Florence, Siena and San Gimignano

Our very last stop was in Florence and the Tuscany region. No European experience is complete without a stop in Italy. We decided to spend Valentines Day in Florence, but really the charm of the place is diminished by throngs and throngs of Chinese tourists in search of their Guccis and Pradas...hehehe....

Highlights in Florence were the Uffizi Gallery, seeing the tombs of Michaelangelo and Galileo in Basilica Santa Croce, eating the famous Vivoli gelati (twice!) and having dinner at the restaurant recommended by Shazza (twice too!). I can't recall the name now...but it was a fantastic restaurant...if you don't book, you have to turn up really early otherwise the queue is a bit excruciating when you're starving!

Now I remember the name of Shaz's restaurant, if you are in Florence, you should try out Trattoria ZaZa. The truffle pasta was brilliant and reasonably priced too!



Siena is a really pretty city in the Tuscan region. The historic centre of Siena is a World Heritage site. Highlights for me were the Siena Duomo and the Piazzo del Campo, and eating the traditional Siena cake. We also visited San Gimignano, a small medieval walled city in the Tuscan region and climbed one of the old towers to catch an aerial view of Tuscany. On the way back to London from Florence, we saw the Eiffel Tower from the plane. Sadly I said goodbye to Paris!