When I left off, I was writing about going to Italy and being overwhelmed by Florence. Our last full day there, we hit the countryside and were overwhelmed by Tuscany in general.





The hotel staff recommended a tour that seemed a little pricey until we realized lunch and a wine tasting were included. So very early we were picked up by a sarcastic Italian guy in a minivan. The tour group consisted of us and one other couple, who were having problems understanding the differences between Tuscany, Chianti, and Florence. The guide did his best to explain as he drove out of Florence, bitching about the traffic and other things in between pointing out a few landmarks. I liked him. I mentioned that my mother's family was Italian and supposedly from that area. He said the surname was extremely common, especially in Genoa, and that it was the name of his high school algebra teacher. Fortunately, he didn't hold that against me.

Our first stop was Pisa, and I was knocked out by the beauty of the Church, the tower and the baptistery. Forget the tilt of the tower; the real reason to go there is because the little piazza is absolutely stunning. Another reason would be the pastries we had for breakfast in a corner shop. We didn't climb the tower, but I did go to the top of the baptistery, and while we were there a tour guide came in and demonstrated the acoustics by singing some intervals.

Then we were off again through the amazing scenery, to a winery where we had lunch and some very nice wine. After carefully getting us just drunk enough to take out our wallets but not too drunk to sign our names, the owner sold us several bottles to be shipped to us. I'm drinking some of it now and it's really good stuff. I need to check on the price here to see how much we saved by buying it there. I'm hoping it wasn't all that much, because I'd like to be able to afford more sometime. We also bought some of the incredible truffle oil that they poured on our lasagna at lunch.

Then we were off to San Gimignano for a quick look around and some award-winning gelato. Due to the quality of the wine at the previous stop, I don't remember much. Then to Siena, where the Duomo with its inlaid marble floors is connected to an even larger unfinished nave. The huge construction project was ended by the plague, which killed much of the population and the town's ambitions. A local woman took us through the church and piazza, explaining to us the crazy horse races they hold in those ridiculously cramped quarters and the rivalry among the various neighborhoods. Then we were back in the van and the driver was assuring us that all natives of Siena are indeed crazy.

We were supposed to be heading back at that point, but we stopped in a lovely walled town, Monteriggioni. (The guide told us it wasn't strictly on the tour, so we weren't to mention we'd been there, "or everyone will want to go.") We walked along the walls, and the little Romanesque church was restful to the eyes after all the Duomos and towers we'd seen over the past few days.

Then we did return to Florence and our hotel, too stuffed to have more than a light snack and too tired to do much more than pay an unreasonably high fee to check our emails and make arrangements for a taxi to take us to the airport the next morning.


Next: England