San Gimignano, Florence

As we were in bed by about 9 o'clock last night due to being so darn tired, a well earned good night's sleep was had. After breakfast it was time to check out of the hotel. As we were getting onto the coach, a bride was approaching her groom in the street. Apparently this is a 'new'thing whereby the groom gets yo see his bride fir the 'first look'. I thought that used to be when the bride walked down the aisle, but what would I know? Unfortunately our coachthen left so I never got to see what happened next as there were a few family members standing at the corner with the groom, who clapped when he turned around, but there was no church or vehicles that night have been used by them, in sight. Was still a nice thing to watch to start the day as we left Rome. q

So off we head now out of Rome towards San Gimignano which will take a good 4 hours, with a short comfort stop along the way. It is quite overcast and the coach windows aren't spotless so not as many photos as I would have liked of the changing landscapes. Very green, hilly and quite lovely. I was taken with the guy on the motor bike who not only had a mobile phine strapped to his left on the windshield, or was it his gps?, but he had another mobile phone pressed inside his helmet on his right!

Service stations are nothing like at home, as you simply pull up on the road next to a pump and serve yourself. The rest of the traffic simply drives by.

We then arrived at our wine tasting lunch stop which was just lovely. Beautiful setting, a nice selection of wines, but too expensive for my liking, and a very nice luncheon. Great views, and the girls collecting the glasses did a fantastic job!

After a leisurely lunch we are then on our way to San Gimignano. Light rain which is a bit of a nuisance, but what a delightful medieval town. We really are in Tuscany now. Only purchase was a souvenir for VJR so I'm thinking that I've created a trend to get something from every country.... and then give it away. This has to stop! Florence is where I bought my long length cream leather jacket and handbag last time I was here. I think I will need to add my name to the top of the list for shopping tomorrow afternoon!

I had to laugh at the 2 very long queues of people wanting to buy the 'best icecream in the world'. We weren't tempted. A quick visit in the supermarket before we get back on the coach to purchase sune, cheese and crackers which is all we want for our supper tonight. More rain now as we head to Florence which willbe our home for the next 2 nights.

The big wheel is near our hotel. Depending on what is happening tomorrow night we may take aride, but the weather is too overcast tonight. As we all booked into our hotel, Julie and I make our way to room 208 only to find that it hasn't been made ip from the previous inhabitant! I head back down to reception to tellthe fellow who is most apologetic. He advises that the hotel is fully booked, so we need to wait until he gets our room cleaned. Would we like to have a drink in the bar while we wait? Clearly he hasn't met us before!

We are also offered a cream cheese and walnut pastry boat, plus a zuchinni paste, cream cheese and biscuit crumb entree which I was most happy to scoff down, Then came the chips and bbq tasting puffs which Julie took a decided liking too! What are the chances that out of our little group of 13, with 5 married couples, 1 mousy little lady who is only travelling on her own because her travel companion had to pull out at the last minute due to a breast cancer diagnosis, plus us 2, that we are the ones who didn't have a room at our hotel in Rome and now our room isn't ready in Florence, and it is the same darn hotel chain? However, our room is now ready so back to our room we go. It is quite small so not a lot of room for suitcases on the floor but we make do. I am in charge of removing the corks from our wine bottles (thank goodness I brought my Swiss Army knife that I really did buy in Switzerland!) and Julie prepares our repast of Brie cheese and crackers. Oops, almost forgot to mention that I think I set off an alarm in the bathroom, although not sure how. Julie rang reception and we had to get someone to come and shut it off! What a hoot! Time to update the blog, have lots of laughs recapping our travels and then lights out. What a holiday!