Thursday, October 22, 2015

Day 294: Touring Florence and Having Dinner in Tuscany

This morning everyone was up and going fairly early. We got up, dressed, and made our way down a few stores from the apartment to a cafe that served crepes, waffles, bagels, and coffee. We filled up and then made our way to the Duomo. 
The Duomo was beautiful. The clock above the entrance was designed in the 1400s and the dome was painted in the 1500s. We took our time seeing all of its beauty and walked back to the apartment to get our luggage and turn in the keys. 

The walk back was fun, as we detoured a few times into leather stores. The leather was beautiful, and definitely made me contemplate getting a few more items. 

After we picked up our bags we walked down to the water and saw some of the bridges. It was very nice, but not the prettiest of sites. 

We passed a few amazing pieces of architecture and found a place behind the train station for lunch. We enjoyed the atmosphere and food and then made our way to the bus station. 
Mr. America 
This is how we roll. In addition, I carry Maddie, the camera bag, and my purse. My next invention: the lazy kid carrier. 

We arrived at the station and purchased tickets. Multiple times we were told to get on the "rapido" bus. After getting on that bus and going more than half way, we learned we were on the wrong bus. We went past our destination of Poggibonsi and made it to Siena before we could catch another bus back. 

So, after arriving in Siena, we took a ten minute break as we waited on the next bus and the loaded up all of our stuff and found seats. It wasn't a terrible ride, but definitely longer than we hoped for. 

Our ultimate destination is a vineyard about 5 miles outside of San Gimignano. This place came highly recommended and we couldn't come to Italy and not stay at a vineyard. 

When we found the right location, and finally made it to the vineyard, we checked in and got ready for our 8pm family style dinner. This was one of the things I was most excited for and I certainly was not disappointed. The views were breathtaking and we couldn't have asked for a better scenic location. 
The food being served was all organic and came directly from their farm. We started with appetizers, salad, and then pork loin as the main course. We enjoyed their vineyard wine and the dessert was great as well. We sat at a table with other couples celebrating anniversaries. Daniel happened to be wearing a UGA shirt and the other couples happened to be fellow SEC fans. I think that made dinner an even better experience and added to the conversation. We thoroughly enjoyed the entire experience and couldn't have dreamt of a better experience. 
After dinner, we made our way back to our room and turned in for the night. 

We plan on doing a tour of the farm in the morning and we'll then go back to Florence. We've been amazed so far with the sight of Tuscany; it'll be hard to top it. 

Goodnight all. 

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