Toscana = Beautiful

Freshly arriveed at my campsite in the shadows of the towers of San Gimignano, and after being stuck behind a truck carrying freshly harvested chianti grapes for the past hour, I am now sitting at the free internet terminal I was happy to discover here. The drive today was magnificent to say the least. When I drove back into Tuscany, I immediately felt a calming effect come over my body. The traffic slowed, the landscape became breathtakingly beautiful, and the people immediately more receptive to foreigners. It's cliche for any American tourist to Italy to say, but Tuscany is simply just different. It feels like another world away from the bustling cities and kamikaze drivers of the othe other regions. Even the larger cities here in Tuscany, such as Siena and Pisa, are so much more peaceful and relaxing...and Ive needed this.
I cant wait to get the pictures up that Ive taken today - looks like it will either be tomorrow or Sunday night when I arrive back. Anyway, my GPS took me through winding country roads up and over the hills of Tuscany, signs displaying the Chianti signature of the vineyards ever kilometer or so. I even got stuck behind a tractor carrying a trailor full of freshly harvested grapes as it peeled out of the vineyard right in front of me, and I could see the workers harvesting the grapes in the fields everywhere I traveled.
It was simply beautiful, and it was experiences like these that I came here for, unfortunately absent much of the past few days.
Anyway, after getting my tent set up in the campground which is (literally) in the shadows of the impressive tourist mecca of San Gimignano, I headed out to Volterra, about half an hours drive through some of the most beautiful landscape in Italy. After searching half an hour for a parking spot, I climbed up what seemed to be 10,000 stairs into the walled city on top of an impressive hill that dominates the countryside. Immediately, I followed the signs to the Roman amphitheatre just on the outside of the city walls that was unvcovered not too long ago. About 5 minutes walk from that, I saw an archway created by the Etruscan inhabitants of Volterra in 800 BC. Then I went for what I actucally came to Volterra for...the wild boar. I settled on a busy restaurant just off the main square and sat down to a lunch of bruschetta and then a wild boar ragu, which was eveything I hoped it to be and more. Wild boar meat, when done properly, is pork times ten, or in other words, basically the "mana" stuff talked about in the Bible. It was great.
Anyway, now Im back the campsite and will be heading over to San Gimignano in a bit to walk around then get an early dinner before turning in early for the night (once it gets dark at these campsites, its pretty much just time to go to sleep, and Ive gotten used to it).
Tomorrow Im heading from the Siena province of Tuscany into the Pisa province and up into the city of Pisa where I will be staying at a campsite within walking distance of the leaning tower and the sights. Im planning on biting the bullet and actually buying a ticket to go up to the top of the tower. I imagine the views must be magnificent. Then Im going to try to explore more of the city that I really enjoyed a few weeks ago.
Ciao!