Day 18: San Gimingiano

San Gimingiano is a lovely little spot and highly coveted by tourists.  And boy were there plenty.  Its the "Gold Coast" of Tuscany so to speak, as it once had lots of high rise towers dotted throughout the town.  There are about 10 or so still standing, and it really sets it apart from other walled cities particularly from a distance.  We caught up with the Garbins in the piazza in the centre of town and decided to tackle the tallest tower first.  The view was fab and the climb was not too bad given the heat.  We meandered through the streets that were full of food outlets and giftware shops that are all the same strangely. There is no point of difference so I have no idea how they survive.  Lunch beckoned and we walked a long way past a few recommendations from Trip Advisor until we found one in a back street, that was big but quite empty.  Still it had air conditioning and we were just happy to sit down. I had the yummiest carciofi (artichoke) risotto, that I will drool over for many years to come. The men had seafood pasta and the plates were enormous.  We rolled out of there back into the piazza for the "world's best gelato", according to who, we don't know, but there was a long line of eager customers standing in the sun, so we joined it. Interestingly the gelato shop opposite it also had a sign saying "voted No 1 gelato in Italy". Hmmm, it seems like this is the place for gelato.  I had my first Limincello gelato and it didn't disappoint.  More smiles all round, it was a good outing to San Gimingiano.  Again the heat was unbearable, so we opted for a swim back at our hotel.  Not before a quick trip to the torture museum by Tony and Rick, which found the rest of us waiting at the entrance in the hot sun.  Mark kindly ordered a round of campari's for the 4 adults at a cafe. The kids started complaining so I grabbed four sprites out of the fridge and went to pay.  They charged us 32 euro (about $42) for the pleasure and four of us were standing.  I was furious and told them in no uncertain terms.  Lunch cost about about 100 euro which included more food than we could eat. The pool was a welcomed relief by all except poor Sandra who's arm has still not healed.  We had drinks by the pool and the sun seemed to let up a little.  Dinner on the terrace sounded like a great way to end our time here looking out at San Gimingiano in the distance.  It was all very quiet with four couples enjoying the romantic serenity until we arrived straight from the pool looking a treat.  And what a circus it was. We put the kids on their own table. When the food arrived so did the bees and the hysteria.  The staff kindly relocated them from outside to just inside, and then again to the middle of the room. Tony was up trying to kill the bees.  Rick was busy trying to pacify the kids, and Sandra, Catherine and I just sank in our seats laughing at how our attempts to keep the kids quiet was hopeless. It was a performance like no other, and the kids finally gave up eating and left for the reading room to play their ipads, out of sight but we didn't care at that point. The rest of dinner was lovely, and the quiet was restored.  It was definitely a dinner to remember.