After that lovely lunch at the agriturismo, we rode on over to San Gimignano. By this time, I was really getting weary. My knees hurt and I was just dragging. I watched as the bus drove by this entrance to the town hoping they would let us off here. But noooooo, we went to the lowest parking lot and had to walk back uphill to get to the entrance.
Walking up a slope isn't nearly as bad for me as going up and down stairs, but there were some of those, too. Ramona, Aidan and Trout handled the hike just fine, but I was very slow. I had on my good hiking Salomons with some wicking socks I got at REI. At one point I pulled up my pants and my ankles were exceedingly swollen and the tops of the socks were cutting into my legs so much that it looked like they were those balloon animals twisted in the middle. When I moved the top of the sock down to my ankle, I was much more comfortable. I made sure to get a few good whines out of the situation, though.
San Gimignano is a very touristy town, but it's still interesting to see. I linked to a Wikipedia article above, but I found no really good articles on the town. The major interest is the towers. It was a common thing during the middle ages for the wealthy to build towers to show off their wealth, the bigger the better. At one time San Gimignano had 70+ of them. Now there are only about 14. I was so pooped, I shot no pictures of them, but you can see lots of good pictures here.
We walked uphill through lots of shops ready to take our money, until we got to the Piazza della Cisterna.
We had to have some world champion gelato, naturally.
Like so many others, we sat on the steps of the "well" to gawk and enjoy the gelato. You can also see a wedding party having pictures made here.
It turns out that this is no ordinary well. The cistern from which the piazza gets its name is under it. It was designed about 800 years ago to be a rainwater collection device. The runoff goes into the cistern and the well is the way the people got to the water. And we think we're so clever...
This is a hotel right on the piazza. We didn't go inside but I suspect the rooms are quite nice and quite pricey.
These kinds of views are what make Tuscany so attractive to so many people. I have to admit that in spite of this area being cultivated and populated for millenia, it is still beautiful. I took these pictures on the way back (down, thank goodness) to the bus.
Our longest bus ride of the day was to Pisa from San Gimignano. This is the famous Piazza dei Miracoli with the Duomo, Baptistry and Bell (Leaning) Tower. Even though it was a Saturday in June, it wasn't as crowded as I expected.
There's something about this setting with only the green grass and the buildings that I find particularly appealing.
Trout found the steps to a chapel on the tower side appealing. Many of the larger churches keep one chapel open for people to go in and light candles and pray without having to pay an entrance fee. I went in this chapel and did that. It was the 1st chapel I had been to where the candles are now battery operated. I could look at the rest of the cathedral, but I couldn't go into it to see anything close up. It was well-guarded to prevent that.
Ramona and Aidan went around to explore on their own. I walked around the Duomo.
I liked this drain design. You many remember a very similar one I shot at the Forum when we were in Rome in 2009.
Here wheelchair access becomes a bicycle ramp for this child and his grandmother.
This is the Baptistry.
This is the entrance side to the Duomo.
Our long day was complete with the visit to Pisa. We got on the bus and headed back to Florence. We took a taxi back to our apartment and once again ate at Baldovino.
The next day was Sunday. In spite of my attempts to schedule our must-sees so as not to conflict with things Ramona had already seen, I couldn't get tickets to the Accademia to see Michelangelo's David except on this Sunday.
That worked out okay because she wanted to take Aidan to a Micky D's and to ride on the carousel at the Piazza della Repubblica. You can see the carousel in the aerial pictures shown in the Wikipedia link.
I linked to some photos of the David above. I didn't take any pictures inside the galleries.
After our time at the Accademia, we walked to the piazza and watched Aidan from a sidewalk cafe while we had a little snack. She was definitely having a good time.
From there we went on to the Palazzo Vecchio. Trout and I watched Aidan while Ramona went inside. We hung out in the open sculpture court called the Loggia dei Lanzi and played games with Aidan on the steps while Ramona enjoyed the Palazzo.
These buildings and scuptures are all off the Piazza della Signoria, a significant and major square in Florence. We went through it many times on the way to other places as well as just for its own sake.
It was getting close to dinner time, so that meant going to the Golden View Open Bar. Ramona recommended it and we had already eaten there once on our own. She didn't have to twist our arms to get us to go. She noticed the place because it was one of the few places that is open all day without shutting down in the afternoon. Then there was the fun decor, the great location and the food.
It was super having Ramona and Aidan come up and join us for that weekend in Florence. We had lots of fun in spite of my whining in San Gimignano. She has what I think is the perfect attitude about traveling and the costs involved. She decides how much she wants to spend and when the money starts to run out, it's time to go home. If it doesn't run out, more's the better. The travel gurus all say to make that decision in Euros (these days) and forget about comparing them to dollars all the time.
I'm really pleased that she and Jason understand the value of experiences and have taken good advantage of their time in Europe. They have seen and done things I'm sure they will never forget, and I think Aidan will remember the feeling of living in Italy and their travels, even if she doesn't remember the details. I'm sure there are many military families that hardly venture away from the immediate area where they live and hate every minute of being there. I certainly saw them in Germany in the 80s, even though the exhange rate (marks back then) was so favorable to the American dollar.
Of course, we all know that regardless of how much or how little money we have, we all spend it on the things we enjoy or think are important, right? That's why I'm sceptical when people say that they can't "afford" something. I think that really means that whatever they can't afford really isn't as much of a priority for them as what they can.
