We packed up and headed into the working farm today to say goodbye to Issabella, Carlo, Luciano and Lilliana and to pick up our two liter tins of their olive oil. It was sad to leave since they are all so nice.
Our drive to Siena was easy, but the longest of our drives so far. We left the beautiful hills and drove into the flatter regions around Siena. We parked the car and walked around Siena for a few hours. We walked through San Domenico and then we hit the famous piazza where they run the Palio. We walked down one of the little back roads to find a place to eat. We ended up in a little hole in the wall where the menu was the owner! He simply recited what he had to offer and pointed to the table with fresh pastas, the pots with sauces and the meats and cheeses. We accidentally ended up ordering way too many meats and cheeses and one of them was a huge, thick slab of salami. The pastas were very good, as was his ribolita. We ended our day in Siena with a walk by the beautiful and impressive Duomo. The sky cooperated and made for some awesome pictures.
The drive to Florence was very quick and we decided to drive to our hotel and drop off the Padillas and the luggage before returning the car. We had our city route all mapped out and were high-fiving as we reached each major traffic circle and successfully found the right road. We crossed the Arno and were within a block or two of our hotel when we encountered road closures! They diverted us away from our destination and we ended up skirted around were we wanted to be due to other road closures (due to a parade) and one way streets. We eventually found our way to the hotel through the busy and tight streets. More high-fives! Now Scott and I only had 50 minutes to drive to the airport, drop off the rental car and catch a taxi back to the hotel as the hotel's happy hour was from 6:30-7:30. It took us a good 30 minutes to get to the airport...getting lost only once, but then we couldn't figure out how to get to the car return lot! Once we figured that all out we headed for the taxi line...only to find about 30 people in line! We were kissing our Prosecco happy hour goodbye. I asked the guy at the end of the line if they were all waiting for a taxi and luckily he informed me that they were all on a flight from Amsterdam and they were getting on buses...not taxi. We were so happy because we walked to the front and nabbed the next taxi! He started driving back and did not get on the autostrada, but just drove thru the streets and we were once again kissing our Prosecco goodbye. We started chatting with the taxi driver and learned that it only takes 10-15 minutes via the city streets if you are a taxi since they know the way and can drive down special streets! He was very nice and responded to our compliments to his driving skills by saying that they aren't driving skills, but survival skills! We tipped him well since we made it to our happy hour!
We walked around Florence and happened upon an opened Palazzo Vecchio. As far as we can remember, it has not been opened when we were in Florence before. We seized the moment and bought tickets with additional admission to the walkway along the top at 9:30 so we could see Florence by night. It was a great palace to tour and the views were awesome. We finally left to find a place to have a late dinner and found a fun little Trattoria on the back streets and had pizzas.
It was a VERY long day!
