San Gimignano

Things seem to be running at a little slower pace today. There is so much to see and do here we could always be on our way to somewhere, but as Nick likes to remind us, we are “old heads” (soon to be “ancient ones”), so perhaps taking the pace down a few notches notches is inevitable. Add to that a forecast for rain and it takes a few false starts before we are finally out the door. Coming from the Pacific Northwest, how bad could a little rain be?

We’re visiting a small hill town today called Sam Gimignano. It’s pleasant in all the ways that an old Tuscan village should be, but I think we’re getting a little numb. There is a gelato shop claiming to have won the world championships so that is a definite plus, but most everything else feels designed to appeal to the tour buses that are vomiting out day trippers from Florence.

The rain is pretty relentless as well, so rather than puttering around until the restaurants open for dinner, we call it early and head back towards to hotel. On the way, we stop at a pizzeria we noticed on the way to Il Grillo Moro last night, eagerly anticipating a deliciously thin and cheesy Margherita. Sadly, it has rained so hard that water coming down the chimney has put out the fire in the pizza oven. Definitely never saw that coming.

We suffer through some pasta (they make a noodle here called Pici that I’ve taken quite a fancy to) and a dessert that we’ve never heard of called Crema Catalana. Turns out to be a Spanish version of a French dish (crème brûlée) that we are now eating in Italy. How very cosmopolitan.