Friday

[dancerjodi]

We woke up to have breakfast in Perugia (good, continental style) and hop into the bus for our journey to the Tuscany region. After two hours there was a stop for a bathroom break at a dive hotel off of the highway with the most wonderful cappucino and chocolate torte, and then it was on to Siena. Our guide Anna Lisa was perfect, and told us all about the rivalry between the city's 17 neighborhoods, all around their annual http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palio_di_Siena . We had time to wander a bit after our walking tour for lunch (panini) and buying some paneforte http://www.foodlovers.co.nz/forum/read.php?3,13200,13200. From there we drove to http://www.sangimignano.com/sghomei.htm for some more walking, and had some of the most amazing views of my life (just like those Tuscany calendars you see in the book stores). The quiet back streets of this town were just amazing, though the main routes were frightening with tourists and locals, given that it is a Europeon Holiday today (Labor Day) and folks are out of work. We had the (supposed) best gelato in all of italy http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/stories/s433387.htm - it was indeed very, very good. From there to our hotel in Florence was about a 40 minute drive, and we settled in to rooms that were not as nice as what we've seen in Perugia or Roma (though, we do have a balcony and they do have this free wifi). Our (included) dinner was the best included one we've had yet, at http://www.capponcina.com/ . There was no pasta course, but there was a nice antipasti, bruschetta, pickled onions and then we had choice of various secondi piatti (I had a chicken and Brian a meat-loaf type dish). The dessert was a kind of flat tiramisu - SO GOOD, followed by almond biscotti and some kind of liquer that one is to dunk in.

All along this trip we've gotten along great with most of our travel companions, and by the end of tonight's dinner we were all boisterously talking loudly over the rest of the room, and patting each other on the back. There's one other 'young' couple on this trip, though the pace has been good for us and the rest of the older folks (for the most part) are a blast to be around. There's one woman from the Boston area who is not cut out for all of this walking - someone must not have warned her about the activity level of the trip, and so she and her companions have sat a lot of our tours out. There's a couple of stereotypical ladies from NJ with too much makeup and jewelry and Soprano's accents who keep wanting to just go shopping, and our guide (along with Brian) seem ready to throttle them. For the most part its been fun hanging out with and making friends with these complete strangers, and learning about other parts of the world, both domestic and otherwise, from the other guests. I'm very glad we went this option with our trip - we've been able to cover a good deal of ground and do things we probably wouldn't have otherwise were we on our own (but it hasn't been 100% structured either).

We will be in Florence tomorrow and have a family style "Tuscan Feast" dinner tomorrow night after getting a private tour of a monastery - I guess that the restaurant that we are eating at provides food to this monastery, so groups get in due to their relationship with this restaurant (and the restaurant's relationship with the monastery). From Florence we have 2 days in Venice and then to Lake Como for the last day before staying in and then flying out of Milan. We only have a few hours in Como, so we're unsure whether we'll be able to go to the Villa http://padawansguide.com/tourguide.shtml or not - if so it will be very tight. We may be limited to just riding by it in the water, which will be better than nothing. :)

We haven't bought much beyond food, but I anticipate that most of our shopping will be in Florence (save for some Murano glass in Venice - weather permitting we're taking a boat to the island of Murano - I'd love to find another charm for my Pandora bracelet). The leather here in Florence is apparently lovely, and we're journeying out to a shop first thing tomorrow morning with a subset of the group to talk to the owners about making things out of leather, and to check out some of the wares. After some art in the late morning and lunch, we'll have time to check out some other things (gold is the other big thing here, apparently). Glass and lace in Venice (and cameos - maybe I'll find a white gold one that I like, because I've been keeping my eye out for a while). Decisions, decisions! ;)