Blogs from Pisa, Tuscany, Italy, Europe - page 5

This morning it was wet, wet, wet so we decided that we should unpack our raincoats from the bottom of our bags for our day trip to Pisa. We asked Donatello to do breakfast for 7.30am so that we could catch the 8.28am train. With Bernie and Donatello discussing politics and the world economy until about 8.05am we ended up having to clean our teeth quickly and race to the station. Although we had pre-purchased our tickets we were nearly brought undone because we couldn't find Platform 1. When you walk into the station the platform numbering starts from Platform 3!! With Bernie in a flap about missing the train we discovered Platform 1 hidden around a corner and managed to board just before 8.28am. Of course we didn't actually depart until about 8.40am so all ... read more

Total distance travelled from Santos: 6345 nautical miles Total distance travelled from Genoa: 98 linear miles!! It's taken me a week to think of the title for this final chapter of this blog but to be honest by the time you've finished reading this I bet you'll be thinking you would rather have watched Ant and Dec's Saturday Takeaway or At Home with the Kardashians!! I suppose there is always Catchup TV!! Our tale has now taken us to a rainy Genoa. After disembarkation we needed to head for Genova Principe, the main railway station that serves Genoa. Today is Easter Saturday and there are no flights to the UK. There are flights to Gatwick tomorrow, but it means taking the Gatwick Express to Waterloo, getting across London to Euston and then the journey home. No, ... read more

Today was the day we headed out to view the Tower of Pisa, and the city of Florence. Very interesting day to say the least. The Tower of Pisa does in fact lean. It leans a lot. They did some work to try and stabilize it sometime back in the 80's, and it is still limited to 40 people at a time in the tower. The view of the tower, the church and the baptistery, were all nice. We did not enter the museum, or the cemetery. Back on the bus, and headed for Florence. Lots of history in Florence. The Medici family was a powerful force. They pretty much did what they wanted to do. Family members included a Pope, and lots of other powerful figures. We toured the Duomo, aka Cathedral, the Palazzo Vecchio, ... read more

I've been here for about six hours and already I love Pisa! Most people only know about the tower...and that's where you will find the most people! I was surprised at how impressed I was with the tower. It's easy to become jaded about stuff like this. So, after checking in to my new digs, I decided to "get it over with." I walked down a very quiet street, knowing that the tower was very close and wondering where the throngs of people were. The cathedral and tower are enclosed within a wall and as soon as you walk through the archway, bam! The sight of the tower really brought a smile to my face. Completed in 1372, the marble and stone construction with all it's arches and sculpture work is gorgeous in the first place, ... read more

Geo: 43.7161, 10.3966This morning did not start well. After being mis-directed to the bus stop, we sat and waited for 20 minutes until finally spying our bus turning out of a different road and speeding away from us. Unwilling to wait a further 20 minutes we decided to walk the 30 mins to the train station with our backpacks. This plan was further complicated by a lack of directional knowledge, having being picked up at the train station yesterday. We followed our noses and headed out. An hour on a train later and we arrive in Pisa. Websites like wiki travel etc all hint that the only thing to do in Pisa is the tower and then it's best to get straight out again. (Un)fortunately for us this wasn't an option and we were committed to ... read more