Today was a long day! I left Milan in the morning, walked across the street to the train station, and took the express to Florence. In Florence I took a taxi to the rental car agency, Europcar, and found myself behind the wheel in Italy. It’s always a blast to figure out the new systems of each car, like, why is the bluetooth-phone interface talking to me in Spanish? Doesn’t it know this is Italy, and I am American.

After I arrived at the Cesani Agriturismo, an organic farm with wine and olive oil, and a few bedrooms, the rain began coming down. Mindful of Ansel Adams’s famous dictum, that if you aren’t out in the rain you can’t capture the clearing storm, I got in the car and headed a few miles down the road to San Gimignano, famous for its towers.

Climbing the highest tower of all the San Gimignano towers, I heard thunder peeling, and watched the storm front rush towards me. I wasn’t surprised when the guard told me to come down and once, and they closed the tower. Rain poured down in sheets. I consoled myself with a Tuscan meal of bean soup with toast, wild boar chops, and a delicious desert.

More adventures getting back to my room, with flooded roads, fog in the headlamps, and generally treacherous conditions. But obviously I made it to write this story.