Tuscany Inn 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.

... 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..

Tuscan Hills

The drive from Venice to Tuscany was eventful (as always). First we wanted to see the Adriatic Sea.. We knew we were near the coast but finding a road which led to the sea was not so easy… even our sat nav lady Shirley couldn’t seem to find the sea… all we wanted was enough sea to put the feet in and say we had been to the Adriatic Sea… please note wet feet in venice the day before could not be counted as Adriatic Sea ...

Cinque Terre is a place I have heard a lot about, but wasn't planning to see on this trip. There aren’t a lot of places to stay and I hadn’t done my research on which of the five towns would be the best to stay in. But thanks to some advice and a gentle nudge from some friends in Florence, I decided to spend two nights there and do "the hike". It was a good decision.

I stayed in a town called ...

... 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 ...

... just down the road from where we stayed which we went back to a couple of times. It was called 'Trattoria Enzo e Piero' and the young waitresses spoke very good english. We usually started our meals with zuppe (soup), the simple vegie soup is delicious and for secondi we've sampled veal scallopine, steaks and an eggplant dish. Florence is famous for the 'bistecca all Fiorentina', a massive 1kg T-bone steak. Unfortunately we didn't get to try it out (see 'La Spezia' blog entry ...

... local food shops for bread, pastries, meat and cheeses are all mouthwatering displays of food that's been prepared with a lot of love and attention. Maybe only van den Bosh or Bon Ton in Vancouver come close, but it's still not the same as those are all upscale.

Having covered most of the streets in central Florence by foot window or gelati shopping, however missing out on the planned climb up the Duomo's dome, it was time to move on to Spain.

... staff. The front desk girl apoligized for the weather. We were checked-in quickly and the bellman, who reminded me of Manuel in Fawlty Towers, showed us to our room on the fourth floor. The room was better than I had expected. In one corner of the room there was a small table and two comfortable chairs. A cornucopia of fruit was sitting on the small table waiting for us. Two glass doors opened onto a large veranda overlooking the Arno and Ponte Vecchio ...