Wed July 2011, Tuscany!

We hop out of bed a little before 7am ready to take on the day.  After stopping by our favorite little morning cafe and the bank ATM, we go to the designated meeting spot for our trip into Tuscany.  Our travel group have English and French speaking tourists, so everything is announced in both languages.  As we sit at a sidewalk cafe and wait to head out to our bus, I watch the morning hustle and bustle as the city begins to come to life.  There are cleaners and even the police picking up little, and making sure everything looks good.  Women in high heels and dresses and men in their suits ride by on bicycles and mopeds on their way to work.  The helmets atop their heads make sense and yet seem even more out of place in this picture.



It's chilly this morning and I huddle into my scarf that is the only thing I have to cover my shoulders.  Scarves are all the rage in Italy and the majority of the women are wearing one of the many styles here.  It is great to have both until the warmth of the day takes over and also required for entry into the churches.  We all pile into the bus and squeeze through rush hour traffic.  We went through one tight spot that could not have more than an inch on each side and I fully expected us to just be slicing off the side of one of the cars parked on either side.  Most of the streets are one way within the historic district, then people park on both sides and the cars, trucks, and mopeds squeeze between.  It's amazing that these buses can make it at all.



We break through the stones walls that line the historic district and move into the Florence residential areas.  Next there are rows of gas stations that remind me of the reality of life outside.  Suddenly we are out in the country and moving into the Tuscan Hills, green with trees and sprawling vineyards and farmlands.  I see people by the roadside, and this now feels much more real than the city we left behind.  It's amazing to look out and see not only farmhouses but castles and expansive churches up on the hillside.



Our first stop is San Gimignano, a fully restored medieval town.  We did a short tour through their historical museum and learned about the 1300 with a miniaturized exhibit of how it looked in 1300 complete with 72 towers.  The stoneworks are truly amazing and after our little tour we were freed to explore a bit, take pictures, and shop.  There is wonderful wine and olive oil everywhere and I'm disappointed that I can't just bring home a case.



Once back on the bus we head off to a local winery / farm.  The owner entertained us with somewhat rough English explanations of the wine process, the oxygenation, the benefit of the oak barrels and the reminder that the initial quality must be good to get the best finish.  We had a sit down wine tasting, combined with education on his different levels of wine to his superior chianti and Sangiovese blends.  While some then shopped and bought wines, Lauren and moved out to relax on a grassy place in the shade and chat about other ideas and share thoughts on life.



Now off we go again, back onto the bus (which was thankfully very new and well set up, similar to a newer model plane) and we head to Siena.  After being released to have lunch in the Piazza del Campo, we were turned over to a local guide.  It was exciting to know that this is the exact place that a famous horse race, the Palio, was run there just last weekend.  All the clans of the area are represented and the horse that wins gives that group enormous bragging rites until the next race.  Thousands jam the piazza to see the race and it is quite an event.  Check out a u tube video to find out more about it.



The local guide leads us to the Siena Duomo, which has similar coloring and marble to the one in Florence.  The story is that this area continued to grow and expand the church size and buildings, perhaps angering the powers in Rome.  There was plaque in Italy and many died, then the pope announced that it was because Siena was trying to outdo the Vatican, so much of the construction then stopped and never was completed.  We got to go into the Duomo and hear more about the history of the church, of art, and of the finances of the times.  They supposedly have the first bank ever in Siena as well.




We had a quick break before heading to the bus for our final stop and found the not uncommon European tradition of a supervised restroom area that you paid to enter.  Then it was off to another castle area at Monterigionni, but we were honestly too tired by then to fully appreciate it's charm.  It was a great day under the Tuscan sun, but we were ready to return "home".  When we got back we stopped off at a Pizzeria out on one of the plazas and watched the people and the sunset, then headed home to our little apartment to relax a bit for the remainder of the night and prepare for our trip to Rome tomorrow