Repentant

5 days in the old country and I realize we haven’t been in a single church yet. This is notable. In past years the first place we would go in almost every town was either a restaurant, gelato shop or the duomo.,,

So today we head off to San Gimignano. Yes it is full of tourists, yes going through Poggibonsi is a driving… well not quite a nightmare, way worse than a challenge… starts with ‘cluster’ … anyway, a beautiful sunny day and San G. is as lovely as always in it’s medieval authenticity. 

We wander through the duomo (whew, finally) and find a woman in the courtyard playing guitar and singing Tuscan folk songs. Time for lunch.  Things are looking up. And so up we go… well some anyway. Vardas and Kathy climb the tower at the museum. Everyone who visits San G. should do it at least once. The view from the open top, 210 steps above the city is gorgeous on a clear day. I’ve done it twice, once in February (a tad chilly up there) and once in May… lovely. This year I sit on the steps of the duomo and just watch the people go by. (Why do so many people feel the need to carry so much stuff around with them? If it doesn’t fit in a pocket, it doesn’t go with me… just wondering).

Darryl and I decide to hang out in the piazza while D. and Jane and the Nelsons tour the Torture Museum. Again, one of those things in San G. that one should do once and one of those things not soon forgotten. It is disturbing and it is educational and it is something you will talk about later.

All of this leads to the inevitable… gelato time of course. San G. boasts a couple of really good gelato emporiums and a cup of vanilla, dark chocolate and coffee fortifies one for the drive home.

Poggibonsi again… we are pulled into a vortex of roundabouts and one way streets that spit us out onto dead end roads or mysteriously heading straight back towards San Gimignano. After stopping at 3 gas stations for directions and committing at least a dozen traffic infractions we give up and turn on the GPS in Varda’s car… (affectionately known as ‘The B*tch in the Box’) whence we find ourselves on a completely non-intuitive route that takes us straight home.

Bah.

 Another day in Tuscany that I wouldn’t change a bit.