A drive in the Tuscan countryside

At the American cemetery
see all photos »

We took the car out of the garage at 8:30 this morning. Left the city to find the American Cemetery of Florence. A beautiful drive there, only 7 miles south of the city. We arrived just after it opened and found it to be quiet and peaceful. We walked around the cemetery for a while and went up to the Memorial. There’s a huge map made out of beautiful marble that shows all the army positions during the time Jim’s Dad was here. We found the Fifth Armor patch, as well as the Second Corp patch, both of which Jim had sewn onto a hat. It’s the first real map we’ve seen of the area with any detail. I started to talk to the man in the office, he hesitated, but I talked him into giving us a brochure on the cemetery. While we were talking to him, Jim noticed three men in blue blazers with the IPA (International Police Association) patch. Turns out that since today is September 11, and in fact, the 11^th of every month, they stand guard for an hour at the cemetery to commemorate September 11^th. We left them with some LA County Sheriff patches and headed off to Siena.

In Siena
see all photos »

By the way, my new best friend is Gabi, our GPS system. We’d be divorced without her. She guided us everywhere today. An absolutely beautiful drive, impossible to describe, except to say, it’s as pretty as every picture you’ve ever seen. We found Sienna just before lunch. Followed Rick Steve’s advice and found Ristorante Guidoriccio. Lovely, quiet lunch, delicious. Toured the town a little bit, it was really hot again today. Sat in the square, looked at the huge fountain. It was empty, but still impressive, we made our way back to the car, no easy feat.

San Gimignano
see all photos »

Decided to head on to San Gimignano. (We can’t pronounce it, so we call it San Jimmy Jeans, my Dad’s nickname for me). It’s the town with the perfectly preserved medieval towers. It’s in a beautiful part of the world, and truly amazing. We walked around the town, into a few spaces, had wonderful gelato, and headed back to Florence. Arrived here around 6:30. I’d say it was another full day.