Grand Hotel Plaza E Locanda Maggiore Montecatini Terme

... again, it was another one of those famous sites we all have seen many pictures of but to experience it in real life was a treat. Lunch and espresso at a little local joint, we seized the day, and continued on our journey.

Torre Pendente Facts:

Today it is leaning 17'-4" off of vertical.
Started construction in 1173.
Work stops in 1185 as tower begins to lean.
In 1285 work started again, with the new levels ...

Pisa

woke up to pouring rain again so lucky we had a good look at the views the afternoon before… but made a tricky drive down in rain then onto Autostade.. Very fast but pouring rain to start with… finned up as we neared the coast… made it to Pisa… drove in traffic and down one way streets.. Mainly the right way we ...

... B we had booked… it was a restored castle on top of the hills in Tuscany… after much winding roads on what appeared to be a single road to nowhere we found it and it was worth the effort…..we sat on to of the hill looking at olive groves and the hills beyond.. Magnificent…. Dinner was a Florentine steak.. Yes just one steak between 4 of us.. The biggest T-bone in the world… amazingly tender .. View from top of mountain great….

... br>
Later that night was probably the most interesting part of my time in Cinque Terre. I went out at around 9 to find something for dinner, and as I was walking past a café on the main street in Riomaggiore, I came across an Australian I had met over two months earlier in Hamburg. That is a long time and a long distance. Europe is way too small…

But thankfully the Australians are back. I feel much safer now.

Okay, so its now the middle of October and we aren't even in Italy anymore, but being behind on the updates is enough of a sign of good times.

I'll do my best to catch you all up in a few short blurbs, but just rest assured that Italy was an adventure we are still trying to live out...

Florence was amazing. Full of tourists however and very very crowded, especially in the mornings as everyone embarked on their daily tours.

Our hostel was incredible. A big ...

... a pleasant ride around the city on the wall, we headed into the city and I showed them around a little. I took them to the main church where the black Jesus that was used at the ceremony with the Pope to bless the crusaders before they headed to Jerusalem. After that, we headed back to the bike shop and, more importantly, the gelato shop that is right across the street. We walked to the city piazza, the oval shaped one that used to be an amphitheater, and then ...

... do that, too, wouldn't I. Also, there is no internet connection here, so I have to wait until I go over to CAPA on Monday (Lunedi) to upload all of these first few entries and all of the pictures onto my blog, Facebook, etc. I'm so happy with our place that I'm going to take a video of a walkthrough and hopefully I can post that for all to see. One last thing, we have this 10" TV in our room, and the only signal it gets is MTV. Just when I think I'm out, they pull me back in!!! Ciao!

... over Florence. We tried to find the Galleria d'Academia where Michelangelo's David is kept, but just couldn't find it! If there was one thing we learnt about Florence, it was that the place wasn't tourist friendly at all. Italian drivers are bloody mental, there is a siren that announces rain (well, at least we always heard it before it started to rain) and bus drivers don't like their passengers. Coming back from Florence, me and Gemma got seperated as the bus driver ...

There is a tiny bar near the school on Via Dei Pucci that is our major starting point and sometimes finishing point for nightlife while staying in Firenze. I wish I had taken a menu as a souvenier of the place because of the variety and unique names of the drinks there. It had the more classic shot drinks like buttery nipple and sex on the beach ...

... off to the train station. Took a few different but not necessarily wrong turns and made good time and a good guess of where I actually came out of the alley to. Right next to the final bridge to the train station. Oh I don't want to leave I kept saying over and over in my head. But it was time to go. Hopped my train, this time with a seat, and it was off to Florence. As the train was leaving Venice, sure enough I saw out my window the place I had walked to and gotten ...