We booked ourselves a week driving around Tuscany which started by getting a early morning train from Darlington to Leeds as we were flying from Leeds/Bradford to Pisa, when we got on there was a young woman at the next table applying make up and she was still applying it over an hour later till just before Leeds I was amazed at the total transformation she became  a different person.

We had some spare time before catching the bus to the airport so we visited the art gallery on our way out we went in to the shop and I picked up some booklets/pamphlets then I spotted a map of the Leeds/Liverpool canal and said to Jun I will get that for Dave and proceeded to stuff it in my bag when Jun said how much is it I said its free as I took it back out and saw the price on it and realised I nearly had done shoplifting. Heavy rain when we left to walk to bus station and the plane was delayed leaving so we were late arriving at Pisa, and it was dark by the time I picked up the hire car for a 2 hour drive to San Gimignano the 13th century walled town famous for its towers. The  first half was on motorway but after that small unlit roads and the dawning realization that drivers in Italy don't take much notice of the dividing line down the middle of the road. When we arrived we had to find the right gate to enter the town to find the place we were staying then I had to drop Jun off with the bags and drive back outside and find somewhere to park. The hotel had been a small palace according to the owner and they had kept many original features, we went for a walk around the town after checking in and found the world famous ice cream makers Gelateria Dondoli's ( apparently it has won every world award ), it was delicious.

The next morning after a lovely breakfast we put our bags in the car then spent all morning exploring the town, really like going back in time we visited all the sites including a church and convent and bought truffles, then as we headed back to Dondoli's for a final ice cream I overheard a group of American ladies talking about the buildings and one said pointing " Gee it's just like a medieval New York" which made me do a quick turn to see what she could see that was like medieval New York and it was the seven towers. Back at Dondoli's I took a photograph of a large group of Chinese stood in line waiting for ice cream Jun said " they must be Taiwanese" I said "how do you know" she said "they are all in a orderly line if they were from the mainland they would be pushing to the front" ha-ha. We then drove to Voltero another lovely walled town had a late lunch visited the cathedral great views across the Tuscany countryside then set off across small back country roads stopping off at a rather strange town and watched what seemed like two rival groups of musicians in semi para military uniforms playing against each other, then on  to the farmhouse we were staying at for 3 nights just outside Montichino arriving after 6pm it was on top of a large hill looking down fields and fields of grapes and we had the place to ourselves and after unpacking we drove to a village supermarket to get food.

The next day we were up early to see mist in the valleys and the town of Montchino and a couple of hills seemingly floating in clouds a beautiful sight. Then we set off to visit the Benedictine Monastery of San Antino arriving just as Mass was starting so joined in, the monks sang beautifully, after which we walked around the place and gardens seeing and talking to some painters who were over there on painting/tuition holiday. We then drove in to Montchino, yes another walled town, famous for a particular type of wine and we had lunch at a restaurant where the walls from floor to ceiling were full of bottles of wine, there was a large extended family eating near us and picking the bottles out of the racks after having long conversations about them, so as we were leaving Jun asked them for advice on a nice wine which set off a long conversation about the various merits of wines before picking one for us. We then had a drive around the area stopping off at some Cypress trees after I spotted loads of photographers there, arrived back at the farmhouse made some coffee and we went on the balcony then a wind blew the door shut with the keys and phones inside and we were locked out!!!  Jun said she would walk down to the owners farmhouse about half mile away and arrived in time to see their car leaving, she then went to the next farm and managed to make them understand by miming what had happened and they then phoned them and got the brother in law to bring keys to us, but not before Jun had to walk all the way back.

The following day we set off to drive to Pienza  and on the way decided to stop at a town for a coffee it was called Santa Quiriso Orisa ( I think), and what a beautiful unspoilt non-touristy place we first stopped to watch some guys unloading grapes in to a small local winery and one of them gave Jun a large bunch of them ( would have cost 10 pounds in Tesco's) so we sat and ate them and later walking down a small back road we had walnuts falling off a tree around us, so we ate those too then had lunch staying there for 4 hours. After this we stopped off at a famous little chapel surrounded by cypress trees that you had to walk to, It's called The Madonna di Vitaleta but called by everyone The little ears chapel and we met a nice Chinese couple there and stayed for a nice talk.We finally reached Pienza famous as being the summer residence of Pope Pius 11 only stayed a couple of hours then drove back to farmhouse and had a lovely walk across all the fields at sunset before watching the film Tea with Mussolini.

Up early and packed ready to go after Mara the owner arrived and after about 20 minutes driving she phoned to say we had left our coats so we went back then set off again for Florence via Sienna I knew you couldn't drive in to the walled city so we parked about 15 minutes away and got a bus up. We paid for two returns and spent a couple of hours there then got the bus back and two inspectors male and female got on examined our tickets and said they were not valid as the returns are only valid for 1 hour we said sorry we didn't know and offered to pay the fare and after taking both our details and getting off the bus with us then said you are fined a penalty of 48 euros each plus the fares I said no way are we paying that at which point they said if you don't pay now it goes up to 90 euros each I said how could we know its not written anywhere and they said it's in English at the bus stops after they gave us the tickets and walked away we got back to the car and I said to Jun i'm going back to the bus stop to check and sure enough nothing in English so I went after them and asked them to show me where it says 1 hour in English and after searching they couldn't see it and pointing to the bus companies web site said "there if you go on that it's in English". I couldn't believe it and said to him would you go to a local bus companies website before getting on a bus in England? and he said " yes I would" and I just said that's a lie you know you wouldn't and walked away.

Anyway we then set off to drive to Florence and still being upset about it I missed the turn off for where we wanted to be and had to drive right through Florence from one side to the other in rush hour traffic before finally finding the ex monastery we were staying at and collapsing with exhaustion ha-ha. The place was on the outskirts of Florence so we just got the bus in to the centre and on the first night went to Mass at the Santa Marre del Flore very beautiful and later on the bus back I received a call from the captain I knew on a ship in Teesport asking me if I could pick him up I said I don't think I can I'm in Florence which gave him a good laugh. The next day after a great breakfast we spent walking around Florence visiting all the sites like the Ponte Vecctio bridge just taking out time, we then got the bus back to Hotel then later drove the car up to Fiesole a lovely little town overlooking Florence and had something to eat there. We went back in to Florence the following day to visit the Uffizi art gallery we had booked the tickets weeks before to fast track in, but still had to queue but it really was worth it. We then went to find  the famous food stall in the indoor market,  we knew we had found it when we saw the queue and we spotted the Chinese couple again in the line so we had a meal with them, the stall specialises in various meat dishes but they did a great vegetarian pasta for me. 

Later we got the bus back to the hotel as the young man on reception had promised to help me put an appeal in against the Sienna bus company and after that we sent it off by recorded delivery. On the last day Jun went to do some shopping and I just went for a long walk across the river up to the other half of Florence and then met back up with Jun and we went up to the park that overlooks Florence and on the way back in the centre I saw a woman sat in one of the horse drawn carriages that cost up to 50 euros to hire being driven around and all the time she was just scrolling and texting on her phone I found myself saying " whats the point" in a good imitation of Karl Pilkington ha-ha.

Up early the next morning packed had breakfast and set off to drive to Pisa spent first half hour trying to find a garage to fill up, we stopped off at Luca but only had time for a very short look around arrived at airport car ok and went to check in. First time they found Jun's wine and a jar of relish so we left the check in and went outside and gave the wine to 4 elderly German ladies who were very suprised and delighted to have it free, then we went back in to check in and they found Jun's truffles and took that so we didn't bring anything back except some great memories.