Tuscany

After the Cinque Terre we headed to Pisa. Of course it was pouring rain the whole time we were in the car and then it suddenly stopped as we pulled into Pisa. Mike and I have been to Pisa before, but we didn't get the chance to go up the tower. We got our tickets and were able to go up after only a short wait. The stairways are pretty narrow.

It was funny walking up because you would be totally hiking up the steep stairs and then you would get on the opposite side of the tower and it almost felt like you were walking down. A lot of people were pretty dizzy and disoriented by the time we got to the top. The view was beautiful!

Here is a picture of the baptistry and the duomo. You can see that the lawn was being mowed while we were there. That's a serious mowing job! Here is also a picture of part of the city.

We did a little shopping in Pisa and then we drove to Siena. I called the hotel as we were getting near Siena so I could ask for directions. The guy at the front desk was oh so helpful. I told him where we were getting off the autostrade and I asked him the best way to get to the hotel. He asked, "You aren't here?" Ah, duh! I couldn't understand anything he was saying! We finally got there while it was starting to get dark. We walked to the city center, got a little bit lost, but had a fun time. Siena is such an interesting little town. The old city looks like it is probably the same as it was when it was first built. The streets wind around and all empty out into the main square. It was too dark for pictures so we investigated the city and had some wonderful dinner.

The next morning we decided to make a stop in Florence on our way to Venice. We hadn't had too much luck in the shopping department so we were happy to find a huge open market in Florence. We found some great stuff and took a little walk to see the duomo, bell tower and Ponte Vecchio.

This is inside the dome of the duomo. The paintings are probably seven stories up!

I love this bridge, it is has such character. Florence is one of my favorite places to go in Italy. I could spend days wandering around this beautiful city.