Touring Tuscany

Bonjourno!!

Today was a very long day touring the Italian countryside of Tuscany!  We took a 12 hour tour of Tuscany.  The tour left by bus at 8:00 from the Florence train station.  Our first stop of the day was in Siena, Italy.  This was a little town built on a hill.  Saint Catherine of Siena was from this Italian town.  In addition, a huge horse race takes place every summer here.  It is a big event for the people of Sienna.  One of the main sties we saw was the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta.  This was probably one of my favorite churches that I have seen so far in Europe.  However, no church can compare to the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain.  After seeing a couple of sites around Siena, we had some free time to look around and take some pictures.

The second stop of the day was our lunch stop on the Italian country side near the town of San Gimignano.  The lunch was absolutely delicious!!  With each course, we had a different wine to try.  My favorite was the white wine.  As an appetizer, we had a piece of toasted bread covered in olive oil.  As a first course, we had spaghetti with Tuscan meat sauce.  As a second course, we were served ham, salami, and two different types of cheese.  As for dessert, we were given almond biscotti.  My dad bought me some of those so I can take them back to the monastery to eat as a snack at night.

The third stop of the day was at San Gimignano.  This little city reminded me of Carcassonne and Conques, France since it was a medieval town built upon a hill.  We were given about an hour and a half to do whatever we wanted.  We were told that the best gelato in the world was found here.  This gelato place was named "world champions" for their gelato the past couple of years.  In addition to getting ice cream, we did a little shopping and walked around the city.

The last stop of the day was in Pisa, Italy.  As you probably all know, Pisa is famous for the Leaning Tower Of Pisa!  It was awesome to see this tower in person, since it is always known as being a symbol of Italy.  After having some free time around Pisa, we took a 20 minutes tour of the town.

We arrived back in Florence around 8:00pm.  After getting off the bus, my family and I got some dinner and headed back to the hotel for the evening.  Tomorrow, we leave Florence and head to Rome.  Our train leaves at 11:10pm.  All of the walking today made my knee very sore, so I will update you all tomorrow from Rome!!