Last night we stayed at a hotel that appeared not to have internet, so I put off writing for a day. Unfortunately, I found out just before it was time to leave that there actually was a free wi-fi connection, there was just no info on it in the room. I got to do a quick 15 minute email check and that was it. So today's blog will cover 2 days.
Yesterday we got on a boat to get to the bus about 8:30AM. Our bags went to the bus ahead of us. The bus ride from Venice to Pisa took about 3 hours. This was a bonus side trip that wasn't on our official itinerary, but it was only a little bit out of the way and we had time before our hotel room would be ready. From the visitor parking lot we had to take a public shuttle to the entrance to Pisa. The guide referred to the area between the gates and the tower as the Miracle Garden, but didn’t explain why. It was a large lawn with a baptistery, cathedral, and then the leaning tower, with what looked like an old monastery along one side. On the other side, the entire wall was lined with venders selling t-shirts and trinkets.
The inside of the cathedral (the Duomo de Pisa or Pisa house of God) was beautiful. Our tickets didn't get us inside anything else. We had no desire to climb up inside the tower. The guide said it was a 20 minute climb each way. Besides, I don't think I'd want to climb inside a leaning building. Here's a photo of us in front of it though. After photos we shopped for souvenirs and a gelato.
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| Tour Group Marching through Florence |
From there we boarded the bus again to take us to the Hotel Albani in Florence (Firenze). This is mostly a typical European city, but with a lot of museums. Their main claims to fame are Dante, Michelangelo, and the Medici family. Most of the group went out to dinner together, but we knew it was going to be a late meal so we declined. Instead we took a walk and found a nice little restaurant for a typical Italian dinner and carafe of the house wine. We were back in the room by 7:30PM; those who went to dinner as a group didn't start eating until 8PM and got back to the hotel around 10:30PM.
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| Copy of David in Square |
This morning we took a walking tour of Florence. Our first stop was the Academy Museum to see the original Michelangelo’s David. It is amazing. You can see the veins in his hands and neck. They also have a number of other Michelangelo’s sculptures, as well as paintings by Botticelli and many other artists. This was a must-see stop. After that we walked to see the Mary of the Flower cathedral and various government buildings built by the Medici family. No photos were allowed in the museum, but there is a copy of the David in the square where it originally stood (see above). They brought it inside the museum a few years ago to protect it. Of the statues in the square, the best was Perseus holding the head of Medusa (below). All together, we walked for about 4 hours and were totally exhausted by the time the guide left us. We found the nearest restaurant and ordered the first pizza of the trip. Very thin crust, but good. We had time to shop after lunch, but our feet hurt so we went make to our meeting place at the hotel and collapsed on the sofas in the lobby until our guide came to collect us.
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| Perseus Statue in Florence |
As I write this, we are on the Euro Star high-speed train from Florence to Rome. It should take about an hour and a half, then we have the evening to ourselves. If we have an internet connection, I will post this tonight (Saturday). Tomorrow we tour Rome.
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