Tuscany:
On our way to Florence, we stopped over in the "New York" of Tuscany for the day - San Gimignano.
We were particularly looking forward to Tuscany as it's the mother of Montecasino. We all gathered in the piazza taking photos of what looks identical to Monte, and then made our way up the cobbled streets for some famous tuscan wine tasting. This was by far the best wine tasting we have ever been to! We got realistic explanations of the wine flavorings, and 6 glasses of different wines to taste in the Tuscan hills. After feeling very happy from all the wine, we found some Italian pizza and then tucked into the worlds best ice-cream! Yes, this ice cream is World Cup winning.
We said our sad goodbye's to Tuscany, but it wasn't goodbye for good because a dinner in the Tuscany hills was coming up.
Roast Pork!
Florence:
We arrived in Florence in the evening to a hotel that is slap bang in the centre of the city! Fashion Week was taking place in Florence so there was a definite buzz in the streets. This, and starting to get very fond of our Contiki Family, led to a very eventful night where we started off with dinner in the Duomo and then ended off with a Karaoke Night in a well known pub. All the other Contiki Groups were at the Karaoke bar so it was a great atmosphere of singing along, happy hour, and dancing!
We started off our full day in Florence by getting a tour of the Leonardo's Leather Factory. While we learnt about the leather process, we also got the opportunity to browse the jewelry with every Nomination link ever made, and the leather shop. There is a unique ring famous to Florence which is used for loyalty and trust. This ring is called a "puzzle ring" and a clever man invented this ring for his girlfriends - for if when he went away and the ring was off their fingers upon return, it was assumed that they cheated on him. The reason for this is because the ring is near to impossible to put back together if taken off, as seen in the photos. Bruce sneakily got me one of these special rings for our Anniversary, but only gave it to me much later on the trip. It definitely does work because I took the ring off to shower and now we sit here "puzzled" not knowing how to put it back together! Supposedly the answers is on YouTube.
We carried on with our day doing a city walking tour of Florence, looking at the beautiful statues and architecture. We got to see the original Statue Of David, walked inside the Duomo and walked over the famous Florence bridge. I managed to also get a few items from Zara, my first real shopping experience on this trip! I persuaded Bruce as a pair of cotton pants were much needed after having to wear jeans in Rome's 41 degrees weather to see the churches.
We ended off our day in Florence having a group photo looking over the whole city, and then going for dinner in the hills of Tuscany. Here we were greeted with lots of wine, and a delicious three course meal with a view that was priceless!
Statue of David
The river in Florence
Space Bar Nightclub
The Duomo at sunset
Our Florence Contiki day sheet
Amazing art in the streets
Love locks
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