...even if it is a little scraggly. We've seen a few other "public" trees around town set up in piazzas or on streets. We joked the other day that they were worse than Charlie Brown's Christmas tree! They are really small! I walked by a stand tonight on the side of the road selling Christmas trees and the majority of them were about 3 feet tall-and that's being generous.
Still, it is starting to be quite festive around here which is great! Not to mention there is a chance for snow this weekend.....!
We have had a mildly successful week so far accomplishing a few things that we need to get done. We have basically booked all of our hotels for our 2+ week trip in January and because it is low season we are paying less than the advertised price at almost every hotel-yippee!! That means more money for food! I've had quite a good time planning out our agenda and I know we will barely see (or taste) all that the regions have to offer, but we are looking forward to many more trips here in the future!
We have had slight success in trying to figure out exactly what forms we need in order to bring Mr. O back (not going to leave him here)! Yesterday we hiked out to the closest vet...took about 30 minutes to get there (very reassuring if there was an emergency) only to turn back around again. I had my first real taste of the "Italian System." First of all, there was one waiting room but NO receptionist (this is apparently what all doctors offices are like as well-I'm just glad we have not experienced this in person!), just a bunch of other people waiting to be seen by the vet. All I wanted to do was ask about getting Mr. O a pet passport (which is apparently free) but the room was filled with people and pets and who knows how long it would take to get to ask this simple question! So back home we went.
Our trip to the vet being a bust, today, we decided to try to find the Azienda Sanitaria Locale because apparently (from my research), this "mysterious" organization can give you a pet passport as well as issuing you your export certificate which allows you to export your dog after you pay a $30 fee at the post office! I find it quite ironic that I need to pay Italy to be allowed to leave with Mr. O! Anyway, I say that the ASL is mysterious because on one hand they issue these export certificates but they are also the organization that is equivalent to 911 in the U.S. Weird. Anyway, the ASL main office is located in the old psychiatric hospital here in Siena (great!). We head over there and they are actually quite helpful. But of course, this is not the right place to go. They tell me we need to go to a different office which is outside the walls and you need to take a bus to get there! AHHH!!! We'll be doing that soon....
The other thing I really wanted to do this week was look into trying to take a tour of the bottinis (especially since we have a bottini in our apartment). I had read just the other day on the internet how it is possible to take a tour and I thought it would something that would be really neat and interesting for me and Reed to get to do. So today we headed over to the information center. They told us that there is a waiting list but to head over to the museum in the tower because they would have more information. Long story short we will not be going on a tour of the bottini. Apparently there is a very long list...How Long? Two Years! So maybe in 2010 it will be our turn!
On a very positive note, this weekend the three of us our heading out to Tania and Keith's house in Cortona (Tania has a great blog that is worth looking at- Check it out here). I think it is going to be a great weekend because it seems like we have a lot in common! We are already planning an Asian themed meal! And Ollie, he is going to have two new friends to play with and keep him busy!
In the spirit of heading south, we've made two really good meals that are Southern Italian. I'll post the recipes later.
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