We docked at Livorno at 7:00 this morning and by 8:00 we had our Hertz car rental, ready to go. We set the GPS for Florence and 2 hours later, after some heavy traffic in Florence, we were parked in a parkade near the train station. Weather was cloudy and around 20 degrees, with off and on rain showers. We started a walking tour, combining some of the must see sights with shopping. At one point, as we were studying our map trying to figure out where we were, a friendly local on a bicycle asked us (in English) if he could help us. He told us where the best shopping was for various goods and next thing we knew we were following him to a leather goods shop of which he was the owner. Evelyn ended up buying a very nice leather jacket from him.
From there we had a quick look at the Ponte Vecchio (see pic), on to the main Piazza, and then the marble clad Duomo (cathedral). Time for some Gelato and ducking in and our of a few more shops on the way back to the car. Our three hours in Florence went by very quickly.
Next on the itinerary was a drive to one of the best preserved medieval hill towns in the heart of Tuscany -- San Gimignano. The drive through the Tuscan countryside was beautiful, especially since the weather had cleared and it was now warm and sunny. Shortly before reaching San Gimignano, we stopped at a "Vino Directo" for some wine tasting directly from the winery. We tasted several different wines and enjoyed trying to communicate with the serving girl, who was very pleasant, but her English was limited, and of course our attempts at Italian were even worse.
Once in San Gimignano, after the usual challenge to find a parking spot, we made our way up into the town. We had a quick lunch and again the time was much too short to really see all that San Gimignano had to offer. But the views of the surrounding countryside alone were worth the visit.
It was another 1 1/2 hour drive back to the ship. I originally thought we might be able to fit in a quick visit to Pisa (of leaning tower fame) as well, but we didn't want to chance it, as our ship sailed at 6:30.
We made it back shortly after 5:00 and had another enjoyable evening on board. Tonight's show was the Beatles. The four lads did a great job looking and sounding like the Beatles, with many of the old familiar hits.