was reading about this market. Open air. Where the locals shop. It took me forever to find the park where they said this market took place because it wasn't in any of our books.
The next morning we set out on the bus. At first, we thought we could buy our tickets on the bus. This isn't so. You buy tickets at the Tabacco shops.
Anyway, it was a short bus. No jokes please. And there was a man who told us that this bus was free.
We took it along the Arno river, made several darts in and back out of the city and eventually ended up as far away from where we started as the bus was going to get us.
We walked through the theatre district and there was the park... and, on a path along the river, was the marketing. Miles and miles of tents with wares... you walked down the middle. Food. Household items, clothing, shoes... you name it, they had it.
I tried to find shoes, but my feet are big by Italian standards. I did buy a couple of fantastic scarves and a tablecloth for my mother.
Boy, our feet hurt when we were done walking. We sat on a park bench and drank water, watching a cyclist ride laps and causal riders with dogs stop at the fountain to drink.
After a while, we got in a random bus and hoped it would take us in the direction of the Statzione... that's train station.
There, we bought our tickets for the next day... we were heading to Siena.
We wandered north to find the Mercado Centrale... or central food market. On the bottom floor there were meats, chickens, organ meats, sausages, cheeses, eggs, flowers and some candies and dried things... all in individually owned stalls. Upstairs, the same thing but for fruits and veggies. It was a farmer's market - except that this is where the Florentine's buy their food every day.
Outside are streets and streets of stalls. YOu can buy leather (there is a leather school in Florence, right by Santa Croce, and so there is much good cheap (relatively) leather for sale. Shoes, gifts, purses and wallets.
We shopped and wandered.. making it back to the apartment in time for Grapa.
That night. After much grapa and a nice hot bath, we went to dinner with Joe and Clare. It was so nice... the food was excellent and we ate on a patio. I had roasted lamb and potatoes which were fantastic. I was very pleased with the meal and grateful for he "local" eatery.
We walked a lot more that night. Around and around the little streets. Then, we went home and rested... early the next morning we were to take the train to Siena.
Now mind you, I am feeling not at all well by now. I wake up Wednesday and cannot breathe. My throat hurts, my body hurts, my head hurts and my aura hurts....
We take a bus to the station... Number 14. But we get on it going the wrong way and have to travel until it turns around and come all the way back, past the apartment, to the Statzione. We are still early. It turns out it only takes about 15 minutes to get to the Statzione from the apartment, but it's good we had the time.
We ride a local train to Siena, a train which stops like four or five times. Then, we are let off to catch a bus up the hill.
There is no traffic allowed inside the city. We wander in, tour book in hand, and find the first coffee shop we can to get something to drink. I had not had coffee yet, nor had Mike. We had sandwiches with tomato and mozzeralla. And then I bought a scarf because it was foggy and cold that day.
We followed the tour as it suggests in the book. Found the Duomo.
Good Lord, it's even more tacky than the one in Florenced, but at least it's not three candy colors.
Inside, we saw that it was much like all the other churches we'd see. Except for the one we saw that afternoon which housed the shrunken head of St. Catherine. She was born in Siena and was responsible for convincing the Popes to come back from Avignon to Rome in 1372 or some such. Anyway... she died in the 1380s and they cut off her head and let it dry out. Now, it's in this box made of gold and glass. You can see it through the glass.
At this point I am getting pretty annoyed with the weirdnesses of Catholicism. And all the freaking money they spent on tacky decorations doesn't help either.
Still, since Siena is Medevil, it is very cool... everything looks older. There hasn't been any new construction in Siena since the Black Plague whiped out 60 percent of the citizens in like 1260 or whatever... so it's 800 years old. Now that's cool.
Siena has great restaurants and little shops. And it was so amazingly cool to sit on the Piazza at night and watch the people go by....
OK.. I can't do this all in one sitting.
I will, I promise, write more later.