I won't be posting photos in these blogs because the Inter Web is slow on the cruise ship. It'll be worth the wait...I promise.
Ah Florence…I do love this city. I wish we had longer than
three hours here, but alas, that’s all we get. Our tour left early this morning
– well early in cruise terms – at 8am. We were on a bus and headed to Pisa and
Florence. The weather was iffy – humid and may have some rain. But who cares? It’s vacation.
Our first stop was Pisa. The drive there through the Tuscan
country side was nothing less than breathtaking. Rolling hills of green and the
occasional hill top village with their terra cotta colored houses perched high
on the hill. Such a beautiful sight.
We arrived at Pisa by 10 am and there weren’t too many tour
groups there yet. Which is why we went there first. An hour later when we were
leaving the place was swarming with tourists. All trying to get that perfect
shot of them holding up the tower.
Our guide gave us some brief history about the tower on the
way to Pisa, so once there we were left to roam freely. I left Mom with Bev and
Michael and took off with my camera. I had a few shots in mind and wanted to
get them before too many folks got in the way. The lighting was perfect in my
opinion for shooting photos, still morning light that was soft and not harsh
like a lot of the lighting was in Rome. Not that I am complaining about the
sunshine in Rome…it’s just not best for photos.
I walked down the path way between the Babistry and the
cathedral and just took in Pisa. I like to think about how long these buildings
have been standing and just how many people have seen or walked through them.
It’s staggering when you really think about it.
I continued my walk around the back side of the cathedral
and as you round the corner you’re greeted by a view of the leaning tower. It’s
just fascinating to me to see it. Standing there, or leaning there, like it’s
drank one too many glasses of Chianti. Our guide told us that once the third
floor was finished they noticed the tower was sinking. Instead of continuing to build they decided
to ask England for some assistance via one of their top architectures. The final three floors look slightly
different than the first three as they were built in such a way to help slow
the sinking of the tower. It only slightly worked and the tower continued to
sink. Then in the 90’s they did some
other renovations to help slow the process and it’s believed the tower should
stand for another 300 years. We shall see.
As I stood taking photos of the tower I glanced to my left
and giggled a little at all these people trying to get that “shot” of them
holding up the tower. The one that made me laugh the most was a woman lying on
the ground with her feet in the air, and the tower right between her crotch.
Who thinks to do that? I took a photo of all the people trying to hold the
tower up, only you can’t tell that’s what they’re doing. Instead they just look
like a bunch of mimes.
On the other side of the tower, off the main road was a
store that had Fotographia on one awning and Gelato on the other. Now that’s my
kind of store! I felt 10:30 wasn’t too early to have gelato, so I had my first
cup there. Walking just a bit more I found the rest of the fam taking a break
at a little store where our guide was passing out free bottles of water.
Then we were off to Florence. I have some special memories
of Florence when we were there in 1987. The first one being us driving in
circles around this block looking for our hotel. We had the address, we were on
the right street, but for the life of us we couldn’t find the hotel. Finally
mom got out and decided to walk the street. She, for whatever reason, looked up
and saw the sign for our hotel on the second floor. Who knew?
In Florence we were treated to a lunch arranged by the guide
at a local restaurant where he SWORE had the best lasagna in town. The restaurant
was called Casa Toscana, and for 13EU we got some of the best food we’ve had on
our trip so far. Mom had the cabonara that was OUT….OF…THIS…WORLD. It reminded
me of the cabonara Chefy at Tasis used to make.
After lunch we took off to see the Duomo, the clock tower
building with a replica of David in front of it, Ponte Vecchio and Santa Croce
church. Walking in the direction we “thought” was the clock tower building we
got a little lost. We found a building that looked liked it but it didn’t seem
quite right. So I shot a few photos and off we went for the Duomo. We found the
Duomo with relative ease – it, like most cathedrals in Italy, was massive.
Multi colored marble was used in the construction and it was just stunning. The
line was too long to get inside, and we were running out of time to see the
rest of the sites.
We left in search of Ponte Vecchio – which was the only
bridge in Florence NOT destroyed in WWII and is a merchant bridge with stores
that hang off the sides of the bridge. Interesting concept. As we were walking to
find it we stumbled, quite literally, onto the clock tower piazza. Piazza
Vecchio. The rain was still coming down so I shot a couple of photos and that
was that.
We walked along the Arno River to get back to the Santa
Croce church which was our meeting place for the guide. The Piazza was busy in
the morning with a race that had finished, and jammed pack with church goers –
being that today is Palm Sunday.
Mom and I found a little café and had a cappuccino to warm
us up a bit. Though Italian cappuccinos, or coffee in general, isn’t nearly as
hot as we American’s like it. I opted to have my second cup of gelato at this café
too. What? This is me sticking to my goal of two cups of gelato each day in
Italy. A girl has to have goals!
We walked back to meet up with the rest of the tour and off
we went to return to the ship.
I’m sad that I didn’t get to take as many photos in Florence
as I had wanted, but the Pisa one’s turned out so well that I think I’ll be ok.
Funny how your best laid plans often get tossed aside where weather is
concerned.
Tomorrow – Monaco!
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