Pisa and Wine

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Geo: 43.5519, 10.308

Today, our first of four tours booked for our Mediterranean cruise. Our first stop in Italy was Livorno. After disembarking, and boarding our tour bus, we set off to the nearby city of Pisa. Its not hard to guess why. The leaning tower of Pisa draws thousands of people every day. The tower doesn't stand alone, but rather as one of four buildings within the 'Miracle Square' along with a dome chapel, cathedral and crypt. The Dome of the chapel was impressive, along with an audio demonstration of the effect of echo within. The cathedral was largely off limits due to Sunday mass, but we still managed a quick look inside.
Next on to the main event, the leaning tower, which certainly justifies its title. Standing at around 55 metres, the tower titles 4 metres at the base and slants about 4 degrees. After a bunch of photos, and watching Nat hold up the tower, it was time for our afternoon activity in Tuscany.
After a drive through the picturesque countryside we arrived at the Fattoria il Poggio olive orchard and vineyard where wine tasting and food sampling awaited us. We were seated at longtables with six bottles of wine to taste, and food sampling along the way. It started gently enough. People tentatively pouring small amounts of wine into their glasses whilst sampling bread, olive oil, cheese, sun dried tomatoes, salami, ham and olives. With each wine sample the next sample was larger, and eventually samples became full glasses from what seemed an endless wine supply. This made for a fun and social afternoon! There was even a dessert wine which we were encouraged to dip hard biscuits into. Pretty tasty! We even got chatting to a nice American couple our age, Mike and Kelly. On departure, a few people even pocketed some wine bottles for the bus ride home. Alas, my afternoon took a turn for the worse for me here. Whether it was just too much wine, the erratic mixture of wines or both, my bus ride concluded in an undignified and unpleasant fashion. I wasn't the only one, but suffice to say I spent the evening resting, sleeping and feeling pretty lousy. Watching Arsenal beat Spurs 1-0 did slightly lift my spirits, and Nat was kind enough to look after me.
Tomorrow, I will have to pull myself together for a huge 10 hour tour. We are heading to Rome and Vatican City.

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Comments

[Kelly]

Great Memories!! It was a pleasure meeting you both, we had a fun time! Best Wishes for your future travels!! :)

[tofor85]

Yes agreed! Ive been meaning to email you guys. You dont have facebook? Keep in touch via email. Are you home yet? All the best. Forgoyten the wippen rules yet?