Day 2 - The Lights Of San Gimignano

Hey everyone!
Day 2 today, but before I do anything else, let me just point you in the direction of Sonya Kitchell's revamped blog at www.sonyakitchell.blogspot.com. You all know how brilliant I think Sonya is, and the blog showcases some of her great photography, showing just how multi-talented she is! And Sonya, if you HAPPEN to be reading after I said hello on Facebook (unlikely), when you can sing, play the guitar and take professional-standard photos, being able to spell isn't important! Hehehe.... Anyway, cracking on, enjoy the diary!

Today we woke up at around eight forty-five and got ready for the day ahead. Outside, the sky was a brilliant blue and the cicadas were already chirping like crazy. Breakfast was cereal and croissants, amongst other things, which was satisfying enough. With this finished and our coffee drunk, we returned to the flats to brush our teeth and get ready to go out. When everyone was ready, we set of down a nearby track towards the town of San Gimignano. The trees were every shade of green and we could hear the lizards dashing away in front of us. Out of the shade it was already boiling and the cars kicked up massive dust clouds behind them.
We passed a vineyard and a police office on our way into the town, and soon we could step through the ancient walls into the old quarter. Unfortunately it was already full of tourists, but Dad says that if I come back earlier tomorrow, I can get some good pictures without so many people. The story of this town is that, at some time in the past, rival factions tried to outdo each other by building the tallest tower. The result is a rather curious skyline and a fantastic view from the top of the tallest tower. This we climbed, after grabbing ice-cream (mine was cherry and "baccio", whatever that is!), a total of about 218 steps. It was worth it for the incredible view of the valley we uncovered, as well as a chance to see more of the other towers - some even had tables and chairs on top!
With this view added to our collection (Uttini!), we returned to street level and spent a while longer wandering among the picturesque alleys, before finding a restaurant for lunch. I ended up with some pear juice and a prosciutto ham and brie sandwich, both of which were very refreshing. We also stocked up on water for the journey back, and tried to locate a map shop, with little success! Instead we walked back to the hotel, grabbing pictures of a lizard and grape vines on the way.
Once back, Dad had a siesta and the rest of us changed into swimming gear and went to check out the pool. After getting in my thirty lengths as usual, I took the extra time to update my diary, and soon we were meeting up with the others for aperitifs. Mum had been shopping, so we ate crisps and drank coke under the canopy outside. Apparently the car had some problems with its tyres, so we had to take it to Florence airport to get another one - a long-winded detour meaning we won't get to Siena, but might see more of Florence than we were expecting!
So, when we were satisfied, we entered the restaurant upstairs and sat down at the same table as this morning. We were then presented with some antipasti - some crispy bruscetta, slices of melon wrapped in parma ham, and some kind of mixed up... stuff... with vegetables in which was really interesting, the tomatoes especially flavoursome. This was followed up by an extremely filling risotto (does anyone else find risotto just instantly fills you up?) for primo, and chicken and peas for secondo - I think this is probably one of the few times I've actually enjoyed peas! After a slight pause to let everything go down, we finished our home-cooked meal with some mini tiramisu, which, despite not having as much sponge as I was expecting, was still as rich and gooey as ever.
Having finished the dinner, we briefly stood outside and watched the lights of San Gimignano in the dark, but we were all too full and tired to do any real stargazing. Instead, we chose to return to the hotel and go pretty much straight to bed!

So, the first full day of action over. TOMORROW there's some drama, some travelling, and some new places to visit. You won't want to miss it!
See ya 'round!

Jack