We started quite early today and caught a tram (a bit like our Gautrain) to the airport to collect our rental car.  The place opened at 8.00, so we were there just before – well the people did not pitch!  We were starting to get a little irate when a man came over and told us that where we were waiting was only for drop offs….. we had to go inside a different building.  So off we went – and there was life!  We got our Citroen C3, 4 door, and off we went – William driving a manual left hand drive for the first time – we had automatics in the US – and me navigating.  The traffic was very heavy due to a broken down truck.  (There are no verges on the highways here, so you cannot pull off should you breakdown.  There are pull offs every so often, but in our case the truck couldn’t get to one.)

We go to Pisa at 10.00 – we had booked to climb the tower at 10.30.  It is so strange to think that it was constructed in 117AD and has been leaning ever since.  (There was a reconstruction in about 2000 as they were concerned it was going to fall.

We started our assent at 10.30 – 219 steps to the first point and about another 40 to the top.  William with a knee that’s giving some issues on steps, and me with an eina hip flex muscle.  But we made it – and were we glad that we did!  It was one of the strangest things we have ever done – everything slopes including the steps.  Your body tries to balance you all the time.  A very strange feeling!  The views were great – we realised that Pisa is a big town/city (not sure which).  Coming down was easier than we thought it would be.  We then visited the Cathedral, collected our backpack – you have to leave them in lockers – and walked back to our car. 

A chap stopped us on the way – he asked if we were from the US.  We said no.  Oh, the UK – again we said no.  Oh, Australia. Again no was our answer.  He then said we must be from the US, so we put him out of his misery and told him we were from SA.  He then told us he was from Kenya – when you are this far from home, anyone on the African continent is a mere neighbour!

We stopped at a bakery and bought 2 pizza slices which ended up being our lunch and supper.  The only snag was they were cold!  Now, as some of you know, I eat cold pizza, but William does not.  Oh well, there is a first time for everything when you are hungry!  (We warmed the leftovers for supper when we returned to our apartment.)

From Pisa we set off through the Tuscany area to San Gimignano, an Italian hill town in Tuscany, southwest of Florence. Encircled by 13th-century walls.  It is a Unesco World Heritage Site.  I will leave you to read up on the history if you are interested.  It was very interesting walking around the area. And the views of the Tuscany landscape were spectacular.  We finished off by buying an ice cream – which was delicious – William had pineapple and dark chocolate and I had chocolate and lemon, which was very lemony!

Having climbed and climbed in our little car all the way to San Gimignano, we then went down and down and down.  There are traffic circles everywhere in the Tuscany region, so if William had a fear of driving circles the other way around, he should have overcome his fears by now!

We then stopped at Monteriggioni Castle – far less commercialised and not nearly as many tourists.  Very interesting – we were able to wall along the top of the castle wall (well next to it) and see how thick it was.  William knows both these castles from his Assassin Creed games that he plays, so he was in his element!

The Tuscany region is as beautiful as the pictures you see – parts reminded us of the Garden Route and parts of the hills in Kwa Zulu Natal. 

William then drove us back to Firenze as it is called here – with me crocheting and navigating!

For those of you who have driven left hand drive vehicles, William walked to the wrong side twice.  I informed him that I don’t have an IDP and therefore can’t drive.  Not that I would be so keen to drive on the wrong side of the road anyway!

Having returned our vehicle we caught the tram back to the city centre and a bus to where our apartment.

After sorting out laundry that wasn’t drying – luckily we had seen a laundromat around the corner, so used their dryer – we took a last walk in Florence – and bought an ice cream!  (You can never eat too much ice cream!)  We then packed and climbed into bed.

Having driven a lot of the day, we still managed to walk 15.69 km and in total climbed 30 floors!  Not bad!!

We leave Florence for Venice early tomorrow morning by train.