After yesterday's dreamlike experience of our
splendid wedding it was time to get up at 4 am this morning and fly home....ahhh what a slap
back to reality.....
Well we are flying somewhere over the Atlantic
and after two movies, three naps, and a horrible airplane panini, after two
weeks of food heaven, it seemed like a good time to catch up on the blog and
the missing days between our Day 8 and Day 13. So here is Day 9 our trip to San
Gimignano and Siena.
As with all the other days of our trip I love this day too. We started about 10 am allowing a little recovery time from the 6 hour cooking class feast from the night before. We set up our convoy and we were off over the hill and onto the highway bypassing Siena first and off to the country medieval village of San Gimignano.
San Gimignano is a beautiful medieval hilltown
set in the hills and vineyards north of Chianti. What's sets this town apart
are the seven towers that are still standing from the original 34 that once
were there. We parked after a little trepidation due to the traffic from this
towns tourist popularity. We walked up the hill and to the main street lined
with beautiful stone buildings forming a canyon only interrupted by two
delightful piazzas that when we arrived were filled with vendors for the
morning market. As we made our way from shop to shop and to a stop for a quick
bite and then a gelato the market had ended and the vendors packed up and you
could experience the piazzas in a totally different way.
It is always easy to stay on the main road and
be enslaved by the shops and tourist shops selling wine and cheap Pinocchio
puppets but what you really need to do is wander up a tower or off a side road
to the perimeter of the village for an amazing view of the countryside and back
at the town. I love the age and feel of the buildings and the smattering of
these dramatic and stoic towers. Your mind wonders what this village must have
been like back in the dark ages or during the black plague and what life and
culture must have been like in those days! The preservation of the architecture
and absence of cars made this very easy to do and for a moment you could almost
transpose yourself back 700 years!
We Google mapped my favorite parking lot in
Siena and we all gradually found our way
to the lot and some spots to park. About a 15 minute walk and we were in a walled city. I LOVE Siena! It is probably my favorite city in Italy...at
least so far! We walked down the main
boulevard - all 20' in maximum width with 6 - 8 story buildings forming a
winding canyon all leading to the exclamation of this city - the Piazza Del
Campo. This is truly one of the best spaces in the world. Home of the annual
Palio horse race held each July where each neighborhood in Siena challenges
each other in a free for all horse race around the outer perimeter of this
piazza. 
We made our way to our final rendezvous spot,
determined what time we would all meet here and then I led everyone to the
Duomo for a tour of again, probably one of the best churches in Italy. Again, I
love this structure and I am always in awe in the design and craftsmanship that
was employed in its execution. It is truly a miracle and masterpiece of what
man can produce when inspired. This year was special in that a series of the
floor panels were uncovered for viewing and we were fortunate to have scheduled
our trip during this period! Spectacular!!! This is definitely one of the must
sees for any trip to Italy!
With the tour of the Duomo completed it was time
to wander through town and back to the Piazza Del Campo and my favorite spot on
the far Northeast corner of the piazza. Isabel and I sat down and ordered some
grilled vegetables and mixed grilled meats and of course a bottle of wine. Then
you just sit and enjoy life - people strolling around and through the piazza -
no cars, just the background sound of people speaking Italian and the ever
changing light at dusk was slowly descending on this Italian masterpiece of
space and life.
Gradually all of our travelers trickled to our
rendezvous spot and joined Isabel and I and the laughter and conversations
became more and more amplified and animated as we consumed more wonderful food
and wine and a cigar or two. The rest of the patrons of the piazza also shared
the enhanced tempo and soon the entire space was filled with laughter and
happiness!
We also were able to surprise one of our
travelers, Barbara Murphy, with a little birthday celebration which was a lot
of fun. With several hours of enjoying the slow sunset and then the lights of
the piazza come alive along with the patrons it was time to pull ourselves away
and start the walk back to the cars.... But first, one more gelato! 