Under the Tuscan Sun

 

The next day was pretty uneventful. The bus had quickly lost its appeal. No, I take that back. It had no appeal to begin with, so spending an entire day on there was a nightmare. I was so tired from the day before and after the first couple of hours, Shereen and I squabbled about her letting me have the window seat for a couple of hours. After we swapped and I was trying to get to sleep, Vinny decided to provide some entertainment by putting on a movie. So with my window seat going to waste as the speaker blared above me we watched Under the Tuscan Sun- chosen by Vinny as a fitting introduction to the region we were heading to that day.

The highlight of the morning was stopping at the AutoGrill for lunch. Surprisingly (and I can say this because I have left Italy at the time of writing this) we had the best pasta of the whole of Italy there. I had fusili with pesto, potato and green beans, and Shereen had spaghetti with clams, which could have been disastrous at a truck stop but she said it was better than all the other times she had it over the rest of the trip.

In the afternoon we stopped in the country side at the Catello Palagio winery. It is one of the oldest wineries in the Cianti Classico region and was once run by monks. We were treated to wine tastings and garlic bread, and Shereen and I were pinching ourselves as we sat in the warm orange glow of the afternoon sun, sipping our wine and looking out over the Tuscan hill side.

We arrived in Florence that evening and headed out to dinner as a group. Shereen and I hustled to get on a good table for dinner and it ended up being us, Kayla and Paul, Jess and Brian, and Todd. This was disappointing because we wanted Megan and Jake to sit with us too (and obviously they wanted to be there with Jess and Brian) but when Todd sat down there was only room for one more and they told Jess and Brian to stay. I thought it was pretty rude of Todd as the only solo traveller on the table not to leave and let Megan and Jake sit with their friends. But at the same time if I was by myself I still would have wanted to sit at that table and would have been reluctant to leave. We had this New Yorker on the trip who complained about literally everything we did or didn't do and was so rude to everyone on the tour, and that night she had told Vinny she wouldn't walk to the restaurant and wanted Lino to drive her, when Vinny told her it wasn't possible she decided to take a taxi. It had taken us at most 10 minutes to walk. She arrived half an hour into our meal! Luckily, we had spread out over the spare seat so there was no more room for her, otherwise I actually would have killed Todd for not letting Megan and Jake take the seats.

We had spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, which was delicious, followed by Tiramisu for dessert. Shereen and I don't like Tiramisu, so at first everyone wanted ours, until they tasted it and then there was plenty to feed the alley cats. After dinner we had the option of going to a "Disco Pub" but Shereen and I were wrecked so we headed home, stopping for gelato on the way, if only in an attempt to avoid walking with the New Yorker, who had also decided to turn in.

The next morning we were taken to a leather-working demonstration at a workshop in the city centre where we were told how to distinguish real leather from the many pieces of fake leather we would be shown throughout the city. Afterward we were taken on a walking tour of the city, through the courtyard of the Medici palace, on to the Ponte Vecchio bridge and back to the main square where we saw the replica of Michelangelo's David.

In the afternoon we had free time and Shereen and I visited the real David and climbed the bell tower of the Duomo. It was a long, steep climb and we were exhausted at the end of it, but it was worth it for the beautiful view of the city and surrounding hills.

That night was another optional dinner set out in the Tuscan hills. On our way to the restaurant we stopped at a lookout point above the city where many people had gathered to watch the sunset and Vinny had organized to have a professional group photo taken. At dinner, Shereen and I were joined on a table by Kayla, Paul, Jake, Megan, Jess and Brian. It was the best meal of the trip as we had suckling pig and the best sangria I have ever tasted as our welcome drink. The sangria was so good that the girls went back for seconds and thirds!

After dinner we headed to Space nightclub, which Vinny had hyped up as one of the best clubs in Florence. When we got there there was a group of about 5 other people, and there was only karaoke, no dancing. Upstairs wasn't even open yet as it was too early, but we decided to stay for our free welcome shot and free first drink. Shereen and I rocked out Mr Brightside on the karaoke machine which received electronic applause from the DJ. A few more people showed up, but since they were mostly creepy old Italian guys who were trying to grope us on the dance floor we decided to leave.

The next day we hit the road for the Cinque Terre. More on that in my next post xx