While visiting Florence I chose to go on the "Tuscany in a Day" tour.  It was very good tour but it was also very long.  It started at 7:00 AM in Florence and ended back in Florence at 9:00 PM.  Perhaps it would not have seemed so long to me if my hotel concierge hadn't booked my "Rome in a Day" tour for the following day.  If I were younger or a much higher energy person that might have been OK. 

I named my post what I did because it was a cloudy day.  I was also reminded of the movie "Under the Tuscan Sun" starring Diane Lane.  I don't regret visiting Italy in November as I believe Italy is worth visiting any time of the year.  I do think Tuscany will be amazing when I'm able to visit during the spring or summer when it's sunny and the flowers and fruit trees are blooming.

I absolutely fell in love with Tuscany!  We started in Pisa and although I was happy to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa, it was not my favorite  part of Tuscany.  I liked all of Tuscany, but Siena was by far my favorite!  Unfortunately, Siena was our last stop on the tour and we arrived at dusk.  It was very difficult to take photos in the dark while I was so tired.  I plan to return to Tuscany and spend more than a few hours in Siena. 

For those of you reading this post who are planning a trip to this area of Italy, there are other tour options that only visit one or two areas of Tuscany as opposed to all four like mine did.  If I were to plan my itinerary again I would choose to visit Siena on a one day trip which only lasts six hours.  The only downfall to visiting the different areas of Tuscany separately is that it will cost your more.  I paid 99 euros to see all four areas during my day trip.  If I had broken down the trip into three or four shorter days it would have cost approximately 200 euros.

Please remember that you can use my photos on Pixabay for free in a variety of sizes without getting in trouble as they are released free of copyrights under Creative Commons CC0.  Here is my account:  Mariamichelle's Pixabay account

The above photos are of the center of Siena at dusk and a famous tower across from the beautiful Siena Cathedral. 

I happened to witness my third wedding in just a few weeks.  The bride is wearing a red wedding dress and her groom draped his jacket over her shoulders as she was cold.  I was very happy to see chivalry is still alive and well!
Here is the Siena Cathedral.  I have visited many, many churches and cathedrals and this was probably my favorite.  I apologize for the low quality photo:
The inside of the cathedral was absolutely magnificent and one of if the not the most grand I'd ever seen in my opinion!





The following photos were taken in San Gimignano.  This area of Tuscany is known for it's medieval towering buildings.  Families in the middle ages wanted to build their homes and or towers as high as possible to show their wealth.  They believed that having a towering home showed others their wealth.  

I really don't like asking strangers to take my photo but I made an exception in San Gimignano and the following eight photos were taken there:

I will leave you with a view of the vineyards in the Chianti region during the fall season.

Thank you for visiting my blog.  I love hearing from you and treasure all of my comments.  I hope you all have a fantastic week and are enjoying the holiday!

~Michelle