il palio, shwolf style

day 43: saturday, il palio di siena
- woke up at 10, made scrambled eggs, did the dishes, got dressed, and planned the day with kari
- walked with kari and her suitcase to mailboxes, etc. only to discover it is closed on saturdays. then we walked to a store that sells specialty boxes because the man at the post office (which kari had been to earlier) told her she could buy a large box to ship her suitcase in (since they would only accept things that were box-shaped). after a wait at the store we were able to procure an enormous box and a roll of packing tape, so we returned to my apartment to figure out how to pack all of kari's things in the box. as an experiment, we tried to fit the entire suitcase in the box and it actually fit! we hurriedly took it out so we could get it to the post office as soon as possible. after about an hour of taping the box, filling out forms, and waiting in line we got kicked out of the post office because it was closing time and kari didn't have her passport which was required to send the package. it was quite frustrating that we were standing there with all the requisite materials (money included) and they wouldn't just wait the extra ten minutes for us to run home. they did keep the package though, so now kari has to go back on monday morning and actually send it... quite a backwards system if you ask me. i guess that's what we get for living in the second world!
- rushed to the train station to hop on the 2:10 train to siena (only 2 hours later than originally planned, thanks to the suitcase fiasco) so we could watch the palio. basically il palio is a horse race between the 17 contrade in siena. 10 horses are drawn by lot and assigned to 10 of the contrade who are chosen by lottery to run in that race (because running all 17 is too dangerous). the riders ride bareback and make 3 laps of the piazza del campo. the course is quite dangerous and there is one corner where horses always fall and riders regularly get left behind. there are few rules in the palio, however it is stipulated that the horse (no rider necessary) to first cross the finish lines is victorious. the prize is a silk banner decorated by a different artist every time the palio is run (every july 2 and august 16) which is then displayed in the museum of the winning contrade. there is also a silver plate on the back of which the winners' name is carved
- got to siena around 4, too late to watch the blessing of the horses (the palio is run in honor of madonna of provenzano in july and the feast of the assumption of mary in august) but we were in perfect time to find some late lunch/early dinner
- we suddenly became aware that we could hear the drums and realized we had to head off to the parade. they had closed off most of the gates to the piazza by the time we got there so we watched through the railing for a while before deciding to investigate in earnest how to get into the crowd in the center
- after following the crowd all the way around the outside of the piazza we found ourselves standing in a hoard of people in the streets slowly filing into the piazza del campo... half an hour later we emerged from the dolphin street into the piazza! it was incredible. each contrade was displaying their horse and had a pair of flag twirlers. kari and i managed to find a spot relatively close to the gate/edge with a perfect view of the sharpest corner. we were nervous about getting back out of the piazza in time for our train home so we didn't want to get sucked into the middle of the crowd of 30,000 people! the only downside to our primo position was the constant surging of the crowd behind us as they entered the piazza. this 90 year old grandma nearly got crushed in one, in another these two little girls started sobbing they were so scared. kari and i were putting our entire weight against the people behind us to stop ourselves from getting pushed over... it was pretty intense. so intense, in fact, that we decided since there was still a half hour's worth of people to shove into that piazza (don't ask me how they manage it, it's unbelievable) we would get out of there to be safe.

inside the piazza!

- we found a perfect pub right near one of the railings with a bunch of tvs so we could see/hear the horses running through the legs of the people seated in the 300 euro seating area and also watch the entire thing on the tv. we made friends with this canadian guy and his daughter, which was cool. they fired off a cannon as the horses entered the piazza which made us both jump (and probably didn't do the high-strung horses much good either). after about 20 minutes of skittish horses dancing everywhere, they were finally more or less lined up between the starting ropes aaand then they were off! the energy in the crowd was incredible, just a huge roar. the first time around we saw one horse go down and two lose their jockeys at which point kari and i found ourselves holding hands and screaming at the top of our lungs. before we knew it, the three laps were completed and the goose contrade won! as soon as the race finished the guards opened the gates... at first i was confused, since the horses were still running on the track, however a moment later every single member of the goose contrade ran past us screaming, dancing, crying into the arena to celebrate
- kari and i made our way down towards the piazza to watch the victory parade and see the palio (the silk hanging) in real life... it was really cool! then we joined the happy crowds down the streets of siena on our way back to the station
- exhausted, we were happy to find a seat on the train and got home shortly after 11. i skyped greg just long enough to recount my adventures from the day, talked to travcat (which put me in an even better mood, if that's possible) and went to bed... it's crazy to think it's already my second to last night in florence!