We took the scooter down through the Chiani region of Florence today, and it was breathtaking, although I do have to say, at 6AM in Italy, it is not warm on a Scooter. We were REALLY cold, and I mean, REALLY cold!!! Our bodies were actually shutting down other processes to conserve heat energy.  The fog is pretty to look at, but when you're riding in it, you end up drenched.  Italian cappucino saved the day (affordable, warm, AND enough caffeine to kill a small horse). Luckily, by the time we started our journey back to Florence, the sun had warmed things up.

We went down to Siena, and then to San Gimignano, which is a medieval city. The city was very cool, although a little spoiled because of them changing it into a tourist attraction.  Still, the city retained some of its original towers, and we were allowed to climb one of them.  There aren't words to describe the view of Tuscany from the top of the tower.

The ride down there and back is unparalleled in beauty! Of course, Deidre was hoping for a leisurely ride through the country side, but did not get that because Will was driving... It was much more of a eye-lid flapping, bug-swallowing, space-shuttle G-force, who needs plastic surgery when a scooter ride pushes all the skin on your face back kind of ride. But, we have a good camera. So, enjoy the pictures, the vast majority were taken from a moving scooter, so please excuse the random street signs, trees, etc.

After visiting San Gimignano (very quickly because we had parked illegally), we picnicked at a BEAUTIFUL spot with a view of the medieval city. The countryside is truly amazing, and it was a great excursion!

We rode a total of 300+ kilometers today, and needless to say, we're exhausted and sore... We certainly got our money's worth out of the scooter!

Riding a scooter in Italy is harder than it sounds... First, scooters don't follow lanes, speed limits, or apparentally, rules of the road... (when locals were giving us directions, more than once, they told us to go the wrong way on a one-way). We figured, when in Florence... The speed limit posted on the highway was 90km/hr, and we were doing 150km/hr, practically riding on the shoulder because ALL the other vehicles were passing us going at least 200km/hr.

At least we didn't have to push the scooter anywhere today.