We hired a guide to take us on a wine tour and added Siena. He was a nice guy, with a nice BMW, advertising his services as "educational, informational" tours. He turned out to be a glorified driver. Didn't matter--we had a great time.
My colleagues insisted I go to Siena as that's where the famous horse race (Palio) is around the town square (that's me in the Campo above). Can't imagine horses running around that square while all the people crowd in the middle for a view. I imagine it to be something out of Ben Hur. The Dumomo was also magnificent (full of historic art and tourists taking pictures where you're not supposed to) - but my friend was right, once you've seen one of these towns, they all begin to look alike. We spent two hours there on our own and that was enough.
Headed for the Chianti region where we had lunch and sampled wine at the Casanova winery. Beautiful vineyards (that's me with the owner above) but didn't get to walk around enough. Bought two bottles + some lavender. See the picture above that looks like a hedge? Its rosemary--never seen so much rosemary - it smelled great! Realized it was the same beautiful scenery we saw on our own as we drove to the Farmhouse in Tuscany/San Gigmignano, so we could have spent the day at the Uffizi or Pitti Palace, but what the heck, there's never enough time right?
The owner did give us a great restaurant tip where David tried Wild Boar and I tried the famous Florentine steak in a salad. It was a great way to spend the last night: White Wild Boar Restaurant.
So ends our journey, we got up at 4am the next day to catch our flight. Vacation of a lifetime. Ready to do it again.
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