Modernity benefits an old city.

Ahhhh beautiful Siena! Why does anyone go there? They go for the history, for the old buildings, for the beautiful Mosaics, the duomo, the Duccio gallery, the Piazza del Campo, the beautiful views, the icecream, the harmonious layout of the town. Now, you may add, the escalator! Yes. Siena now boasts an escalator which takes you from a car park at the bottom of the hill which the town in all its beauty crowns (a little bit of poetic language never goes amiss) all the way up to just below the Duomo! And we were expecting a long and sweaty walk with many sighs and curses from all members of the family, and possibly some sort of sit down strike half way up (probably by me, I am not renowned for my stamina, just my delightful personality), and then we had air conditioned escalators (their are several, just think about it, it couldn't be a single one) all the way up to the top. Moreover, before you embark upon them there are clean lavatories! Sadly I cannot remember the name of the car park but I imagine it is signposted with a picture of an escalator, but let me recommend it to all. Of course once you are at the top, once you have woven through the streets to the Duomo (about 5 minutes of picturesque curly highwalled passages) it is too hot to stand in a queue for the Duomo (all that marble is like a mirror, you feel like a turkey being basted) but the point is you arrive in a decent condition of coolness and dryness and without a pink face. You may then visit other places in the shade and go back to Siena in the cooler, less busy months for the visit to the Duomo (which will be there for you to see for more years than we are all alive, so don't worry.

Oh, the mysterious Chinese comments on the first clip refer to the legendary 'Stairway to Heaven' in Hong Kong where many more escalators take you from the bottom of the city up to the top - but at the top there is simply a busy road (sorry to disappoint) so, although a shorter escalatory experience in Siena, that experience would be more accurately named as the 'Stairway to Heaven'. I mean - look at what is at the top there!!!