Florence

26 June - This morning we decided to take the transfer to La Spezia instead of the bus as this would save us walking from the bus stop to the train station which was very handy, this was organised through Hotel Paradiso where we stayed.  We caught the train to Pisa to change trains to go to Florence, next was a bus to Certosa, followed by a walk up a long hill incline on bitumen to the bed and breakfast that we will stay at.   http://www.booking.com/hotel/it/i-parigi-residenza-d-epoca.en.html?aid=318615;label=English_Whole_Site_Reset_High__inurl:en.html%23inurl:booking.com/hotel/it this link should have a photo of a bedroom with a table in front of the bed, this is ours, even though we both have a single bed each the bedspread is for a double or Queen.

Our accommodation, I Parigi, near Florence. 

After checking in we caught the bus back to Florence where we visited the Florence Duomo, walking up into the Cupola (Dome), with nearly 500 steps, it was surprisingly easy.  Was this because I had been training for the past month doing 400 steps a day or was it because of the steps we covered in the Cinque Terre?  The view from the top was fantastic and walking on the platform below the stain glass windows and above them getting closer to the frescoes on the ceiling of the dome was great.  Our priority pass bought on the day at the que to get in allowed us to skip the que to walk up the dome and also to enter the Duomo by the back door, so hence no que again.  Inside we thought the cathedral was plain compared to Saint Marc's Basilica in Venice but the more you explored it the more artwork and details you notice making it a lovely place to visit.  Afterwards we bought some leather goods and then walked over the Ponte Vecchio bridge the most famous in Florence.  It once had butcher shops all along it and they would throw the rotten meat into the Arno River so one of the rulers of Florence ordered there to be only gold and silver sold on the bridge which is still the case today.  Along the top of the bridge is the Vasari Corridor.    
  

Frescoes at the Florence Duomo

The following day we spent in Florence, so we got up for a 6:30am swam in the pool in a beautifully landscaped garden with views of Tuscany.  Had breakfast in an undercover building in the garden.  We then caught a bus to the city gates and wall to take a picture and then checked out the price of buses to Siena for the next day.  Afterwards we visited the Accademia and paid to do a tour so we wouldn't need to wait 1 hour 30 minutes in the que.  We saw the plaster version of David made by Michelangelo whereas the marble one was made by one of his helpers to match his plaster one.  From there we went to do the Uffizzi Gallery and Vasari Corridor tour, walking through buildings, over streets and across a bridge out of the view of the people below.  That night we had a Florentine Steak at the Osteria da Giovanni, which was 1.2 kg shared between the two of us.

Ponte Vecchio, part of the Vasari Corridor, built to protect the Medici family from being murdered or kidnapped.  A walkway around the city, sperate from the public.

28 June - Today we took a bus to Siena where we saw the Piazza del Campo being set up for Il Palio, on the 2nd of July.  We met our tour guide Leslie in Siena, who took us to see different farms.  She drove us through the Tuscan countryside to a winery for a tour and tastings, then off to a bee farm for a tour and explanation of the process of making honey, plus a tasting, which the Hazelnut honey and the Thyme honey were my favourites.  We drove to our lunch stop an organic farm where the food was plentiful and fresh, with homemade cheese - goat, sheep, ricotta and feta.  After lunch we finished the tour off with a visit to Leslie and Riccardo's farm to see Chiana cattle and Trevor got to ride in a combind harvester working the hillside field.

Beekeepers Farm near Siena.  Try the Hazelnut honey and the Thyme honey.