Fred in Dallas...San Gimignano

   After our return from Paris I spent the next week in florence with Renee and the kids.  I went to some of Renee's activities, such as a cooking class she was taking.  I think she already showed a picture of us but it was myself and nine women...very nice!:

  Renee and the boys have been to several Tuscan towns and she has blogged about some of these: Siena, Voltera, Pisa.  We took out a bus out to San Gimignano, the epitome of a Tuscan hill town.  Pretty touristy but it has 14 of the original 72 midieval towers still standing and very scenic.  We had a nice lunch and I had a Tuscan delicacy for the first time: boar stew...not bad.  Wild boar, or cinghiale, is served in many different ways.  Some photos of the town and views around it:

A wall surrounds the town and this is the village below:

 

    I had a great week in florence and could choose form hundreds of pictures...the Duomo, the Bargello (incredbile, worth a separate entry), Santa Croce, Oltrano...the list goes on.  My last day there we went up to Fiesole, a small hilltop town overlooking florence founded by the Etruscans about 400 years before the Romans founded Florence.  Great Etruscan and Roman ruins and a neat little museum.  We had lunch in a favorite local spot, Ristorante Perseus where I had ribollita, a Tuscan favorite...a traditional peasant dish with vegetables, bread, and spices.  Mine was incredible.  Ahh the best part of travel.  We met an old gentleman at the table behind us, a shoemaker who had taken up painting in the past 10 years.  He has only been out of Florence three times in his life...in his early 70s.  As sweet as they come!:

                            

  I head back to Italy this Saturday...first stop, Prague!