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Published: June 25th 2008
We left off in Rome heading to Florence. The train ride was very enjoyable, we got to see and watch the beautiful countryside wash by us as we sped on to Florence. Tuscany really does match the romantic notions that we have had instilled in us by Hollywood.
Florence is really a spectaclularly city. It has a killer city scape, and where we are staying has a brilliant vantage of the city. We are staying at the Camping Michealangelo. It is a nice, cleanish place. Our first night was very pleasent we had run into some travelers we had met awhile back and had a great time drinking cheap wine and catching up on our adventures. We retired to our tent, which was modest but had a lock on it, to find that during the evening the ant nest that we barely noticed in the day had increased its activity in our tent, along with several LARGE spiders that I had to kill with Danielles urging. (Even I had some issues slaying these spiders, they were BIG) In any event we were not going to sleep in that bug infested tent. Fortunantely the reception was very understanding and switched us to a new tent with no problem and was devoid of insects.
The next day, June 24, we set out to go to Siena and explore much of Florence. However, we were unaware of the fact that it was St John Baptist day... All the churches were closed and large amounts of clergy were going to and fro. We also saw a large party of clergy in mini pope hats going into a really old church. So instead of dealing with closed down florence we went to the train station to catch our train to Siena. Our train ride was a couple hours long and show cased the rolling countryside. Siena was a fantastic little medieval town that just made you want to stroll their winding streets with a gelato in hand. Which is exactly what we did. Siena was an old rival of Florence and has some great streets, churches and castles all from the medieval and renassiance days. We both really enjoyed the city, the sights of a 102 m tower in a semi circle piazza, and a large marble covered church were great additions to the town. Niether were big attractions but really added some personality and flavor to the already great little town. On our way back we found this grocery store that had 1€ bottles of wine... oh and yes we bought some. That night we found out that in celebration of St John Baptist day there were to be fireworks set off virtually right beside our camp sight. In the proper Italian catholic way we had a late dinner and a lot of wine to celebrate the holiday. The fireworks which went off at night were really impressive and surprisingly long. By the end our eardrums and eyes were quite sore from the stimulation.
Today, June 25 we once again saw parts of Florence. To my great delight we not only found a statue of Cellini's head but also his great master peice the Medusa! Ya Court remeber Cellini? We found him! Than we explored Florence, saw two replicas of David, along with some great winding touristy streets. The Church that dominates the city (it is also the 4th largest cathedral in the world!) was not closed today, but there was atleast a hour long line waiting in the scorching sun. We were going to go to Pisa today anyways, so we just decided to go then. We hit up the train station where Jan and I raced to catch the train that was leaving in 10 minutes from when we got there. We made it though, and enjoyed an hour of gorgeous landscapes. From the train station we caught the train that took us to the tower. So, did any one else know that there was other stuff to see aroung the tower? we sure didn't. The square where the tower is, is actually dominated by a church and all of it's buildings. They are all gorgeous because they are made of marble, but they serve to dwarf the importance of the tower. The tower was fun to walk around, and take some pictures of, but we did not go up to the top. It is a really weird feeling to look up at a tilted building. But because it's tilted we have some rather humourous pictures of us and the tower....
But after the tower, there wasn't much to do in the town, so we decided to walk back to the train station and not take the bus, just so we could get our walk in for the day. Wandering through Pisa was not that great. It really reminded us of Naples - noisey and dirty and smelly. So we didn't fall in love with it like we had in Siena, there were no reminants of charming medieval streets here. But Jan and I were both happy to have seen the tower. It was worth the day trip, but not more. Now we are back in Florence, and we happened upon an internet cafe. We took a break from the sun to write this, now we are going for groceries, and then to enjoy our last night in Tuscany.
Tomorrow we will be in Rimini. Ever heard of it? We hadn't, but it looks promising. We'll let you know. 😊
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Jackie
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*shudder*
I would have had a stroke. Seriously. I woke up with one TINY spider in my tent once when Scott and I were camping, and I screamed so loudly, birds flew out of the trees. Did you think of me Danielle? Okay, you've also inspired a new plan of mine. When Scott and I go to Italy and he's walking around being all high-and-mighty about wine, I'm going to go find that store with the 1 euro bottle, I'm going to take a picture of me holding it with the pricetag, and then I'm going to buy it and drink it. Sweet!