Siena and San Gimignano

We set our alarm because we didn't want to be late for our tour to Siena and San Gimignano. We had our usual morning cappuccino and caffe latte, along with breakfast and then left to go to where we were to meet our tour bus. The bus is a double-decker and we sat on the top. We have a tour guide who can speak at least four languages. There are French, Spanish, Italian and English speaking tourists on this bus. An hour and a half later, we arrived in Siena. This city is from mediaeval times and has succeeded in keeping its mediaeval appearance intact over the years. Interestingly enough, Siena and Firenze were rivals in the old days. Siena had one-upmanship issues - what ever Firenze had, Siena had to outdo it. The one thing Siena tried to make bigger than Firenze was their duomo (cathedral), but it doesn't even come close to measuring up to the duomo in Florence. The duomo here is beautiful though. The entire floor is made of marble and is a sight to see. We only had 20 minutes to see the duomo - it wasn't nearly enough time to see everything we would have liked to see. After the tour guide guided us around, we only had an hour and a half to roam around and do what we wanted to do. We went to a local shop that sold fruit and meats and made sandwiches on the type of buns we wanted. The proprietor and Arrigo were having a good time talking about whatever they were talking about. We took our sandwich and glass of wine and sat on the curb to eat where there was a spot for customers to eat; just a piece of cardboard that said "Poggia" and "Mele" and below ...Serve per Seders - a place to sit and there wee two big apples for us to sit on. We like the off-the-beaten-path restaurants because we get to talk (or at least Arrigo does) to the locals and they treat us better, especially once they hear Arrigo speak Italian. It's time for us to go to the bus to the next stop at San Gimignano. We enjoyed seeing the mediaeval city of Siena. It reminds me of the movie Les Miserables. We just passed a couple of fields of sunflowers, but they were all limp. I don't know if it's because it's the end of summer or because it is a rainy day. It would be beautiful if they were fully open and smiling at us. I love sunflowers. San Gimignano is a city surrounded by a wall. In the mediaeval times, the wall protected the people from their enemies. It is beautiful and a tourist trap, just like Siena. I saw some nice purses and boots, but I think I can find them for cheaper in Florence or Rome. We stopped at a winery on our way back to Florence and Arrigo bought some wine and cenerone cheese and also bought a package of dehydrated Ribollita soup - the same kind of soup that we had at lunch with Sara yesterday. Tonight is going to be a night in after we go for supper at the Archie Bunker place. We need to have some of that Tuscan tomato soup again, or maybe there will be Ribollita. After that, laundry and postcards. It's insanely expensive to send a postcard home - €2 - so needless to say, we aren't going to send many.