Tuscany with Grandchildren Part 2 - July 2011

Wednesday

We left early this am for Siena, a remarkably beautiful walled city about one hour drive south. We parked just outside the city and took the escalator into town.

Once inside the walled old city, Ariel gave us a lecture on the history of Siena...he went into great detail and even told us about the famous horse race and the sports teams of Siena.

We went to the weekly market and shopped for locally made handicrafts.

We walked around this very picturesque city until it was time for lunch. 

There were artists everywhere doing these amazing sketches in chalk on the roadway.

We ate lunch in the famous Piazza del Campo, site of the famous annual horse race. 

 We met some people from Modiin whose children know Nava and Ezra.

We visited the magnificent shul, but were not permitted to take pics; but here is what the shul looks like from our first trip to Tuscany a few years earlier. The man in the photo is the head of the community, Eli Rabbani.

After leaving Siena we decided to visit the old walled city of Monteriggioni and spent some time exploring that city. 

We left at 5 pm and thought that we could eat in Florence at Ruth's restaurant and still get an early night. Well it did not work out that way. 

We tried to start our car and it would not start.

So we called Europcar service and they said they would send a tow truck and try to fond us another car. After sitting and waiting for 2 hours, during which time our grandchildren were calm and very supportive, we tried the car and it started. So we drove to Florence airport where we had arranged another van in place of this one. When we arrived in Florence we were told that the reason why the car was not working was because we had put regular gas instead of diesel ... No one in Rome had told us that this car needed diesel. 

They gave us a brand new Volkswagen van which also has 7 seats but minimal luggage space...we are going to have to be creative next week when we load everyone and their luggage for the trip back to Rome 

By this time it was almost 9 PM so we decided to see if Ruth restaurant was still open .... It was and we went...great meal!!!... after the meal, we walked next door to the Great Synagogue of Florence and got some great night shots...

We made it back by 11 pm and we are all going go sleep to prepare for a busy day tomorrow

Hope all is well

All the best from Tuscany 

Fran and David, Nava, Ariel, Kayla and Ezra