If

If you had one day to travel wherever you wanted to go, where would you go?  More to the point, if you   had one day to travel to wherever you wanted in Tuscany, where would you go?  Florence is a possibility, as are Siena and Lucca and Pisa.  You and a group of girlfriends could visit San Gimignano, a medieval hilltown in central Tuscany.   The afternoon could be spent wondering through the tiny town's meandering streets (after they helped you recover from the forty-five minute roller-coaster of a bus ride).  You could sip wine, soak up the sun, and marvel at both the built and natural landscape.  You could savor the slow pace of the day.  And maybe, as you take in the quiet countryside, you could reflect on your year of travel drawing to a close, and on the realization that where you go is not nearly as important as who you share the journey with.

San Gimignano:

April 1, 2001

The scene outside my window:

Want to go to Italy?  Me too.

April 1, 2001 marked our first full day in Italy, the beginning of the year's climatic trip.  We spent three days in Tuscany, four days in Rome, followed by six days to travel wherever we wanted (Venice for me, Capri or Naples for some others).  April 1, 2001 also marked my first time in Italy.  Florence was the perfect introduction for the neophyte to the Italian experience.   There's plenty to see and do, but the city isn't so big that it feels overwhelming.  The day began with a visit to the Uffizi to the see this and this, among others.  We toured the Duomo, ate gelato, and wrapped up the day with wine and olives at the Piazza de Michelangelo.  That's a day that's hard to top, but, as we discovered, in Italy, those kind of days are pretty frequent.

The Duomo:

Uffizi:

The kind of thing you encounter around nearly every corner:

Ponte Vecchio over the Arno

view of the surrounding countryside from the Boboli Gardens: