Paradise Now tells the story of two suicide bombers Said and Khaled. Yes, the movie humanizes the terrorists but it does not condone the act of terrorism.
Does it answer the question of why suicide bombers do what they do? We learn that it was mild-mannered sombre-faced Said who had convinced Khaled, concluding that living in occupied land, they were as good as dead anyway. Khaled seemed to be playing at being a terrorist, and this came across most strongly as he was taping his farewell message. Said, however, has another, more personal reason, redemption. Though that too, is rooted in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Suha, with whom Said shares a budding mutual attraction, offers a moderate alternative, arguing that the suicide bombings only give the Israelis a reason to strike back. Khaled responds that there is no guarantee that the Israelis will stop if the bombings cease, but he is eventually persuaded by Suha and tries, in vain, to stop Said from his mission.
Director and co-scriptwriter Hany Abu-Assad has presented both sides of the argument for and against terrorism and leaves us with two characters who choose opposing paths. He also finds moments of humour and absurdity, which all wars generate. Still, the movie is firmly rooted in a Palestinian point of view, and the gleaming images of Tel Aviv at the end present a stark contrast to how and where the Palestinians live their lives.
The final image we are left with is Said’s eyes - haunted and haunting, as he sits in a crowded bus full of Israelis.
Would Said’s suicide bombing radicalise Khaled? Would Khaled remain convinced that there were non-violent means with which to achieve freedom?
There are no easy answers. But without an attempt to break the cycle, the circle of violence can only continue.

A, E and K had earlier flights so set off for st peter’s on my own. encountered school groups with banners on the way there and wondered if it was some kind of demonstration. turned out to be a mass dance in st peter’s square organized by a radio station. the kids wore yellow caps and had yellow and white streamers while bunches of yellow and white balloons dotted the crowd. there were exhortations of ‘long live the pope,’ ‘wave your caps’ and ‘with vigour!’ (forza!) was surprised when the music that came on was set to a thumping beat and featured the word ‘cioccolate’ prominently in the chorus.


decided to enter the basilica. managed to join the line for ‘cupola,’ thinking it was the cappella. ended up paying €4 to climb yet another 320 steps, which led into the dome of the basilica. could smell the incense and hear the choir as mass was being celebrated. onward and upward until i emerged from the dome for a great view of st peter’s square. left before the pope made his usual appearance at noon from the window of his living quarters.


asked the front desk about a shuttle service to fiumicino airport as i had seen an ad for a €26 service. was offered a €50 limousine service, so the metro it was. quite glad i didn’t end up buying the volumes on Italian art as i lugged the backpack about.
while the food on KLM was fine, the thought that they’ll be serving it again on the next flight (from amsterdam to singapore) was less than appetising. too bad if you don’t like cold pasta or cream cheese spread with onions and herbs.

ok, that was just the short-haul flight snack box talking.

ah, roma! the effortlessly stylish italians who dress for spring in sweaters and jackets and coats while the tourists lurch about in tank tops, t-shirts, berms, sandals and slippers. zipping about in the compact 2-seater Smart car which retails for under €9,000. shopping at the many intimate wear shops with names like intimissimi and yamamay.
roma was a decidedly more pleasant proposition this time. the pedestrianizing of streets in the centro storico made navigating the city on foot a heady experience, with historic sights at every turn and elegant and inviting shops lining the road. but already, the heat was beginning to prickle at mid-day and the human tide of tourists ready to swamp the city. only hazy memories of last trip here 12 years ago, except for the near bouts of being pickpocketed.
set off at about 10.30 am. there were a couple of things on the to-do list: the pantheon, trevi fountain, roman forum, colosseum. first things first: coffee, at sant’eustachio. www.santeustachioilcaffe.it the best coffee in italy? the cappuccino had a thick head of foam and no trace of bitterness, but it could have been stronger. what was truly excellent were the sweets. the bon-bons and coffee kisses were incredible.
had pizza at the capranica for lunch. paid 12.
and gelato at san crispino gelateria. the fruit sorbets were like chilled nectar for the gods. tried the apple, pear and pink grapefruit. most excellent. K went back for thirds, lost interest while standing in line but ended up getting another cup anyway.


as for the sights, the pantheon is just such a perfectly constructed building. so simple and yet so dramatic with the single shaft of sunlight piercing the interior.
the best thing about the trevi fountain is coming across it as one turns the corner and then feeling cool and refreshed by the marble statues and the spray from the fountain.


the roman forum was impressive but difficult to decipher without a good map. by the time we were done, it was too late to enter into the colosseum. not sure if we would have paid to go in given the hefty admission fee.


A and E had decided to take in st peter’s as well and came across a festival marking the failed attempt on the pope’s life. notable for the release of balloons against the backdrop of the basilica. they parked themselves at a wine bar in campo del fiori after that. gladly joined them for a drink before dinner and more importantly, so as to sit down somewhere. ate at ditirambo (Fodor’s recommendation). we had a reservation for 9.30 pm and saw people being seated for dinner past 11. had the acquacotta (thick vegetable soup, largely chickpeas, with vinegar drizzled over it) and a saffron rice timbale. found it rather disappointing. then again, the lethal combination of walking the entire day, lack of sleep the night before and gewürztraminer before dinner, made me shut down over dinner.

final packing and handing over to annalisa. only 20 of €300 deposit left. she was surprised by how much heating we’d used.
headed down to the mall at valdichiana. bought some stuff from the nike and adidas outlets. there was even a swatch outlet with prices discounted 30%. was fortunately not swayed by the limited selection on display.
last stop in tuscany/umbria was orvieto. lunched at ristorante dell’ancora. LP recommendation, though the name was different. decided to stay because of the pleasant-looking outdoor dining. had vegetable soup (yes, clear soup!) and veal diced and cooked in white wine. other choices not great including the baked lamb which was too dry. had a bottle of white, which the region is known for. faint smell of vanilla, which i’d thought was coming from the chapstick. 80 in total.

impressive duomo façade with its extensively carved pillars and glimmering mosaics. 5 to enter the cappella di san brizio for the stunning frescoes of the anti-christ, the end of the world, judgement, damnation and salvation.


massive jam on roma’s GRA (as 5 lanes merged into 2!!) and only reached the hotel past 8. had arranged to meet up with K for dinner at matricionello. coming in from the hotel, found that line A’s last train was at 9.30pm! apparently due to some ongoing works.
only got a table past 10. shared pasta with pecorino cheese and pepper (smelt pungent but was quite tasty) and fettuccine with sea bass and pesto (nicely balanced the former).
4 of us shared a triple at the pinewood hotel for 130 a night. the hotel was west of the vatican and a 10-minute walk from cornelia, the penultimate stop at the battista end of the A line. a definite immigrant/ethnic feel to cornelia with filipinos, chinese, south Asians everywhere.

back to nipozzano again. bought a bottle of honey with lemon. A & E bought the olive oil, which tasted strongly of olives.


lunched at osteria santo spirito (RG). E said it felt like noho, with the punkish wait staff dressed in replay t-shirts. the food was pretty good with even bigger portions than usual. salad of lukewarm octopus and potatoes and aglio olio pasta, which actually had kick and had scrumptious bits of garlic. shared bottle of gewürztraminer.
reason for the trip into firenze was to go to santa carmine’s cappella brancacci for the frescoes of st peter. €4 each, with groups of 30 allowed in for 15 minutes at a time. the rest of the church was off-limits. the expulsion of adam and eve from paradise ranks alongside edvard munch’s the scream as the most powerful depictions of man’s primal and absolute despair.


followed this with a 20 minute power nap in the car!
final home-cooked meal of nongshim noodles with sausages and baked chicken. final passeggiata along the gravel path.

this was our entry in the guest book:

We loved having this home to return to after our travels and travails. The weather was not as sunny as expected but it did not put too much of a dampener on our plans to wine, dine and sight-see. Some of our favourite places were the quieter towns and villages including Lucca, Volterra and Perugia.
Our favourite road sign was 'Tutte le direzione.' (All directions.)
Our favourite meals were at L'Osteria di Giovanni (Firenze), Carolo Nero 'Black Cabbage' (Firenze), La Bottegaia (Pistoia) and the BBQ in our very own garden.
Regrets we've had a few, including the fact that we never managed to dine at L'Acquacheta (even though it was near us; we must have tried at least 3 times).
In summary, we've distilled our collective knowledge into the following useful phrases:

1) Travelling is about losing your way and finding yourself. (from the fortune-cookie school of wise sayings)
2) Visual verification of physical landmark is necessary before disembarking from vehicle.
3) Some towns can be more interesting at 60km/h than at 6 km/h.
4) The Co-op (our favourite friendly neighbourhood supermercato mega chain) in the next town is always bigger.
5) Apparently, not all roads lead to Firenze.

Finally, thanks for everything Annalisa!

the plan was to do half a day of hiking in the alpi apuane so we decided to head for carrara. made an unscheduled stop in viareggio for lunch as A was running low on energy. ‘tuscany’s biggest seaside resort’ in off-peak season was a pleasant change from cathedrals, torture museums and crowds. dined at the gran caffe margherita. the huge space with its mirrored ceilings and faded poshness was sparsely-filled. overdosed on seafood after a lack of it. had the mussels and seafood risotto (the saltiness of the sauce went well with the rice). the seafood soup had shellfish apart from mussels; the lobster linguine was yummy if oily, while the baked sea bream was only ok. shared a bottle of white. 30 each.

after lunch, did our urban hike along the passeggiata margherita, with its art nouveau facades and cafes and private beaches and shopping. love the feeling of a seaside resort in off-season with its thinly-filled promenade, touching-up for the summer crowd, locals pushing prams and old men in hours-long conversations, the rows of brightly-coloured deck chairs empty.

hunted down the ucb outlet but the selection was tiny. checked out the street fair but the stalls were closing. had a glimpse of the p b shelley memorial before heading back. almost ran out of gas on the way. stupid signs pointing left and right for the area servizio didn’t help. of course we picked the wrong one. good thing the other service area was just off the A1 exit.

thunder clouds rolled in during the night and woke up to find it raining. had dreamt of being in the uffizi with galleries and galleries of paintings to see.
had earlier planned to cover arezzo and cortona in one day, with perugia, assisi and spello in another. rather too optimistic as it turned out. in the event, spello (not to say spoleto) proved to be just a little out of reach. headed for assisi first as the basilica was open through lunch. the approach was impressive with the village hanging in mid-air, nestled in a sea of green.


lunched at dal carro (LP), which was uncharacteristically disappointing. the english menu was blah and uninspiring. the recommended pasta in black truffle sauce was not bad, but the tiramisu was unexciting. the interior was like an abbey’s cafeteria. 13 each.
the upper and lower churches of the basilica di san francesco were breathtakingly frescoed and contrasted with the simple austere order st francis founded. the crypt was more in keeping with the franciscan spirit and the tomb, ‘rebuilt in the 1920s, honours francis’ desire for a humble burial.’ the place was full of groups of school kids and pilgrims (?) as this was the second most visited site of catholic pilgrimage after the vatican’s st peter’s.


headed back west to perugia with its interesting history of violence (RG). checked out the collegio del cambio, the frescoed hall of the town’s moneychangers (2,60). decided to go into the galleria nazionale dell’umbria (6,50) which featured the umbrian and sienese schools of art including umbrian big guns perugino and pinturicchio. hands-down best english write-ups thus far. unfortunately, the english museum guide was sold out. almost bought scala’s italian masters from the gothic to the renaissance, then realized it was one of three volumes.


tea at pasticceria sandri on corso vannucci, where ancient and modern perugia converged. had a chocolate pastry (2,60) and hot milk chocolate (2,40). good, but very sweet.
first choice of dinner venue (aladino by RG) was struck off when we found a different pizzeria at the same address. went to wine bartolo hosteria (LP) instead. the 3-course €18 set was pretty good value for money with beef carpaccio, pasta and beef stewed in red wine. had the zucchini pie with parmesan sauce and chickpea soup (again on the salty side). the place was small (about 9 tables) but packed and everyone seemed to know this server/owner? the service was very slow though. we left at 10.30 pm to face a windy and cold corso vannucci. not quite as hopping as i thought it would be. we took the escalators, which coolly emerged into a medieval building at one point, back to the parking area.
reached the house past midnight to find it freezing with neither heat nor hot water. woke up in the middle of the night to pile on more clothing/another blanket for warmth.

today was going to be another take-it-easy day. pottered about the house in the morning, taking a closer look at the reading material left behind, largely a collection of nora roberts/sidney sheldon romances/potboilers along with iain pears’ theme-appropriate medieval mystery ‘an instance of the fingerpost.’
headed out around noon. found castello nipozzano closed. decided to try l’acquacheta again. closed as well. decided to head back to the mall for lunch. checked out the nicely-fonted Café, which turned out to be the canteen for spiffily turned-out sales assistants. had a slice of cappriciosa pizza and a tuna salad at the cafeteria.
thought that we’d head into incisa to check out some malls and fell for the well sign-posted cuoierie fiorentina outlet malls. E pronounced it to be the italian version of a friendship store. found out that cuoierie fiorentina was actually a brand. then we left. came across the d&g outlet, which, not unexpectedly, remained too rich and outré for my blood. salvaged the day by going to a new coop, the one in pontassieve.


took a passeggiata after dinner along the gravel path that led to the paved road.

D was going to catch the 6.44am train into florence from the rufina station. A drove, E and i tagged along. it was cold this time of the day, and the closest i would get to seeing the sunrise. pleasantly surprised to find the ticket and validating machines working, along with a snazzy LCD screen full of information. too bad the train never arrived. A drove into florence and parked in a handicapped, tow-away zone. oh well, we only registered the Parking sign.
speaking of signs, italians must be really good at processing information. try picking out where to go in a roundabout with 15 destinations pointed at 9, 12 and 3 o’clock while cars tailgate you.
the drive to volterra from the fi-si (firenze-siena) highway turned out to be really lovely, with rolling fields in the lushest shade of green yet, with the occasional carpet of yellow inundating the green.
torture must be big business. there was another heavily advertised museum in volterra. thankfully, that was not all volterra had to offer. the fact that there were much fewer tourists was already a definite improvement over san gimignano. we checked out the pisan-style duomo with its ‘coffered renaissance ceiling’ as well as the roman theatre. drove out for a view of le balze, volterra’s ‘famous eroded cliffs,’ a little frustrating as the one spot we found was blocked by trees. some great views from the road, but nowhere to stop. the one attempt to do some etruscan-era sightseeing was aborted after we reached the site of the tombs. didn’t seem like we would get much out of it and besides, the cctv views behind the ticket sellers were not too exciting.


also liked that there were lots of old folks out and about in their sunday best and that we stumbled across an unexpected mini-festival. we should have been tipped off by the red cross and police presence but it wasn’t till the music started up that we realized what was going on. unusually for us, we stayed on for dinner, which offered a tiny glimpse of village life. which seemed to consist of hanging out on the corner that we overlooked from our table at vecchia osteria dei poeti. had the volterran (vegetable) soup, which was hearty and tasty, and grilled prawns with rucola and cherry tomatoes, good in itself and complemented the soup nicely. other starters were tomatoes and mozzarella, prosciutto and melon. A and E both had pappardelle with cinghiale. A also tried the sweet and sour cinghiale. no, it didn’t taste like sweet and sour pork. shared a bottle of red. 102 total. dinner was followed by gelato at il contro. preferred yoghurt with berries to melon. second helping of gelato in volterra. earlier version was unusual in having bits of strawberry and cocoa bean in the ice-cream.


thinking that this whole no-sightseeing-before-lunch itineraries would definitely be in demand.
played italy scrabble, with extra points for italy-related words, as arbitrated by E. 2 were formed: tower, which we climbed lots of, and pope. because he wore red prada red shoes which was mentioned in the car at some point.

W’s last day. decided to go to pistoia for leisurely lunch as opposed to driving 2 hours south to reach a 2 star Michelin restaurant. ate at la bottegaia (RG) which A and E had previously dined at and raved about. had the cereal and legume soup and the linguine with squid in pesto. the crostino and pappardelle in hare sauce were good. shared dessert of mille feuille, ricotta and tiramisu. bottle of vino spumante (sparkling wine) and sauvignon. came to 30 a head. in the overall top 3 with l’osteria di giovanni and cavolo nero.



checked out the duomo, ospedale (frieze) and sant andrea, with pulpit by pisano, his ‘third and greatest.’ oddly enough, there were lots of young people about for such a small town. and finally, shopping i could get excited about at a benetton outlet. W came in halfway to announce that there was a rail strike and that he couldn’t get to florence (to take the bus to pisa for the flight). eventually, decided that A would drive straight to pisa instead. made it in time for the flight and then went by the piazza dei miracoli since D had never been. quick pit stop under 10 min. all in all, an eventful unexpected trip to pisa, including a hooker sighting near the airport. D memorably said that if she forgot everything else about the trip, she would remember the hooker by the road.
headed back to rufina via the fi-pi-li. took a while to figure out that this meant the firenze-pisa-livorno highway, which shaved a third of the distance between firenze and pisa via the A1. wanted to try l’acquecheta which we kept passing by but found it full at close to 9pm. tried sotto sotto instead, which turned out to be a new restaurant la bottega di nanni. so new that the previous name was still on the building and beside the entrance. also seemed as if the diners all knew the owners of the establishment, with a private party going on on the second floor. 58 for 2 pizzas, a calzone, a tagliatelle and a bottle of brunello for 30. undistinguished food.

had to get into Florence before 11am since that was our reservation time for the tickets to the Uffizi (12,50 each). glad we had booked in advance after seeing the line for those without reservations. favourites included the annunciations by botticelli (with its intensity and unusual emphasis of the diagonal) as well as by simone martini & lippo memmi (with the virgin mary narrowing her eyes and pouting in disgust). spent about two and a half hours before being museumed, crowded and renaissanced out.
went to trattoria cibreo (RG, LP, F) for lunch. tiny space with somewhat brusque service and barely any English spoken. had minestrone, sausage with beans and dessert of flourless chocolate cake. the food was served quickly and came in small portions. there was a definite home-cooked feel to the food which i liked, simple, unfussy and not too salty. came to 25 a person. despite the ‘slow food’ signs, this was one of the rare occasions when we did not get our 2 hour lunch/rest break. after a quick stop at the bottenaga and ferragamo shops, we reached s carmine at 4.35pm, 5 min too late despite the 5pm closing time.


headed to san miniato al monte, which was perched on a slope. it was small, unusual in layout and lovely. there were frescoes of the life of st benedict, mosaics of christ, mary and st minias in the apse and on the façade. we got there in time for the gregorian chants and to see the church being prepared for a wedding with flowers adorning the aisle. there were also lovely views of florence from in front of the church.


rendezvous with W and D at the piazzale de michelangelo, apparently a pit stop for tour buses and a must-have group shot.
ended up at cavolo nero for dinner as W was reluctant to call them, again, to cancel after getting them to repeat the address 6 times. so we walked to the car and A drove over as we were all tired out. the place was tucked away in an alley near s carmine. the interior was unexpectedly classy and the food was very good. had the linguine with asparagus and onion, which was good and not heavy even with the cream sauce. the taste of monkfish was not too exciting but it essentially served as a textured base for the encrusted herbs and pesto. shared desserts of pear tartine (excellent), chocolate cake and crème brulee, both of which were also good. came to 228, with 2 bottles of merlot. a wine-rating system was devised based on smiley faces. mine was based on shrugs.

woke up to the smell of oxtail soup being cooked in the kitchen.
lazy morning with a spot of lounging by the pool. pretty intense heat when the sun is actually out. set out pretty late, around 1, for the mall, near leccio. ate at dot.com there. split eggplant panini and salad with mozzarella with E at the café for 10. rest headed for the ristorante. strangely enough, the seating was classier at the downstairs café.


prices indeed much lower, with additional 20% tax rebate for purchases over 155, but couldn’t quite bring myself to spend despite the lovely shoes at ferragamo, clothes at zegna etc.
back to villa for sundowner cocktails, ie sangria made by D and gang in the morning. tactical removing of jackets before taking of photos. couldn’t let people think that Tuscany was cold in may!
home-cooked meal, largely by E. antipasti of salad of tomatoes, rucola and mozzarella in olive oil, wholegrain mustard, mirin sauce dressing; prosciutto and melone. primo platti of oxtail stew with some pasta. then secondo platti of curry chicken. finished with ice-cream (tiramisu, chocolate and cream), followed by wine in the garden. another satisfying meal at the villa.

radda in chianti today. lunch at le vigne. shared 4 antipasti of which the eggplant rolls were the best, lemon and artichoke salad was too bland. had chicken stewed in shallots, which was nicely done. others had pasta dishes pappardelle in hare sauce, tagliatelle with goose heart and pici (pasta was too think and doughy though the sauce with eggplant was good). A also had the roast duck with bacon, which had the texture and taste of cooked ham. shared 3 desserts, lemon pie (quite good but a bit too sweet), flourless chocolate cake and cheese cake (which tasted more like cream cake). kid-friendly place with quite a few running in and out of the dining room. service quite slow though. total 155. no coperto, but 15% service charge.
back to radda after lunch, tiny pleasant village.


first wine-tasting stop at castello di volpaia, which could be circumnavigated in under 5 min. left the wine-tasting to A, W and D while E and i did just that. despite its tiny size, volpaia had a constant stream of tourists and in particular, germans dressed for hiking.


first day of full sunshine and bright light. summer must be a total scorcher. eventually started on our hike at 5.30pm. not as scenic as the trebbio hike, mostly through greenery with some glimpses of the hillside and some vineyards. took about 2 hours.
picked up seafood and anchovy pizzas and mushroom calzone at rufina’s il ritrovo for dinner back at the villa.

woke up, oddly enough feeling slightly hungover despite not drinking the previous night.
only set off for siena at 11. sun was finally out today. W was in skimpy shorts until the possibility of being rejected entry at lunch prompted a round of clothing changes.
lunch at 1 star Michelin restaurant near siena, attica trattoria botteganova.
it started with bread: studded with olives, poppy seeds, oregano, sundried tomatoes and anchovies (best of the lot), onions. well, the coperto was a hefty 5 a head. all 5 of us took the mixed degustazione menu at the chef’s suggestion (who was quite intimidating actually): 2 antipasti (octopus salad, veal tartare), 2 first plates tagliatelle with squid, lemon and paprika (which tasted asian, specifically hokkien mee) and tortelli of ewe’s cheese in cheese sauce – pasta stuffed with cheese and drenched in cheese sounded like overkill but was a surprisingly pleasant proposition, though a half-portion would have sufficed. for the second plate, picked the guinea fowl which was tender and tasty, paired with very salty mushrooms and bitter vegetables.
everyone was struggling by the second plate (glad i didn't order the humongous portion of saddleback), but managed to order 2 desserts to share. the chocolate tart was excellent while the tiramisu was good too. finished with coffee. total of 306. the piped-in music was incongruous – muzak version of classical pieces. other patrons mostly in suits except for an old man, his daughter and granddaughter who were more casually dressed.
stuffed and sleepy, dragged ourselves to the duomo. unfortunately, the façade was being restored. the black and white colour scheme was by now familiar. highlight was supposed to be pisano’s pulpit, with the madonna ‘whose breast is visible underneath the cloak for the first time in italy.’ we failed to locate said boob. also, pinturicchio’s frescoes of pius II in the libreria piccolomini.

the scallop-shaped piazza il campo, hyped as ‘the loveliest of all italian public squares’ did not disappoint. the unusual shape and slope of the piazza was dominated by the 97m torre del manja, 503 steps, €6. E and D skipped this, and along with A, the museo civico (7), primarily for simone martin’s maesta, ‘one of the greatest of all Italian frescoes’ and ambrogio lorenzetti’s allegories of good and bad government.

decided that RG strikes a good balance between write-ups on attractions and practical information. LP has good maps but spotty write-ups, while Frommer’s tended to be more high-end on the practical information.
gelato again: strawberry and chocolate. former not as flavourful but still good.
D got carsick on the way back but managed to last the journey. instant noodles for dinner. split packet of nongshim with D. didn’t manage either bridge or tabu. we were wiped.

may day holiday. lots of places closed. the helpful lady at borgo’s information office had told us about this food scavenger hunt in dicomano, which involved hiking and tasting local delicacies. unfortunately, we got there too late (at 11) and found a largely empty lot with a tantalizing list of restaurants at which the early birds were probably stuffing themselves at. too bad. went for cappuccino instead. could finally order it since it was still technically morning. either that, or be given away as a tourist immediately. since we blended right in with our asian faces and casual clothing.


decided to head for san gimignano instead, ‘the most famous village in italy.’ reminiscent of toledo, but way more packed. lunch at il pino (RG). shared antipasti, 3 first and 3 second courses, plus a bottle each of white and red. total 172. had game pate with truffle sauce (which elevated the pate), deer carpaccio with cheddar and rucola, pappardelle (excellent pasta, sauce on salty side, best dish of the meal,) risotto with saffron and ravioli with scallop; roasted duck with truffles, lamb chops in crushed pistachios (both pretty good) and a bad dish, white fish, half encrusted in poppy seeds.


managed one site, the collegiata, plain façade contrasting with the thoroughly frescoed interior – benozzo gozzoli’s st sebastian, taddeo di bartolo’s last judgement, paradise and l’inferno (with lurid details of the punishments meted out for the seven deadly sins) and old (bartolo di fredi) and new testaments (‘startling immediate’ meeting of the eyes in ‘the kiss of judas’). also, domenico ghirlandaio’s st fina frescoes.
our interest in the torture museum fizzled out after that. also realized that there were at least 3(!) such museums in tiny san gimignano.
instead, more gelato at gelateria di piazza for ‘some of the best ice cream in tuscany.’ had saffron cream (unusual but tasty, saffron taste was very light) and orange chocolate (so-so).
not enough time to cover sant’agostino, the ‘most important church in san gimignano.’
headed back to our villa for the bbq. A and W started the fire while i joined in the marinating team and plucked hair off chicken. despite the cold, still quite pleasant to sit at the stone table in the garden. A and W did a good job with the grilling and there were no upset stomachs. veal and chicken were good, ribs too charred, lamb skewers too gamey.