San G

We  went to San Gimigno again today, but  it was very crowded with school groups.  They have some beautiful hand painted pottery.We move to the new villa tomorrow.

American Cemetary

Dayle and I went to the American cemetary outside of Florence.  We found his uncle's grave and where the fighting took place. It was really well kept and reminds us of the many who have died for our freedom and those who died so far from home. Dayle is beside Dick Dayle Henson's grave-he died in Oct. of 1944.Dayle was named after him.  The others tasted more wine,bought more wine and had a really nice lunch with wine but no whining was involved.
Dayle turned 62 today and is really---------------old.

Cherie's Birthday

The mold is left on the bottles for humidity reasons and the corks are changed about every 35 years.  The private collection had pictures of the family members on the bottles and a special storage space with an iron name plate.

The Gangentry way to winery

We celebrated my birthday in the Chianti region. We saw some beautiful wine country.  We went to a wine tassting at Montacino.(it still all tastes like vinager),but the placee was beautiful.  We had lunch at a communal table above a butcher shop.  Pat surprised me with a candle and huge olive oil cake. .  The pieces arranged like a star were the pieces they served us , it was really good.  We  left and ended up making many wrong turns but saw some beautiful back roads.

San Gimignano

linens

The shops are very specialized and small.

Three of the men went to another town to golf and said the course was great.  Dayle went to find a knee brace after dropping the women off at San Gimignano.  The town is a medevial village that was famous for its saffron industry. The merchants tried to outdo themselves by building bigger and higher towers, until the government stopped the practice. They originally had 72 towers and they have only 15 left standing. Dee Dee and Lori like this town the best so far. The shopping was great and I had Dayle buy my birthday gift.( A braclet and matching ring.) 

Pisa

Pisa

We went to Pisa today. The ride took a long time and I was dissapointed in the city itself. It was very industral and not very attractive compared to the other places we have seen.  The tower area was really nice and the tower itself was leaning more than I had ever imagined. The church area beside the tower was filled with beautiful pictures of religious significance.

Voltera continued

Jack -scouting?????

Voltera Pictures

Day 4

We went to Voltera today.  It is an old Etruscan city with its walls still standing.  The streets are narrow with 5 story buildings on each side.  The bottom story  has shops specializing in alabaster carvings.  We ate pizza-surprise-surprise. We had beautiful views of the Tuscany hills on the drive.