April 11, Cortona & Siena

I took a cooking class at the hotel with four other guests. The wife half of the owners, Adriana, taught the class. She said she learned to cook from her mother. Menu: crostini with tomato or olives, homemade pasta with a cream of zucchini sauce and cantuccini (a biscotti type cookie) for dessert.

Jason stayed in the room until Jillian fell asleep while Griffen and Kaitlyn sat in the reception area reading books and coloring pictures. Once Jillian fell asleep, Jason came down to play with them. As they got bored, they came to peek on me in the kitchen. Adriana gave the kids a cookie and welcomed Jason to try the crostini. During this time Jason was talking to the husband half, who teased the kids that there was a witch in the wine cellar. I believe his name is Damien and he his part of the family who owns the Wimpole farm not too far away from us in the UK.

After we finished cooking our food (and 2 glasses of wine later), we sat down to eat what we made and more wine. The staff set a place for Jason and I sent the kids off to find him. They got sidetracked by the offer of eating lunch with the staff in the kitchen. Jason found his way to the table after checking on the sleeping baby (her only real nap the whole trip).

After lunch we made our way to Siena, home of the Palio and St. Catherine. The Palio is a horse race that dates back over 800 years and is held twice a year in July and August. Residents wear medieval clothing to flaunt their neighborhood's pride in a parade and race. There are 17 contrade(neighborhoods) in Siena but only 10 are chosen to race, which is why the race is held 2 times. From what I have read, this can turn into a bloody race and is best viewed without young eyes. The winners receive a banner painted by a local artist and always features the Virgin Mary as well as the right to boast that their contrada in the best.

It was late afternoon by the time we got here and cold wind had picked up as well. So far we have only bought the kids some masks from Venice, so when they saw a store full of Pinoochios we let them each pick out one. Afterwards we head to the main square and let the kids chase pigeons for a while. After dinner we head back to the villa in Cortona.