April 28, In the Tuscan countryside

The weather looks promising in Panzano but the general forcast is for showers elswhere. We set of in the morning to visit a couple of Tuscan hill towns. Our first stop was the town of San Gimignano. The journey of about 1 hour took us on a combination of typical backroads and a portion on the main freeway connecting Florence and Siena. I am getting quite used to the driving of the hilly roads but Gale still utters gasps at times. Dispite the reputation for Italians being insane drivers , we have had very few examples so far. San Gimignano, is a beautiful town which dates back to the 13th century when it had a population of 14000 people. In 1348 the plague reduced the population to about 4000. It once had over 60 towers and was extremly prosperous and powerful. There are only 14 towers that remain. The views of the countryside were spectacular. We sampled "Vernaccia da San Gimignano", the white wine that the region is known for. After our visit we continued on to Volterra to view a different hill town. Unfortunately the weather started to turn and by the time that we arrived it was raining and the town was covered in fog leaving the visability very poor. We took the time to have a bit of lunch, with the hope that the weather might clear. It didn't so we headed back to Panzano. Once we got to a lower elevation, the fog cleared and driving was fine. Not a totally successful day but a good one non the less. We had another great Tuscan dinner at a local restaurant. Monia made our reservartion for us and we were shown to a small upstaire room to ourselves. The vacation will end soon and as allways too quickly. This morning it is clear but cool. We are told that this is unusual for the area. We are not sure wher we will go today but I will update everyone in the next entry. Happy 14th anniversary to Lorinda and Gavin. Seems like it was just yesterday that we celebrated your wedding with the great party at Nan's house.
bye for now