Siena, Some Serious Stripes, and the Perfect Pork Chop

Yesterday we took the bus to Siena and spent most of our day there. We've been to Siena twice before and love the feel of this city. We spent most of our time in the Duomo area looking at the Duomo itself, the crypt, and some of the buildings surrounding it. Selecting my favorite Duomo (between the one in Florence, Orvieto, or Siena) would be like picking our favorite child - which in our case would be easy - but my favorite Duomo..... just can't do it.

The Siena Duomo has some of the familiar stripes in it and it is simply gorgeous on the inside. It is so hard for me to grasp that this building took centuries to complete, and families spend generations working on it. Imagine helping to design or build something knowing that you and your children would never see it completed.

A ceiling in one of the chapels

Part of the side building to the Duomo

We've worked on mastering the bus system here in Florence. We managed the bus to Siena and then to dinner last night since it was way on the other side of town. Unfortunately, coming home from dinner we waited at the stop and finally determined that the driver must have stopped for a few vinos and forgotten his route. Taxi, please?

But we had an amazing dinner last night. Greg loves pork chops. If they are on the menu of a restaurant, he will order them, and in most cases, he's disappointed. We'd read about a restaurant here that people claimed had "the best pork chop ever". Da Ruggero is completely on the other side of Florence, but we knew we had to go.

It's a tiny place, and as true Americans, we were the first to arrive for dinner. But the place quickly filled. We tried hard not to over-order (which has been a problem here) and so we split an antipasti, we each ordered a soup, and we split the pork chop because it was huge. And here's what Greg has to say about the infamous chop... and I'm quoting him directly now ..... Out f***ing standing. Yes, the Best Porkchop Ever.

This was actually bigger than it looks here. And tastier.

Our waiter who spoke perfect English, told us that they season it and cook a large rack of pork at a very low temperature for two hours. Somehow it is still very moist and flavorful. He also said something about magic seasoning, so I think I may have problems finding that.

At the table next to us there were two young American college girls. They were ordering wine and food like Daddy was picking up the bill (because he was). They are seniors at Stanford and they were having a wild week of Spring Break fun in Italy. They ordered not just the pork chop (after we told them about it) but also gnocchi, artichokes, a huge Florentine steak and a liter of wine! The waiter tried to warn them that they could never eat it all, but when we left them at the restaurant, they were determined to prove him wrong. I'm betting they did.

But if you are ever in Florence and feeling like a pork chop, this is your place.