Tuscany

Ahhh, to have a car and wi-fi!  Today we left our little piece of heaven for a couple of hours to strike out on our own and visit Siena and Florence.  For sure the trip was too short to really experience either city, but the trip was full of beautiful images.  You can hardly drive a mile before taking a picture of the contryside.

  After driving around Siena twice trying to find the old city center and then a parking space, we walked the streets of the city and found its most famous landmark, Piazza del Campo.  It is a huge concave area in the shape of a shell with the bottom of the shell in front of a huge church.  In the picture below, Pat is taking my picture sitting in the piazza as I am enjoying her gelato.

 

Then another hour north to Florence.  We will visit Florence again when we take the train to our next destination on Sunday.  The main geographic feature is the Arno River that divides the city.

The buildings of the north side of the Arno seem much brighter and cleaner that many of the cities we have been through.  Maybe they are newer.  The river itself is quite dirty looking and has an odor similar to the one I have when I open my septic tank...yuch!  

One of the eight bridges of the city is called the Punta Vecchio which means literally Old Bridge.  It is distinguished from the others by the fact that the bridge is covered by jewelry shops from end to end.

It is not very attractive from the outside, but the inside is awesome, with store after store of dazzling necklaces and gems.

 

And of course just like all the other cities, these people like their motor bikes.

Here are a few more pictures of our farmhouse on the top of the hill.

And finally the view from our door into the patio covered by a beautiful rose trellis.