Tuesday, Oct.4/11 Touring medieval towns

Our day started with Susan making  a great oatmeal breakfast and toast.  Had  our coffee , tea and juice and were on our way by 10:30 a.m.  We went once again to Volterra  to have our own tour this time.  It is an amazing medieval town encircled by high walls and topped with  a fortress.  It was one of the most important Etruscan cities that was absorbed by the Roman Empire and later fought against the Florentines and lost during the middle ages.  So much to learn in such a short time.  We had a great lunch , altogether,  Jim and Julie, Susan and  Roberto and Milla and myself (Linda).  After a great lunch we went to the Etruscan Museum.   Three different levels of rare Etruscan  artifacts were on display and it was totally amazing.  One of the most outstanding pieces of art  is  the Shadow of Night, by Giacometti, sculpted 2500 years ago.    After this, I realized I lost my daughters hat that I borrowed without her knowledge and in a panic, hurried back  to where we had lunch and a few stores , but could not find it.   I guess I will be looking for a new hat,  Laura.

Next, we all decided that we needed the worlds best gelato, and of course it was in a different medieval town called San Gimignano.   Many winding turns and 30 Kl. later we arrived to enter this  very tourist town through a beautiful old arch.  It has many beautiful views, but also a lot of stores for the tourists.  We headed to the town square and stood in line for the famous gelato and it was worth it.   There was this young man playing music that we all liked , and I thought it would be great to get his CD which he was selling for 15 Euro, unfortunately, while playing it on our drive back to the villa, it sounded nothing like what he was playing.  I hope I have learned my lesson.

We arrived back to the villa at 7:30 p.m. and had broke bread with Roberto's amazing  chicken vegetable soup.  Enjoyed our glass of wine and prepare for our day tomorrow.