3 Days for Pisa and Florence

 

After an evening walking around, we stopped and had drinks just outside the Duomo. It was fun to bask in the moonlight at a small outdoor café.

Before hitting Florence, we thought we’d spend a couple of hours in Pisa. Pisa was only an addition when we knew we’d have grandkids along. Dale and I were above the tourist trap thing.

From our apartment in Florence, we were able to walk to the train station in about 5 – 10 min. We hopped the train and an hour later we were in Pisa.

We tried to follow the Rick Steves walk but kept getting lost. Finally, we made it to the Leaning Tower missing most of what we were supposed to see.

What a tower, it really leans, like it looks like it is going to topple over! Dale and Zaya were afraid that it might fall if we were walking to the top.

The tower, a photo to show how much it leans

As it turns out, we decided that we really needed to walk to the top, there was no line, it didn’t make sense to pass up this opportunity.

The walk to the top of the tower is up a circular staircase. The stairs are stone and some are worn in the center making the step slick and uneven. To add to that, the slant means one is going also uphill and the downhill. However, the lean is not as noticeable on the steps as inside the center and on the top. Inside and on top the slant made me feel like I was in a fun house, where everything is off center.

Inside the tower

The Ancient Bell on Top

On the roof

View of the Miracles 

We read a really good review for a restaurant and went on to find it. We never did find some of the sights on the Rick Steves but the restaurant was really good. And really, what else matters.

For the rest of Florence, well there is Michelangelo’s David at the Accademia, the Duomo, Duomo Museum with Michelangelo's Pieta and the Leonardo de Vinci Museum. The David is a must-see as is the Pieta. There are several unfinished Michelangelo's as well as the Accademia which makes one appreciate how the sculpture was created.

Some of the unfinished works of Michangelo with the David in the background

The di Vinci Museum and some of his machines

The Duomo was closed when we wanted to go so, we went to the museum instead, going to the Duomo the following day. The Duomo isn’t near anything like St. Peter’s so it doesn’t take much to go thru. There are gardens but these were also closed when we wanted to go and we had no time to go back.

Pieta in the Duomo Museum. It is believed that this is a selfie of Michelangelo, at least that's what I'd call it.

We only gave ourselves 3 days in Florence and Pisa but it was enough time to cover the things we wanted to see. Florence and Pisa

Ponte Vecchio Bridge

https://www.visitflorence.com/florence-monuments/ponte-vecchio.html

would have been broken into day trips had we been able to go with our original plan of spending a month in Italy.