Quite a busy few days! Yesterday morning we went to the Accademia and (finally!) saw the David and the Slaves. Absolutely even more breathtaking than we even expected, and we had pretty high expectations. We also went to San Marco and saw all of the Fra Angelico frescoes, including Marisa's favorite version of the Annunciation. That was all a wonderful start to the day. Then we had to pack up and leave Florence, which was sad. Such a magical city. We said goodbye to our charming (if slightly manic) hostel guy, Fernando - who also ran Chicago and Boston but the opposite years we did! Did we mention that already? - and took a bus to San Gimignano.

There's not a whole lot to do in the village of San Gimignano besides climb the towers for spectacular views, which we did. Then we sat on the church steps in the square and people-watched for an hour. Saw an adorably funny gathering of old men and women who all congregate on the square (bringing their own folding chairs) at dusk and sit there for a few hours, probably every night. Men in one row, women in another. What do they talk about every day?? We liked the town very much and stayed with a lovely old woman who spoke no English. Not sure whether we liked it better than Rothenburg in Germany, they are very similar.

This morning we got up early and took a bus to Siena where we spent an hour walking around with our 40lb packs looking for the train station. Ended up taking a bus. We did get to visit il Campo, where they have the famous horse race the Paleo, and that was something we had wanted to see so that was fun. Siena is beautiful, wish we'd had more time there.

We are now back in Roma for just one night and tomorrow morning we fly to Athens! Very excited for the cruise!!

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