Da Ann-Sofi

will be the name of my little guesthouse, perhaps too small, with three rooms only, to be called a guesthouse...?

Well, it is finally just about done! The workers have departed after eleven months, and I am left here alone, at the moment, enjoying the result, and gearing up for a marketing drive to try and find some guests to enjoy this with me. 

The lovely larger bedroom with its vaulted frescoed ceiling is looking fresh and beautiful with Dembele's bogolan bed spreads:

                                                                                  

                                                     The bathrooms are sleek and stylish:

Just waiting for a few things from the framers to hang on the walls, and a nice sunnier day to take better pictures. We have had terrential rains here- not as bad as north in Emilia Romagna, but pretty wet nevertheless with some sun in the mornings only. 

Siena is crawling with tourists creating traffic jams in the streets- some such will hopefully find their way to my place in a week or so, once I have sorted out the labyrinthine bueaucracy which always accompanies every undertaking in Italy. 

Karen, my friend from Bamako has been here for a week, We have done all the lovely things available, Duomo, Siena walks and concerts; Palazzo Pubblico; visit to San Gimignano and an Aperitivo with friends here in the flat:

Karen to the left and the ultra glamourous Nora to the right, a Federal Judge from California that we ran into on the street and invited up for a drink and a gossip about life- she stayed for three hours, came back again and I am having dinner with her tonight. Siena is full of interesting chance encounters... mostly with women though- the world is full of women travelling around on their own it seems...