Hey all! Today was an amazing day but not from the beginning. My mom
woke me up at around 7:00 am our time, ( Around 1:00 am U.S time) I was
sooooooo tired! But after I got up and started to move around, I was
ready to go! Today was the day that we did the thing that I was looking
forward to the most. Walkabout: Best of Tuscany Bus Tour. Ohhh myyy
goodnesss was this tour amazing! Unbelievable! I would recommend it to
anyone! We started our day off on the bus with our tour guide, Alex. (He
is actually from Seattle...finally someone who's English I can
understand!) He was very nice. We had a nice family of four in front of
us from Boston, honeymooners behind us, and people with British accents
on our left. Nice little group. We first drove up past beautiful
countryside to Siena. Now, one of my favorite book series (River of Time
series by Lisa T Bergren. Totally read it!) Is based there. I was super
excited to see actual churches right from my book. I wasn't
disappointed. Can I just say that I want to LIVE THERE!!!!!! Gorgeous
town, nice people, beautiful buildings, and awesome restaurants. Best.
Town. Ever!!!! From there we headed to a winery up in the beautiful
Tuscan countryside. I cannot even begin to explain the beauty. Rolling
hills, countless grape plants, olive trees. SO PRETTY!!!!! (I posted
pics...I just had to.) We had a deliciously hearty lunch and toured
around this family run farm. After that we headed over to San
Gimigianno. This small little town in the mountains is surrounded by a
huge wall that closes at night. So cool! I posted more pics of this
town. We then headed over to Pisa. Ahhhh Pisa. This is a seriously cool
town. We took a train over to the town because our bus couldn't fit
through the entrance. Fun :)
Now, the leaning tower of Pisa
seriously leans. I always knew this but never saw it in person. Wow. It
looks like it could fall any minute. We took one of those pics that you
pretend to be holding up Pisa and shopped around a little bit. There is
also a Cathedral there that is also leaning. Such a pretty town. Such a
leaning tower. Cool!!
Then, we boarded the bus and drove back to Florence. An awesome day!!
Facts:
Did you know that Siena is divided into 17 districts (kinda like the
Hunger Games.) Each of these districts has an animal (i.e. Snail, Wave,
Boar etc.) Twice every year, they do a 90 second horse race called
Paialo (I think that's how you spell it.) Each district competes for a
banner with the Virgin Mary on it. Afterwards the winning district has
parties and waves flags with their emblem in it. Cool.
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| An old tunnel |
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| SO cool! |
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| These are the shingles of their roof....wow |
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| The winery |
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| Grapes |
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| One of the Districts emblem. Siena |
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| The oldest bank in the world. In Siena |
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| Look at all of the people with their hands raised. They are all pretending to hold the tower for pics. |
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| Our train |
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| The entrance to the leaning tower of Pisa |
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| The winery is also a hotel. I wanna stay here! That is a pool by the way. |
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| The flag in Siena for one of the districts |
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| Dedicated to Mary |
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| Our train to Pisa |
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| The leaning tower |
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| Beautiful |
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| Fruits |
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| The Winery |
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| Gorgeous! |
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| San Gimigianno |
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| The Cathedral in Siena |
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| The floor at the Cathedral in Siena |
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| Pisa |
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| The leaning tower of Pisa |
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| Cows on the winery |
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| The Cathedral in Siena |
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| The wall outside of Pisa |
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| Pretty! |
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| Siena |
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| Tuscany |
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| Tuscany |
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| Pics of Siena's horse race |
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| Don't let it fall!! |
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