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Day 6 - July 2, 2005
We got up at 6:15 this morning. At 7:15, everybody bought their luggage down into the lobby and then went to breakfast. Quarter to 8 rolled around and (most of us) took our bags out to the bus to be loaded. A few minutes and a count off later and we were on our way. After a bit of driving we found ourselves at a train crossing. Everybody on our side of the tracks were out of their cars- parked in the shaded bits of the road, of course - and generally, hanging out. Two or three minutes later a four-car train went by. No one in front of us got back in their cars and after a few more minutes, another four-car train zipped by and still no one got back in their cars. When the bars blocking our path finally rose, it looked like a Chinese fire drill with everyone running back to their cars and we were off. We drove down the road a bit - not very far at all - and repeated the process twice more.
We arrived at San Gimignano and walked from the bus parking area up the hill to the front gate of the city, then up hill some more until we came to the main square. After a bit of frantic scrambling, we managed to take a huge round of pictures on the steps of a church in the square (possibly this year's tour picture). Apparently some other tourists thought it was a good idea, so we are now on the cameras of some rather interesting-looking people. From there, we split off into three groups. Each of the groups was then divided into chaperone groups. That way, you did not have to stay with one huge mass of people & it was easier to manage. One group went to see the torture museum, one stayed in the square to climb the tallest tower in San Gimignano, and the other just went shopping.
The group that climbed the tower scaled 217 steps (including a small ladder) to where the three bells are housed. We also discovered where photographers get their beautiful, postcard shots of the Toscana countryside.
The group that went to the torture museum seemed to have a good time as well. Some of them even managed to eat afterwards!
On the other hand, the shopping group had a very relaxing day wandering around the city browsing through the shops.
The time came for us to meet at the front gate of the city and there were only two chaperone groups there on time. We waited and waited, and finally set-off down the hill to the bus parking area. We all piled on the bus and drove for the next 3 hours.
Arriving at our hotel, the Hotel Cristallo in Chianciano, we had to be careful getting our bags because most of them were on the side of the bus facing the street. The receptionist began looking a bit overwhelmed as we filed into the lobby, but handing out and receiving room keys went very well. Once everyone was in their rooms, we had two and one-half hours until we needed to leave again. So people started wandering around looking for their friends and ended wandering around just looking at all the different types of rooms people had gotten. We all trooped to the lobby again at 5, piled on the bus, and headed out to the Abeey of St. Antimo in Montalcino to hear some local monks do their Gregorian chants.
The chants, while obviously in a very different language, were beautiful to listen to. We were able to pick out a few words because of how similar they were to the Latin in our songs. After the chants, we went to a restaurant just up the hill for dinner.
We made it back t the hotel around 10:30 pm. Some people went to their rooms and crashed, while others stayed up a bit to call home (or attempt to in vain), or hang out with friends.
We all had a lot of fun on this relaxing day and look forward to not having to leave the hotel until noon tomorrow.
- Megan
Note from the editor - The kids really had a wonderful time at the dinner outdoors. They had a foot race and then arm wrestled with our bus driver, Massimo. It was a lovely bus ride back to the hotel, during which all the kids had an impromptu sing-a-long on the bus. They had such a good time and sang beautifully... just for fun!
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