Our day started with breakfast in our hotel, "Grand Hotel Panoramic," in Montecatini. It was a buffet breakfast consisting of cereals, breads, jam, honey, sausage, cheese, pink grapefruit juice, and coffee. After breakfast, we loaded the bus for an early start to our first stop Siena.

In Siena we had local guides who showed us the city. They first took us to St. Dominic's Church where the head of St. Catherine of Siena is enshrined. The guide explained the saint's good works, when she was canonized, and where they kept her body parts. One of our group mentioned that her thumb was in a separate case.

We saw a lot of different flags hanging up around the city. Our guide explained that on July 2 they had held their traditional horse race, the "palio," where the ten sections of the city compete against each other with a race through the streets. Each section has a mascot that is depicted on its flag. The "palio," which always runs on July 2 and August 16, was won this year by the goose district. Our guide's district came in second, but she said that in Siena, second place is the first place loser.