Well Siena is definitely worth a visit. Actually, we only really saw the Duomo and the Piazza del Campo, but if you can only see two things in Siena, they are probably the sights you want to see. The Duomo is without a doubt the most over the top, overwrought cathedral I have ever seen – but somehow it kind of works. My thighs are still aching from the climb to the top of the parapet to look out over the city and my only regret is that I didn’t get more time shopping. Are you really surprised?

After my initial panicked reaction to having no internet where we’re staying, I’ve found there are in fact two places with free wifi in Sarteano. Last night we went to one of them; Zanzebar’s,  an Irish/Italian pub and had a very merry time. I have to say the measures of vodka they serve here in Italy thus far are very generous. After we got home from Zanzebar Chris had to help me with my clothes which had suddenly grown extra arms and legs when I was changing. I believe I also did a variation of the Hamster Dance at some stage. The wonderful thing about vodkas is that I don’t get hangovers (although I’m often embarrassed in the morning).

We’re staying in a beautiful old apartment in Sarteano which is an absolute panacea after the bustle and noise of Florence. We hired a car and have been driving around the countryside seeing the sights (me closing my eyes at times while Chris grows accustomed to driving on the other side of the road). I’m afraid I’m running out of interested expressions when Chris points out yet another ruin, but he has to put up with me dragging him into any shop in sight so it evens out. I’m not quite relaxed yet but getting close… especially after a couple of vodkas 🙂

Obviously my little bout of food poisoning in Florence meant we didn’t get to as many restaurants as I would have liked, but towards the end of the week we found some places that are worth blogging about. For Chris’ birthday we went to Olio and Convivium which was gourmet central. Freshly shaved truffle over pasta, a wall of wine to choose from and a desert plate to drool over – it was definitely worth the price tag. Chris feels a little gypped that he had to pay for his birthday dinner, but if he will buy the expensive wine and drink it all, he has to fork out 🙂

Slightly more down market in a hip, deconstructed way was Volume which is more wine bar than restaurant. In the evenings they have a bar laden with apertivo (free food for the uninitiated and a fine Italian tradition I might add) that just keeps coming. At 5€ for a glass of wine, you get what you pay for, but the music is great and the atmosphere will keep you coming back (did I mention the free food?).

Il Santino was a ‘hole in the wall’ wine bar that had the most delicious anti pasto and a more than drinkable selection of wine. You do pay for the food here, but they occasionally give you a freebie. Apart from the odd brash American who slipped in, it’s definitely not a tourist trap and we happily whiled away many an hour. Chris thinks if it attracts the gay crowd it must be good, but I thought those boys were just smartly dressed…

The Libreria Cafe La Cite always looked intriguing as we walked past, but we unfortunately didn’t get to it until our last night where we came upon an accordion/string band playing some pretty wild music. Sounds odd – and it was – but the crowd really got into it. It’s one of those places where you might have to suffer through a spoken word performance, but after a couple of glasses of wine, you just don’t care… And the girl at the bar actually hand-made my mulled wine for me! I haven’t been so impressed since Japan where they hand-chipped the ice cubes.

Lastly, for pizza, try the ever busy Gusta Pizza. You won’t get a pizza with the lot here and in fact all the pizzas are basic variations of mozzarella and tomato, but they do take away and they’re cheap and tasty. Those boys were very charming while Chris was off getting some wine 😉 It also has a ‘sister’ store Gustapanino which has, perhaps unsurprisingly, cheap and tasty Panini. Seriously – 3€ for a panini – this is a store that needs to open in Geneva (only there it would be three times as expensive and half the quality).

Oh and I almost forgot: amazing biscotti could be had from Il Cantuccio Di San Lorenzo. It was seriously addictive and we chowed down on two whole bags of the stuff before we thankfully left Florence. While I’m talking about the sweet stuff, I thought gelato was all the same, but I had a gelato from a tourist trap that I just binned because it was so sugary (and at 8€ for the ice-cream, that really hurt). But from Gelateria La Carraia I had a little bit of fruity heaven and as it was the only thing I could eat over Xmas, it was a bit of a lifesaver quite frankly.

Next post I detail all the shops I went into in Florence. Just kidding. You get our amazing adventures in Sarteano and surrounds. A truly restful holiday if you don’t count the boot camp march that Chris makes me do every day.

So I guess you know what the lowlights of Florence were for me, but the highlights of the trip would have to be shopping and more shopping. Yep, I’m a philistine, but there you have it. Not that we didn’t go to museums, churches and galleries etc, of course, but it all got a bit repetitive after a while. I’m sure I’ve just committed some sort of heresy for art lovers out there, but the galleries didn’t really fill me with a sense of awe like I would have thought. Maybe my expectations are too high, or maybe I just don’t know what the hell I’m looking at. Either way, I’m all galleried out. I have to say that Michelangelo’s David was pretty special but the place I liked most of all was the rose garden where the sculptures of the artist Folon had been donated after his death.

It’s almost midnight so just time to post this before heading out to ring in the new year. We leave tomorrow for Sarteano where, horror of horrors, there is no internet. I don’t know if can make it. Hope there’s a McDonalds nearby… for the wifi access of course! Happy New Year everyone and I’ll see you all very soon 🙂

Santa brought me a case of food poisoning for Xmas this year. Not what I actually wanted big guy – the Italian leather fur lined gloves would have been *way* more appreciated. So that little event kind of put paid to our Xmas lunch plans. By the way, you might want to stay away from this place (although the entrees were delicious): Trattoria da Ginone. Chris then proceeded to burn the ragu that he was making for himself so it was a pretty miserable culinary experience all round. Oh well, I guess this is what ‘travel stories’ are made of. Certainly I won’t ever forget Xmas in Florence!

This is where we’re staying: Tintoretto, a lovely 16th century palazzo only a road away from the river Arno and a stone’s throw from the Ponte Vecchio.  It looked idyllic in the pictures, but having to run up two flights of stairs to go to the bathroom is not the best use of my time when ill. Oh well, who was to know… Anyway, I’ve recovered now so looking forward to getting out there and exploring. We bought a ‘Friends of the Uffizi‘ membership which for only €50 each gives us unlimited access to all the galleries and museums in Florence – I might be all cultured-out by the time we’re finished with Florence!

OK, I’m suffering a bit of a language crisis here. All this conjugation of French verbs has left me bereft in sea of multilingualism in Italy. I’m so confused I don’t know what is coming out of my mouth: French, Italian, English… not than anyone could understand me before anyway 🙂 Florence looks very promising shopping-wise however so this could be a very good visit (although not so much for my bank account – err… what’s left anyway). Mind you, we were lucky to get here. I can’t believe we managed to get on the wrong train again so soon after our Lyon disaster*.

Xmas lunch is going to be interesting, but we should manage to cobble something together. Well, I say we, but I think we all know by now that Chris will be the master chef in this oven-less kitchen. Just one thing: Emma DO NOT ring me at 6am xmas morning. Remember the 7 hour time difference and a merry xmas will be had by all.

*a yet to be documented adventure involving a station siding in the middle of nowhere, a pub with really bad wine and a raucous choir. Ohh. and let’s not forget the drum.