Day 6 Drama Queen/San Gimignano

Yes, I suppose I'll name myself the Drama Queen. You'll find out in a minute. So last night we went to bed and again it was pretty toasty in our room. We had the window cracked open like last night with a fan blowing on us. It's manageable, but you definitely don't want the covers on. So I'm laying there thinking about the movie Under the Tuscan Sun. This place was probably as equally as challenging and rewarding as the movie's process of refurbishing. So I'm laying there thinking about the movie and how cute it was, but then there was that one scene where a big black snake comes up through the window. Yeah, so I'm thinking about that and about 15 minutes later still thinking about that, so I got up and closed the window to just about a quarter inch crack. Drama Queen #1.

I heard some clinking outside and was sure our friends were having breakfast, but I closed my eyes until my alarm went off at 8:30. Not really wanting to get up, but excited about our road trip to San Gimignano, I hopped up and started to get ready. Another day near 90, so hair is up and cool clothes are on. We went down for breakfast of homemade bread, jams, fruit, yogurt and cereal if we wished. Lindsay brought me some hot tea and we enjoyed our breakfast. We packed up and said our goodbyes to Lindsay, and we promised to keep in touch. Steven, however, drove us down this hill. Once he got past the main hairpin turns and was on a bit more of a straightaway, he asked if that was good enough. Jokingly I said "I'm about 80% sure I can make it the rest of the way" and he rolled his eyes and took us all the way down. He does this quite often I'm sure. The British couple that was also staying there had relatives in nearby Lucca. They had a car and they were trying to make it up the hill. There were three of them in the car, with bags and other things. The car wouldn't go any further so they started throwing bags out, then one by one they started to get out. Finally they pushed the car up the rest of the way. Yeah, they didn't try to drive up it anymore.

Steven and Guy took the main road (the tiny, often one way road) yesterday, so he was quite familiar with it by now. We stopped briefly in the little town of Fabbriche di Vallico, Lindsay says there is a population of 350, and I took a few pictures as Guy pointed out things Steven had told him about yesterday that were walls, roads and entrances made by the Germans. This town dates back to the 16th century and only had donkey trails leading to the town until the Germans came and built the tiny road. Speaking of, as luck would have it, we were behind two other cars on the way out, so we just snuggled in right behind them and like a little train we all went through the one way tunnels together. Success. The roads were not nearly as bad as they seemed on the first day. Now trust me, they are NOT wide and once someone had to back up for us to get around them, so I'm not exaggerating when I say they were tiny, but I think that being in a strange place with itty bitty winding roads, not a soul in sight, you didn't even know if you were for sure headed in the right direction and if you weren't you were sure the heck about to find yourself in the middle of no-where Italy, it can be a bit unnerving. Drama Queen #2.

We stopped a few towns over to check out a bridge we had seen on the way to the I Romiti. It was built in medieval times and was called the Devil's bridge. The legend was that the builder couldn't finish it on time and as he sat in his misery the devil approached him and made a deal. The devil said he'd finish it for him overnight, but in return he would take the first soul that came across it. He agreed. The next day, the bridge was completed but the builder, ashamed for the deal he had made with the evil one, went to the priest and confessed his transgressions. The priest said they would send a pig across first and solve the problem. They did just that and the devil became so infuriated he jumped off the bridge and was never seen again. You'll see pictures of this bridge in the photo link. It was a pretty cool bridge...seemingly quite the engineering feat for the 15th century.

Back on the autostrada we came across an AutoGrille and whipped the car over two lanes to get to it. We filled up (they still offer full service here were they gas you up an clean your windshields, just like when I was a kid) and went inside to use the restroom and grab some snacks. Guy had a lovely focaccia bread with cheese and prosciutto, and I had a caprese sandwich on crusty bread. We grabbed some crackers, cookies, and some waters, then went out to the car for a picnic. We have to eat gas station food at least once on our Italian road trips. It's our thing. And this ain't your grandma's gas station food. It's actually something we look forward to!

Back on the road we were only one hour from San Gimignano and arriving at our destination we easily found parking and lugged our bags further than we had hoped in near 90 degree weather, but we made it and checked into our very own room #12 that overlooks the square. We asked for this room as we had stayed in it before and sure enough we got it. It is tiny and nothing too fancy, but the spot is primo and there is air conditioning! AND the BEST gelato in all of Tuscany, or Italy as far as I'm concerned, is 10 steps away from me. This is my first gelato of the trip and I went for the trifecta of chocolate, coconut and tiramisu. Winner! Now tonight if I can get some gnocchi for dinner I'll have accomplished pretty much everything I came here to do. :)

Guy made reservations for dinner as I shopped around the town. I did buy a few goodies from local artists as gifts and came back to the room for some cool air, chat with my mom and start the blog. Dinner is in about an hour and a half, so I think I even have time for a nap! Will report in on our evening activities shortly.

Showered and ready to go, we headed to our favorite restaurant in San G, the Ristorante le Vecchie Mura. Our hotel called for a reservation because we walked there earlier and they were closed. We arrived and had a table on the terrace. It was a gorgeous evening with the sun setting over the beautiful Tuscan hills. The air felt cool even though my phone said the temp was still 82. We had a bruschetta to start, then Guy ordered the filet with a balsamic sauce and fries, while I ordered the gnocchi pomodoro with grilled veggies and for dessert I thought it was going to be some kind of parfait, but instead it was a small icecream with nuts and chocolate pieces with a chocolate sauce. It was fantastic. Looking around and enjoying the evening, we were in no hurry to go and just enjoyed the moment. A slow stroll back to the square and taking some time to snap a few photos, we headed to the room to try to catch up on some sleep. I feel bad that it is only 9:30 and still some daylight outside, being our only evening here, but were both afraid if we sat down at a small cafe to people watch, we'd fall asleep. Drama Queen #3. ;)

Back to the room, it is cool and calling us to end our pretty awesome day. Looking forward to tomorrow where we don't have our plans set 100%, but we are hoping to catch up with my cousin from California that is also vacationing in a nearby town and make some great memories with them. 

Ciao from San Gimignano.