Tour of Tuscany

On Saturday we took a tour of the Tuscan countryside, as well as several towns. We left Florence at around 8:00 AM on the “Best of Tuscany” tour bus. Our first stop was Siena. What a cool town. Very high up on a hill. To get to the town square we took five escalator flights up from the bus stop. I cannot imagine getting up there before technology. A local guide met us and took us past the world’s oldest bank, into the campo where the annual Palio horse race is held, and then into the Cathedral where we saw four Michelangelos and some amazing frescoes by Pintorecchio. After Siena, our tour took us to a Tuscan winery for lunch. The lunch was good, but I think this is where I contracted food poisoning. (Or it could have been the pizza Alex and I ate in Siena I guess, but my bet is the farm.) The best part of lunch was the view. Just like in pictures. Next time I come to Italy, I would like to stay in Tuscany. After lunch, we were dropped off in San Gimignano – known as the Manhattan of Italy. There are 15 or 16 remaining bell towers here – the most in all of Italy. It is a beautiful skyline. Being in town was okay – mostly only time for shopping. The kids did try ad excellent gelato flavor, though – Saffron. This is the only place in the world that makes saffron gelato – and it is sold at a gelateria called “The World’s Best”. Our last stop was Pisa. Pisa is kind of a must see place, but it is also really a dump. Our bus dropped us off 15 minutes away, so by the time we walked there we only had about 45 minutes. The kids had to find the water closet, so that left about 30 minutes – not enough time to climb the tower, but too much time to stand around looking at it. After Pisa, the bus drove us back to Florence. We arrived around 8PM. We planned to take a cab from the bus drop off at Santa Maria Novella, but there was an accident blocking all cabs from getting in, so we ended up walking. We even got lost, but Rachel saved the day with her map reading skills.
We were really tired – and practically fell into bed. Little did I know I would be up all night…