It's Monday and we're off to see three Tuscan towns - Siena, San Gimignano and Pisa. We boarded a sleek motorcoach at 8:30 this morning and headed south to Siena. Our all-day guide, Sandra, was terrific and gave us a lot of insight to the Tuscan history and culture. In Siena we were basically transformed back to the Medieval days when it was an important stop on the religious pilgrims' path from France to Rome. The city still has an Old World feel and our amusing local guide, Camilla, was very informative. From there we drove on toward San Gimignano (or just, "San Jimmy") and stopped for a tour of an organic farm and enjoyed a delightful lunch and wine tasting. Free time in San Gimignano was spent exploring and shopping while dodging all the other tourists there. There's a world champion gelato shop in the center piazza that certainly deserves a visit too. The tower houses that remain from the 12th and 13th centuries have caused the town to be dubbed "The Medieval Manhatten". Another hour or so of driving through beautiful Tuscan countryside took us to Pisa where we saw the tower everyone recognizes. Yes, it still leans and most people enjoy trying to get the perfect shot of pretending to push it back to a straight position or keep it from falling. We gave it a good try but mostly just laughed at our questionable efforts. A little train on wheels was our transportation for a short look around the city. All in all, it was fine day to see "The Best of Tuscany" with Walkabout Tours of Florence.
