We were able to sleep in a little bit this day – we haven’t had too many opportunities because there has been so much to see and do. We had wanted to visit the hill town of San Gimignano – but we had trouble finding parking. Yvonne had just gotten out of the car when the skies opened up and it started pouring.

Unfortunately, we didn’t capture this on camera. Yvonne had been on her way to find disabled parking and sought refuge under an overhang. We decided that none of us were up for a walk in the rain – and started to make our way to a winery.

The winery was on the way between San Gimignano and Siena. When we pulled in we quickly realized that it would be a challenge for Jon to make it down to the tasting room – Yvonne spoke with one of the winery workers and found a back way to get there.

They made us a cheese plate – and we had bought a bottle of Chianti to have with our lunch. At this point, the rain clouds had scattered and it was starting to turn into a beautiful day.

We absolutely loved their wines – and we hadn’t intended on buying more wine. But all of us felt like it only made sense to purchase some and ship it home. There were also quite a few cute kitties at the winery – Italian cats love me. Maybe it’s because I finally got the scent of Corgi off of me? I’m not sure, either way – I’ve made a few feline friends on this trip.

We were starting to cut it close on timing with making it to Siena in time to see the Duomo. We believe it closed at 5 – but no one seemed in a real rush while we were walking through it.

I got yelled at again – this time we COULD take pictures. The lady thought I was talking on my phone – in reality I was listening to Rick Steves’ Siena City Walk tour.

This Duomo is quite beautiful with the black and white marble. It was Jon and Yvonne’s favorite – and I can see why.

After the tour we made our way down to the Piazza del Campo. This is a large public square in Siena – it is also used for horse races. This tradition dates as far back as the 6th century.

We had dinner in this area – I actually found Cacio E Pepe on the menu again! I hadn’t seen it on the menu since we left Rome.

On our way out of the Piazza we stopped for gelato (duh!) and they were a little stingy with their scoops – but the flavor I chose might have been the best one yet. It was strawberry mixed with two other flavors – one cream and another berry taste.

We got home and had to start packing – as we are heading back to Rome for one last full day in Italy.