Wireless in Sienna

In front of a private bank, an impressive stone building with marble floor tiles, a wrought iron gate that spans easily fifty feet, over a dozen people sit on steps easily four hundred years old with their laptops, feasting on free wireless internet connections.

As trucks pass by the street mere inches from where we sat, and hordes of tourists pass by the other way, it's a microcosm of Italy: old tradition mixed with modern technology, the old refusing to let go, but accommodating in one way or another, the new.

I'll be writing in more detail of our travels from Umbria into Tuscany, from Perugia, to Gubbio, some time by the lake in Lago Trasimeno, into Montepulciano in Tuscany, and now, into Siena. We've met some incredibly nice people - John and Lizette from Australia, Michael and Aine from Ireland, Hans and Marcella in Montepulciano - and just today, Lisa in Siena. All are immense stories that I will have a hard time putting succintly. I'll love every minute of it.