The first full day in Florence, sans parents and already disoriented from a week of traveling in France, we drifted about the city helplessly. Thankfully, we had already decided to spend Tuesday on a day trip to Siena. (The bus drivers are at least as crazy as the Vespa and taxi drivers.) Siena was smaller, somewhat less crowded. Basically it was manageable and got us oriented to Italy.

There are two things to do in Siena: look at the churches, and sit in the Piazza Il Campo.

We started with the main cathedral, which, for reasons I never totally understood, is made of layers of black and white marble, so that the whole thing is striped, inside and outside.

The interior was overwhelming, full of beautiful frescoes and sculptures and such.

Drained, we stumbled out of the church and headed to the piazza for lunch. Tables in the sun were hard to come by; restaurants in the shade were empty. We found in the sun, on the cusp of shade and ate fast.

During lunch, a mime amused us. That’s right, I said a mime. Normally I hate the things but this guy was different. He was kind of a mean mime; he made fun of people walking by for the entertainment of the people at the cafés. He tickled tourists’ necks with a feather or squirted them with a little jet of water and we all laughed while they tried to figure out if they’d been shat on by a pigeon or what. He pulled out a ruler next to a big-breasted woman’s chest. I told you -- mean, but funny.

Revived, we headed to the other major church, the very plain Santa … somebody. I forgot which saint. The interesting thing about this other church is its relics. Did you know “relics” are pieces of dead people’s bodies? I didn’t, not until I was on a class trip to Spain and we went to Avila, as in St. Theresa of Avila. We were shown a “relic” which it took me a few minutes to figure out was her finger.

I find the idea of relics crazy and ghastly and violent. The way I see it, you believe the body is of no earthly use after you die, and you have it cremated. Or you do believe the body is needed in the afterlife, and you preserve it and honor it. I’m of the former party; it’s your business what you believe. POST-MORTEM DISMEMBERMENT, however, just doesn’t fit into either of these belief systems. How can you simultaneously believe that a) the body is sacred and important, even after death, e.g., the body of a saint confers power (or something) and b) this supposedly sacred body can be sawed into pieces and distributed to worthy churches?

Anyway, this church had two relics of Saint Catherine: her finger and HER HEAD. It was in a giant ornate case and it was hard to believe it was real, but it was there. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take photos or of course I’d have one for you. Because it may be sick to cut off saints’ heads and save them, but by God I’m going to go gawk at it.

More photos of Siena on Flickr.

Does the Catholic church still distribute relics? Are they still making saints? (Beatifying them, is that what it's called? I see they're still making martyrs.)