October 4: San Gimignano, Siena and Orvieto

October 4 San Gimignano, Siena and Orvieto

I have been reading "La Bella Figura, A Field Guide to the Italian Mind" by Beppe Severgnini. In it he attempts to explain Italy and Italians and why things in Italy are the way they are. For example, he says that one should not expect things to work they way they should work. He gives many examples, including heaters and traffic circles. I discovered another example for Beppe this morning: check out time at a campsite. All of a sudden it seemed that all the large campers were ready to leave and all wanted to empty their "waste water" before exiting the site. One could either laugh or cry about the traffic jam and so I remembered Beppe's advice and decided to just let things work themselves out. Finally, two campsite employees came down to the servie area and directed traffic. I was directed to pull over so that I was listing quite heavily to port; another vehicle was directed to pull here, another there and before you know it we looked like a large knot. I don't know how, but it all worked out and about 45 minutes later we left Florence.

I programmed Lori to avoid the autostrada today. I wanted to drive through Tuscany and see the countryside and so we took the roads less traveled. The scenery was quite beautiful with rolling hills, vineyards, and lonely looking old villas on the top of the Tuscan hills. It was as I had imagined it. I found myself saying over and over again to Michelle, "look at that, wow, take a picture, take a picture!"

Our first destination was San Gimignano, a hilltop medieval village with 14 towers that loom over the city walls. Unfortunately, every other tourist decided to go there today too and so there was no parking anywhere near the town. We decided to continue on to Siena.

Siena has a very large and very old shell shaped brick square; the Piazza del Campo. Today it was teaming with both locals and tourists. We even saw a wedding party getting pictures taken with the Palazzo Publico as the backdrop. It was a bright sunny day and therefore a great day to just roam aroud the piazza, take a few pictures and people watch. We found a market area and bought some bread, grapes, and olive oil.

Orvieto was our final destination for the day, only because I found a good camperstop listed in one of my many guide books. For 18Euro we get a safe place to park, electricity, showers, water and the company of about 30 other campers. As we approached the town, all we could say was, "wow." I am so glad we found this place. This ancient town is perched on the top of a hill with what looks like fortifications all around it. To get to the top we had to take a funicular and then a bus...again, very efficient transportation. The streets are cobblestone, winding and so narrow that cars have to stop and pull to the side to let opposing vehicles pass. We were surprised that the driver of the small 15 seater bus could find his way through the streets without hitting anyting or anyone. He seemed to be traveling at breakneck speed. The view from the top was breathtaking.

Tomorrow we will go to Rome. Sunday morning seems to be a good time of day to be on the road because there are fewer trucks and not nearly as much traffic as on any other day.