Siena highlights and the real Palio

Monday's Palio was just a dress rehearsal, the real thing happened on Wednesday July 2nd.  We got to the Piazza del Campo at 4pm to be a part of all the action including a LONG procession of representatives from the various contradas (neighborhoods) and the packing in of the piazza.  We each chose our favorite contrada to support, see our scarves :). Go onda! 

As we made our way to the Piazza we got to see some of the procession participants up close.

The procession begins...

And goes on

And on

And on....The official Palio award makes its way into the Piazza.

And on...

The large crowd gets closer together in anticipation for the start.

And we're off!

The official winner was Drago.

The breathtaking night view from our apartment.