Le Fonti Hotel Montecatini Montecatini Terme

On our way north, from Rome, towards the Italian Riviera we made just a slight detour to Pisa to see the famous Torre Pendente (leaning tower). We're here to tell you, it is in fact leaning and we weren't interested in climbing to the top to see if we could get it to lean any more (and trust us, with the amount of pasta, vino, formaggio, etc. combined with the large amounts of tourists at the top of this structure... you never know). But ...

... 8230; and couldn’t find a park… jagged a disabled spot and thought we could always rip mick’s leg off if we got questioned.. Made a dash about 500metres up the road to see the leaning tower… it really is leaning!!… then quickly back to ensure the car was not towed away… back on the road heading north to Porotvenere..

... Pistoria.. Tried to find a shop open to buy beer (not stubbies) as cans are huge…and tissues for runny nose etc… seemed like an easy task but it is a very old town.. Very narrow streets.. A Sunday and nothing open… but we did see a bit of the town… some bits more than once as we went round and round and round… anyway found that there was a shop open in next town Monsummano… got supplies and then tried to find the B& ...

... I had been told that the end of the hike was the best part, finishing with a beach that is more than welcome after a tough hike in the sun. We didn’t finish the hike until almost 7 and it had rained a little… not exactly encouraging us to jump in the water. So instead we got a bottle of wine and watched the thunderstorm that was brewing offshore. I even got a couple lightning photos because I’m that ...

... too, and it really contributed to the experience. We also toured the Pitti Palace and stumbled upon some famous art we didn't even know was there. Among the cheap wine and free food, we learnt cool facts about this medieval place and the ruling of the Medici family. Also, (we didn't go into any) but Florence most likey has the best shoe shopping in the world. And a shoe museum. Just saying......Italy was off to a sweet start.

Now.. your Rome update!

Jus and Mur

... Rapheallo and Donatello. That's right, I saw all four turtles in the one day (no half shells in sight). We saw about 40 rooms of painting and sculptures in 2 hours. After the Ufizzi we decided to climb the clock tower at the opposite end of the church whose dome we climbed yesterday. While Fiona waited in line I went to get a gelati for myself and drink for her. I almost lost my breakfast when I had to fork out 9 euros for the ice cream ...

Today, we had a tour guide for sight-seeing in Firenze. Our first stop was the original David by Michelangelo at the Accademia dell'Arte del Disegno (or, Accademia), but no photos were permitted. We then headed over to the Duomo, Giotto's belltower (campanile), and next to it, the bronze doors of the Bapistry ("Gates of ...

... but something I looked forward to, well at least until I encountered my first traffic circle. With Alfas and scooters zipping in and out of this 5 branch traffic circle and a busy one at that, I ended up in the wrong exit (direction signage also taking some getting used to). Well after a few more of these things, I eventually got the hang of it, thanks also to my car load of navigators. If we were unsure, we would end up circling the loop a ...

... rides along the Arno were our favorite times in Florence. Yesterday we saw a movie "Head in the Clouds" in an English theater. The movie wasn't that great but the theater was fabulous. I'm sure it was a zillion years old and once an important theater. It had ushers in tuxedos and red carpets and an old statue of Cygus on the third (!!) floor. We sat in the balcony. Today we went to Pisa and Lucca but that's another entry. We'll be in Florence a few more days.