I was so lucky to have my girls with me for my birthday, as I always am, as they are amazing about coming and seeing me wherever I am for my birthday.
Today was our city day.
What is a trip to Tuscany without a visit to Florence. But, being that I had already been to Florence on several occasions, I wanted to get something in for me as well, so we took a morning trip to San Gimignano.
Which. Is exactly like Vejer, except in a different country. It’s a beautiful walled city with towers, quaint winding streets and excellent views of the surrounding countryside. I loved the charm of the little city and felt instantly at home on the cobblestone streets. We stopped to have breakfast in a (non-medically-related) café with amazing toasties and pastries. And not to mention some very good and strong coffee.
From here we spent some strolling time, meandering around the little streets. We stopped in some amazing Tuscan pottery shops with gorgeous bowls, serving dishes and wall hangings. Everything was done in the traditional blue and yellow and looked just amazing. We walked all around the town, through the old cathedral and up to a lookout point where we found this priest guy reciting something in Italian we didn’t understand. He could have, for all we know, been screaming that the devil rules and that we should all eat shark brains or something, but he had a copy of the Divine Comedy sitting on the floor next to his tip jar, so we assume that is what he was doing.
Regardless, the guy was infectious. He was shouting and smiling and singing and we stood there and watched him for 15 minutes. He was hilarious.
While we were sat outside the cathedral, the bells started to go nuts and we noticed that out of a side entrance, a bride and groom were emerging in their tiny little car. We followed them down as they drove into the main square and were instantly assaulted by random strangers who were congratulating them, jumping on the car and shouting. There was a bottle of champagne shoved in the window of the car by someone at a nearby wine bar. There were American frat boys singing “for he’s a jolly good fellow” it was quite an amazing sight, really.
At this point, we knew we needed to get to Florence if we were going to be able to see it at all. I walked the girls all around the city to see the Duomo, the fake David, the Pontivecchio and the Uffizi gallery. We got matching name necklaces made from a vendor on the river and ate gelato on the steps of the Academia.
After making reservations at my favorite restaurant in Florence (and all of Italy for that matter) 13 Gobbi, we jutted around the corner to a cocktail bar serving some of the best prosecco cocktails I’ve ever had.
Next was an amazing birthday dinner. We sat and ate and drank and chatted all night and were the first to arrive and the last to leave our little secluded room. It was such a great night and I was so happy to share it with my girls.
And like the other nights, this night ended with a long miserably windy drive back to Poggibonsi playing Indy with Lamborghinis, a bottle of wine in the b&b and a girl’s night. Loves!