Pisa and on to Firenze

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well i had a good sleep last night. two people sharing the room with me, but one was in bed before me, and the same guy who was there the night before showed up randomly, dropped his bag, and i didnt see him again. i didnt wake up this time. the other guy and i had a bit of a chat before bed. hes from france, and must be on a pilgrimage to assisi, because, get this, hes WALKING. i mean, things arent as big as canada around here, but man thats still quite the trot.

anyhow, got up at 7 again this morning, quickly showered and packed up and off to the train station for my train to pisa. got there just in time. the ticket was only 2,40€ and i had a credit from last week of 2€. i wanted to change up a 50€ bill so i gave it to missus and she was not impressed. but i don't care, said i had nothing else, and got it changed up. sweet.

no time for breakfast though, not even time to have another vending machine croissant. so half an hour later i'm in pisa, check my bag at the train station so i don't have ot drag it through town, and boom i'm off. managed to find a market where i bought a banana and a foccacia (bread) for breakfast. not bad, $1 breakfast, with tap water to drink.

headed straight for the field of miracles, on which sit the leaning tower, the duomo (cathedral), baptistry, and a few other things. well i was afraid there would be a lineup for the tower so i went straight there. turns out it wasnt too busy and i got in the first group to go up for the day. they do it in half hour groups, so at 930, 30 people clamber up the stairs to the top, you get about 15 mins there, and then have to go down again so the next group can follow with the same. good views from up there, and you could actually feel that its leaning while you're on it. rather disturbing, but pretty cool. altho it was 20 dollars for that! i couldnt believe it. well i could, and almost didnt do it but figured, hey, its the leaning tower.

then i went into the duomo which is a huge beautiful church. but again, i am churched out so didnt linger long. then i roamed over to the baptistry, which is just what it sounds like, for baptisms. huge circular building, with a big dome on top. every half hour one of the guards shows off the acoustics of the building. noises echo for like 10 seconds, so one person can sing a cord one note at a time. it was very very impressive.

so the field of miracles is on this beautifully green lawn. its february, its been COLD the last few days, and its still beautiful green. some parts youre not alloowed to walk on, but there is another huge section kind aoff to the side that everyone kinda hangs out on. well i just wanted to relax for a few mins so i threw down my bag, it was warm enough to take off my coat (still had a sweater on), lay down and read my book for a while. well next thing i knew there was a dog sniffing my head. a lady was walking her 3 dogs and was letting them run around. they were so cute and so friendly. so i was throwing their toys and playing with them for like a half hour. then this other guy was walking his dog, a bigger white dog named lola. haha true story. so they were around playing forever, it was a very friendly kinda place. i only planned on sitting around for a few minutes but ended up just relaxing for 2 hours. well worth it.

so finally it had to end and i took one last look at the tower and headed back for the train station, taking a different route so i'd have something different to look at. well i wasnt really paying attention to where iw as going, and i didnt have a very good map in my guidebook (the tourist info place wasnt open yet when i got there), and i ended up taking an extended tour of the most un interesting part of pisa so it seemed. after a half hour i got back on track, got my bag back and headed back on the train for florence (firenze in italian)

arrived in florence no trouble, and managed to find the hostel i had booked. seems like an ok place, a younger crowd, and it even has a swimming pool. 6 beds in my room, and unfortunately all full. we'll see how loud this is gonna be tonight... and 2 more nights after that!

after getting settled in i headed out. it was getting late so i didnt really feel like hitting any of the museums or anything. got some gelato (two scoops - chocolate and kiwi mmmmmmmmm) so i headed across the Arno river to the lookout called Piazza Michaelangelo. When i was in europe with my family 15 years ago, some Philipino ladies with us got their purses stolen there. Mom was not impressed I was going, but c'est la vie! great views over the whole city, and not too many shady characters lurking around. made it out unscathed anyways! knock on wood...

on the way back to the hostel i stopped in and grabbed another milanese sandwich (chicken and cheese grilled) whcih was again, delicious. now i'm just hanging in the hostel, its 730 and i kinda want to go to bed. long day in the sun and fresh air knocks ya out!

weather has been super this whole week. since i arrived in venice on sunday, its been sunny every day, and about 8 degrees, just below freezing at night. knock on wood i wont have to use my half broken umbrella anymore!

sad to be heading home on monday, altho i would like to wear some clothes other than the 3 or 4 outfits i have with me for a change. and get a 30 minute shower at home, with lots of hot water, and no one else having used it before or waiting for it after me. also i want milk. like 3 gallons of milk. not having a fridge sucks, cant really buy milk and havent found any small containers that aren't farmers type. i think gelato might keep me going the next few days, there are shops on every block. they must have known i was coming.

think i'll go get some gelato.

then

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Comments

[B. Mackey]

Going strong!
Hi Jason: I see you're not slowing down --intending to get every little bit of this vacation -- you've got a few battle scars --the skin does dry out with constant exposure to the weather day in and day out -- used to happen to me years and years ago when I was on the berry field about 10 hours a day (groan) I've got a job waiting for you when you come back. I went into Can. Tire to buy a cover for my snow blower -- got one but noticed the 'clearance' rack. There was this Lexmark 310 for taking photos directly out of the camera. It was marked off at $20.00 so I thought I'd get it. When I opeed it, of course, installing it seemed like flying a jet to me (ha ha) so I'll have to get you at it if you have time. Had a couple of snow storms and my wrists are VERY painful handling the shovel. Lovely p..m. today though -- sunny and warm +5C. Yes, I thought it was Lori S. Bye for now, thanks for e-mail. N