Day-tripping and Gelato-eating

It snowed in Chicago today, and I unfortunately can’t brag about how great the weather is here in Italy because it poured rain (again). Today, however, I was not bothered by this in the least because today was my first “day off.” Yep, I scheduled myself a day off from sight-seeing because even I, a person who loves traveling more than anything, can’t sight-see for 48 days straight. And I had to schedule it, otherwise I would have felt way too guilty to just take the day and relax because I may be slightly Type-A. Slightly. Anyway, I’m 13 days in and this is the point where I’m normally heading home, but I still have 5 weeks, so I need to make sure I don’t wear myself out too early in the trip – and preferably, not at all.

I managed to sleep in until almost 9, which is not nearly as late as I wanted but my last year at work involved too many early morning meetings that seem to have RUINED my ability to sleep late. It’s a travesty. I couldn’t let the day be a complete “waste” so I had a to-do list (pack, straighten, post pics, do this post, etc.) as I leave tomorrow for the Cinque Terre. Type-A all the way.

I ended my stay in Florence with a Pizza and Gelato Making class tonight, which was fun (and tasty!). Everyone in the class got to make their own pizza and then we watched one of the chefs make the gelato. And of course there was wine. I got seated with two couples from the Spokane area. They were very nice but clearly perplexed by a single person traveling alone for so long. I’m more than used to this reaction and have my standard answers all ready, but it does amuse me. People generally have one of two reactions when they hear I’m traveling alone: envy or polite discomfort because they can’t imagine doing it. I enjoy traveling with friends/family when possible, but it’s not always feasible schedule or destination-wise, and I love doing what I want (or, more accurately, what Rick Steves tells me to do haha). Anyway, the class was fun and I’d definitely recommend trying it if you’re in Florence.

After spending my first three days in Florence seeing its sights, I spent the next three doing daytrips – Siena, Pisa and Lucca on Friday, and a small group tour to some small villages in the heart of Tuscany: Montalcino, Pienza, and Montepulciano.

I basically went to Pisa just to see the Leaning Tower, and guess what? It does, in fact, lean. They’ve spent tens of millions of dollars trying to get that sucker to stabilize, and it looks like it’s finally in good shape…for awhile. I did not end up climbing it because I’ve eaten way too much pasta and gelato to enjoy that. 296 stairs at 915 in the morning? No, thank you. And my buddy Rick said the views weren’t even that great, so I was ok passing. A Euro for a little leaning tower figure to add to my collection on my desk at work, wherever that ends up being, and I was on to Lucca, which was a short and scenic bus ride away.

Lucca doesn’t have any major sights, but it’s a really cute and quaint small town that I enjoyed wandering through. The town is surrounded by high walls that were supposed to keep the Pisans and Florentines from invading, but they never tried so the walls just serve as flood control. And they’re a really nice place to spend an hour riding a bike, especially on a bright and sunny spring afternoon. As part of my attempt to “relax, go with the flow, and not plan so much,” I didn’t pre-plan my departure and ended up missing the next train back to Florence by about a minute and had to wait an hour for another one. THIS IS WHY I PLAN. Fortunately, the weather was still nice and I had my kindle, so it wasn’t a complete waste of time.

Yesterday was one of my two favorite days out of my Florence stay, and it sort of happened by accident. I prefer traveling independently (i.e. not with a tour group), but I like to join the occasional small group day tour for a couple reasons: 1) to see a lot of sights in a short amount of time or in a difficult location; 2) to get a professional’s take on/explanation of a particular sight; and 3) to socialize a little, especially if it’s a trip where I’m traveling alone. I had originally planned to do a small group tour on Friday to two other towns, San Gimignano and Volterra, but that fell through Wednesday night due to not meeting the minimum number of travelers (it was 2, so basically, I was the only sign-up). I wasn’t sure what the heck I was going to do Friday, which is rare for me, so I moved Pisa/Lucca to Friday from my original plan of seeing them Saturday and decided I would do some googling for other tours after I got back from Siena Thursday night. Thankfully, I came across the Heart of Tuscany tour in a brochure in Siena and it was a Saturday tour so I was sold. It was also half the price of the original tour I was going to do! I could have done Volterra or San Gimignano by bus myself, but it was a really long bus ride and I didn’t want to rent a car (too much time/effort) so this was perfect.

And it ended up being great! It started with a wine tasting in Montalcino, where I had Brunello di Montalcino wine and a few others and ended up drunk off my ass at 11:30 in the morning. Seriously, this wine is like 14% ABV and I’m a lightweight. I ate approximately half a loaf of bread and a ton of cheese to try and soak some of this wine up. It was pretty good, but I’m not a huge fan of reds, so it was just pretty good for me. After that, we had about an hour in each of the towns, with a short pecorino cheese tasting in Pienza (YUM). Pienza was probably my favorite of the three towns, as it had some great old, brick buildings, which are basically my favorite thing ever. Show me an old, brick building, particularly one with an arched door or window, and I’ll show you all 2000 photos I’ve taken of it. Montepulciano was the last stop, and that town’s main road is essentially one enormously steep hill straight up. I got waylaid by an art gallery 2/3 of the way up so I didn’t make it to the top, but I did end up lugging a painting back down. I have zero willpower in art galleries. The tour bus dumped us back in Florence about a 15 minute walk from my AirBnB, and it was a really great day.

Gelato Update: 27 scoops
lemon – 7, mango – 1, strawberry – 1, caramel cream – 3, dark chocolate – 3, chocolate – 4, chocolate chip – 1; black cherry – 2; rum – 1; cookie – 1; chocolate mousse – 1; raspberry – 1; vanilla – 1

Florence has AMAZING gelato; I know this because I have eaten all of it. On a recommendation from someone I knew through work, I stopped tonight at Gelateria Perche No (Italian for Why Not, which is appropriate). It was possibly the best gelato I’ve had so far – chocolate mousse and raspberry. I wanted to eat it allllll. And yes, I stopped for gelato before I went to a gelato making class and ate more gelato. I put in 100k steps in the last 7 days, I’LL EAT ALL THE GELATO I WANT, DAMMIT.

It’s hard to choose a favorite flavor – I really love lemon, especially paired with dark chocolate now; chocolate mousse and raspberry would have become a leading contender if I’d tried Perche No sooner; I tried a really great black cherry and a really mediocre one; and caramel and rum were good (independently, not together). Luckily, I still have 16 days worth of gelato-eating to become a connoisseur.

PS – if you’re slightly crazy, a lot bored, and want to see a ridiculous amount of Italy pictures, I’ve made my Facebook photos public and my Instagram is also public.