Wednesday, April 22th, 2009: San Gimignano, Italy

Bob:

The morning didn't start out too well. I tried to read the time on my wristwatch and found out that the battery had died in the middle of the night, giving a permanent time of 1:30 a.m. (or 1:30 p.m., I suppose, depending on how you look at it.). So I packed it away and washed up for breakfast, but found that the batteries on my shaver were also completely discharged. Unlike my wristwatch, however, which only uses a battery every 5 years or so, I had learned from past trips that my portable shaver needs new batteries every couple of weeks and had therefore brought along a spare set.

Replacing the batteries allowed me to shave, but then Monika took a shower and found that the drainage for the hole in the center of the bathroom was much too slow. She ended up standing in a pool of water and I decided to forgo a shower since adding another few gallons would have meant water flowing out of the bathroom, with possibly disastrous consequences. Even as it was, Monika's shower soaked the roll of toilet paper, making it unusable, but fortunately there was a spare roll that was out of range of the shower, so to speak, and we started using that. But all in all it was a far more eventful morning than I had hoped for!

The breakfast room was just barely large enough for our group, but the breakfast was adequate and we ended up leaving Sienna at 9:00. Working our way out of town, we drove through the beautiful Tuscan countryside to San Gimignano a medieval city noted for having 11 old stone towers. Once again our bus could not negotiate the narrow streets of the central old town, so we were dropped off at a bus stop about half a block from the city wall. Walking uphill from there, we had a couple of hours to explore the city on our own, which was just fine with us as it allowed for flexibility in stopping and looking at the things that interested us as we ran across them.

The assorted shops in the old town had a variety of goods that made us want to stop and look. Foremost among them were the shops selling brilliantly colored glazed pottery of different shapes and sizes. Unfortunately, even the smallest pieces of that were just to heavy, bulky, and breakable to try to take back home with us. But we did find one shop with small chests of carved stone and copper grillwork, and Monika and I agreed to try to get one of those home safely. Lois purchased a small, exquisitely carved ring box or pill box made entirely of stone.

Another store that successfully enticed us in dealt in fabric goods such as tableclothes, napkins, and the like. We ended up buying a bread basket (AKA bun warmer?) that had a Tuscan scene embroidered on it and could be folded down completely flat for packing back home, a decided advantage. Lois also bought one, but with a different design on it.

The city cathedral looked nice from the outside, but charged a 3.50 Euro entrance fee. Monika and I had seen enough churches by that point, so we didn't go in. Instead, we joined Phyllis for a gelato (ice cream cone) at a shop at one corner of the central plaza, in the middle of which was an old, pretty well. Phyllis also successfully used her ATM card to get Euros for the first time and was really happy about that as she had been cash-strapped, which is always unpleasant when you are touring a foreign country.

After the gelato, which was delicious, we wandered back through the small crooked streets of this medeval village. I found the archeticture of many of the old buildings and alleys to be very pleasant, in the sense of being both interesting to look at and relaxing to contemplate. In particular, many of the arched passageways were very graceful and opened out onto rather nice views of the city or the countryside.

Our aftenoon stop was chianti tasting at a chianti vineyard located in a castle at the top of a high hill. First we had a quick look at the gardens surrounding the old castle, and from the top of the old walls we had absolutely great panoramic vies of the Tuscan countryside.

Next came a guided tour of the small wine-aging area comprising about 2 rooms with ten to fifteen large oak barrels. We could also watch, but were not allowed inside, the actual bottling area.

Of course we had to end up with the obligatory wine tasting and sales spiel, but that turned out to be rather pleasant. The chianti they served was not as bitter-tasting as what I have tried in the U.S., which was a pleasant surprise. They also served slices of prosciutto and salami on a nice, hearty bread to go with the wine, so we had ourselves a right jolly snack. I was favorably disposed to buying a bottle of the stuff I liked the best, but the difficulties involved in schlepping it around Italy finally deterred me.

Continuing our drive across Tuscany, we arrived at Firenza (Florence) in the mid-afternoon. I thought it was an interesting drive but a lot of folks nodded off, possibly due to the wine plus the gentle rocking motion of the bus. At one point our driver put on a local radio station playing popular music for our entertainment, and Lois complained about that.

The Hotel Meriadana was located about a mile from the center of town just past a very large roundabout with a park in the middle. Our room, number 503, again was situated so as to overlook the back of the hotel rather than the street, for which we were grateful. That location also gave us a wonderful view out over the outlying areas of the city and the gentle green hills beyond it. In fact, we could even see the snow-capped peaks of the Alps on the far horizon. Other folks, like Eugenia, had the energy to run into the city, walk around, and take pictures but she was about 30 years younger than we were. We, on the other hand, were too tired to do more than shop at the local supermarked, eat a simple meal in our room, update the journal, backup all our pictures, read a bit, and then turn in for the night.