San Gimignano

Back at the vineyard we took a van to the city of San Gimignano, known worldwide as the "Medieval Manhattan" because of its own twin towers. We had a quick walk through the town to the 1300 Ceramic Museum which boasts a 13 map of the town made out of ceramics, then left in the middle of town next to the World's Best Gelato shop (according to some award) and the World's Best Ice Cream shop (according to some other award). When in Italy aim for the gelato shop. Legend has it when Michelle Obama visited Gelateria Dondari, the gelato shop named a flavor after her. The Michelle Flavor is "saffron cantuccini, with Avola almonds, honey, and bitter orange peel. Had I realized the Michelle was Michelle Obama, I would have opted for that flavor because our book club was in the middle of reading her book "The Light We Carry," but I didn't. Instead Don and I shared rosemary, chocolate, and cinnamon. Ashley had rosemary, Gouda, and walnut. The line really grew after we ordered our gelato.

After savoring our gelato with stunning views of the Chianti region, Don and I walked around the cobblestoned streets, while Ashley sauntered. We saw a gelato making school with the same name as the world's best gelato shop. Even in a town with only a couple of streets, we still managed to get lost, which meant everyone had to wait a few minutes for us.

The original Twin Towers

A stunning replica of the town

Tough choices ... more inside

We capped off our adventures with a wine tasting and four-course lunch. The drinking age for the tasting was 18. They were good about providing vegetarian options for the non-meat eaters (though Ashley did not get pasta when we had meat lasagna, she said she was fine).

Throughout the wine tasting our sommelier told us about the different wines. Even with taking notes, all I got out of it was one was white and the rest were red. Seriously, it is much more complicated than that, but wine is not my cup of tea (pun intended). It is a family owned business. All of the wines we drank were made at the vineyard and they only sell directly to buyers -- you can't buy them at Wegmans, but they do ship worldwide.

After some more alcohol, they drove us back to Florence.

We walked Ashley back to her apartment so we could change her airline ticket home. We had the place to ourselves.

We were all more than a little tired, so we walked back to our apartment for a nap. Unfortunately we missed the sunset. We met up with Ashley at Pino' Sandwiches for dinner.

As Don and I walked back to our apartment we enjoyed listening to the live music. They seem to have an organized schedule in places like the Leather Market -- with one stopping as another one sets up. We heard a violinist, African music, a guitarist with a violinist, and an accordion player. Other nights we heard opera music, jazz, and Dixieland music. It felt magical.

As we passed the Duomo at 10:30 we passed the Easter vigil. Men wearing tights and skirts and carrying flags while marching to a drumbeat. Fire was involved. It reminded me of the Mummers. We followed them for a bit, walking about three blocks away until they turned a corner (though the lead flag bearer staying at the corner?). We ducked back to the Duomo to see them putting away their speakers. No idea what happened to the fire. We got turned around walking back to the apartment -- as usual. At 10:50 PM the Duomo bells rang for four minutes after being silent since Maundy Thursday. Then different churches started to ring their bells. I don't remember how long this went on, but long enough we wondered if it would stop in time to allow us to sleep.