Ciao everyone, finally get around to uploading pictures and blogging again! Been a few crazy days so far, but now I have pictures to prove just how much fun it has been so far. Spent today in Siena and San Gimignano, both incredibly gorgeous places. We went with a pretty big group of 40 or so students on a bus, and it was only $50 for tickets and tours and everything. Marcello, the Medici family professor, was our guide and he was both funny and extremely informative. In Siena Jon and I went to a little cafe with him and he bought us both espressos, which were fantastic. Siena is a gorgeous place, especially the main piazza where the town hall (and giant tower) both reside. We get to climb the tower which was really, really cool and a bit frightening. I couldn't take pictures from the interior, but imagine 500 year old stairs that are in a hallway 3 feet across and about 5 feet high. Two of the girls we were with couldn't go up because of claustropobia, just to give an idea of the closeness of the climb. The top was totally worth it though, just a fabulous view of the Tuscan countryside and all of Siena laid out before us. Next we went to San Gimignano, which had the feel of an ancient Medieval city, because every part of it has remained intact, unaltered since the 1400's. There is a certain brand of wine they brew there called Vernaccia, it is a white wine and the only white wine I have truely enjoyed so far. Fruity and light, but with a tartnes it is a fabulous blend. Sadly, the only region that claim to have 'true' Vernaccia is San Gimignano, so once I leave Italy the bottles will go from 2 Euro to $20. San Gimignano is an interesting town because it once had 72 towers over 60 feet tall, but through the years and a single family taking over, the rest were "castrated" to normal building height, resulting in only 11 or so remaining. I'll post detailed information on the photos themselves tomorrow because it is 8:15 here and we are getting ready to go out, if you have any questions feel free to leave a message or post a comment and I'll respond as soon as I can.

Ciao!