I finally got my Gelato…………but no Villa

In the morning we left for Arezzo. We entered the town at the top of the city and walked our way down. The top of the city was pretty quiet with a church and public square. Some of the scenes from “Its a Beautiful Life” were filmed in this square.

As we walked towards the bottom of the city – it became very busy and commercial. We all split up and headed in different directions meandering through the streets. It is a pretty city – but in the end we felt it was a little too commercial for us. The good news is though…… I finally got my Gelato!

I have to say that the weather so far has been amazing. We have been leaving the hotel most mornings by 9:00 am. All we have needed in the morning is a light sweater. Most days, we have had to drop the sweater by 11:00.

After Arezzo we headed towards Cortona (with cheque book in hand).

Here are a couple of pictures of the view from the top of Cortona.

We have had the same Guide and Driver all week and they have been amazing. Can you image two men putting up with 15 women for a whole day. Rafaello (the guide) has it down to a science. He must know every washroom in Tuscany and Pierro (the Driver) drops us off as close to the city centre as possible. They also give us extra time in some of the cities to shop. (PS… I haven’t bought anything yet!)

Here are some of the side streets in Cortona.

A few of us stopped at Illy’s for a Cappucino (ok.. I had tea!) This is Helen, Susan, Leslie and Judy. Maybe this is why I haven’t bought anything – I keep stopping to eat.

Here is an tid-bit for Cortona. Everyone comes to the city to see the “fountain” from the movie. The only problem is the fountain never existed and was only erected for the film. When the movie was over – the Director gave the fountain to the city to be left in the square. After a while the locals requested that the fountain be removed because it took up too much space and they had less room for the local market. The fountain was removed.

Tomorrow we are off to Castellina in Chianti for our cooking class. I am not a big drinker (well I wasn’t) and don’t like to cook – and here I am in Tuscany – go figure.