Since we've resigned to the fact that we always look like giant tourists no matter what we do, we decided to roll with it and sign up for an all-day tour of Tuscany. Fully tourist-equipped with dad's fanny pack and my zoom lens and map, we jumped on our giant tour bus to start our day.

It was cloudy and rainy but Tuscany was still stunningly beautiful. All around are picture perfect villas on hilltops, vineyards, and old medieval forts and castles. We had an adorable tour guide, Agatha, who is from Poland. Our first stop was in Siena, a small medieval town known for having the world's oldest bank, tiny winding streets, and in their Piazza del Campo, a famous horse race twice a year called the Palio horse race. I want to go, it looks insane.

We then stopped at a gorgeous vineyard where we got a tour, then had plenty of wine and delicious food. From the vineyard, we could see our next stop, the awesome medieval town of San Gimignano, perched on top of a hill.

San Gimignano was my favorite medieval town of the trip. It's a walled city, it used to have 72 towers but it still has 14, more than any other city. Right when we got there, we climbed to the top of the highest tower, where we were graced with amazing 360 degree views of Tuscany. It was so cool!

The final stop of our tour was in Pisa - the bus then drove back to Florence, but since we were going to go to Cinque Terre next, we decided to just stay in Pisa that night since it's on the way.

We stayed in a hotel that looked right out to the leaning tower. We walked out to the Field of Miracles and saw the tower - it was so crazy to see! All we've ever seen are tourist pics of people doing weird poses, so we've never really paid attention to the tower. We were amazed by 1) how beautiful the actual tower is, and 2) how much it freaking leans!!!! It is a heavy, marble tower and it looks like it could topple over at any second. Pleasantly, there were not a lot of people there, so we walked around the gardens and around the town as well. We had some tasty pasta for dinner, watched some Italian TV and went to bed so we could be rested for a beautiful day on the coast tomorrow.