Parma E Oriente Montecatini Terme

... on the "uphill" side as ballast.
This gives the tower a slight 'banana" shape.
An attempt was made in 1836 to dig out the foundation, yet lean worsened.
It was closed in 1990 to visitors as collapse was thought imminent. Tower then nearly 18'-6" off.
Stabilization work was begun in 2000 which brought the tower back toward plum by 11".
Re-opened to tourists in 2001 in groups of 30, attended by a guide only.

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 ...

... Anyway after much driving we met a local who understood English… unfortunately he seemed only able to say he understood English .. And with us asking for the sea and him agreeing with everything.. It was more sea..si sea.. Si….very confusing…anyway put feet in a creek which seemed to be heading for the sea… and called it quits…..

The rain picked up again and it was a bit of a difficult drive for Geoff to make it to a town ...

... it could jump off my plate at any moment… I had a bit of trouble de-boning the thing, but an Australian girl with much more fish eating experience helped me out.

On my only full day, I did the five town hike with two people from my hostel. The weather was not entirely cooperative, cloudy with a bit of rain. But the scenery was still amazing, colourful towns built into the cliffside, separated by ...

... room with free breakfast (eggs!) and dinner (pasta or pizza, naturally) made for some serious socialization and some interesting folks.

We confirmed the best gelato in the world claim made by the Trinity Gelato shop... twice. Mascarpone and Chocolate being the ultimate flavours, we saw the David by Michealangelo and found it a unique experience as compared to everything we had seen up to that point. There was a fascinating photo exhibit set up temporarily at the ...

... at times, but obviously neccesary. Then Chrissy and I went ourselves to the Musee D'Acedemia to see Michaelangelo's famous Statue of David. It was so cool to see, and we both had no idea how huge it really was! (Well, how huge the statue really was... because David is quite a deprived young fellow if you know what I mean!) Unfortuantely, we couldn't take pictures inside the museum, but we were both really fortunate to see such a famous and ...

... understood why caffeine is a drug and addictive. Nothing can beat a cappuccino and a pastry for breakfast. Rob and I had plans to do some real museum seeing in the city because it has so much to offer, but we were quickly discouraged by the prices. Instead we attempted to get into places for free, i.e. join a group of students and acts like we are part of the class. But, not being Italian or students, are ploy failed. We instead enjoyed the cities architecture from ...

Nach den Bergen der Cinque Terre und La Spezia kamen wieder flache Küstenabschnitte, die ein einziger italienischer Urlaubsmoloch waren. Weiterfahren war angesagt und gegen Abend erreichten wir einen sehr schönen Campingplatz in Montecatini Terme (zwischen Pisa und Florenz) mit Blick über die Hügel der nördlichen Toskana. Am nächsten Tag Entspannung bzw. Radtour (ratet, wer was gemacht hat), am Nachmittag Ausflug nach Pisa und 20.30 zum Flughafen den Mische (Sebastian) abholen.

... stand there. I could spend years in Florence. I absolutely loved every minute we spent there and really want to go back in the future. There is a statue of a boar in the market place there and legend says that if you rub his nose you will come back to Florence in the future --I rubbed his nose, his back and his front leg just for good measure. Florence -- the city of Flowers, if you have the chance -come visit Florence - you'll love the people and the city!

... is magical at night, but then all the store's are closed so the best thing to do is to go there at sunset and see the stores and just stay for a romantic night until darkness fell. Just close your eyes and click here. Take a tour of the Palazzo Medici Riccardi, there are some incredible paintings to see. I took pictures and to this day, I'll continue to find new stories in the ceiling ...