Holding up the Leaning Tower

Trip Start Apr 08, 2007
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Trip End Oct 01, 2007


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Thursday, May 17, 2007

What's a visit to Tuscany without seeing its most famous architectural accident? Pisa and its renowned off-kilter campanile sit only an hour or so to the west of Florence, so I thought it'd be a shame for Mayu not to catch one of Italy's most uniquely characteristic sights. Few people go to the city for anything besides its marvelous Campo dei Miracoli (Field of Miracles), and in some ways it's a little understandable. Aside from that incredible space of medieval masterpieces and green lawn, the city's a fairly understated and unspectacular place. We did make an effort to explore a little while there today, but frankly didn't find too much to occupy more than about half an hour or so.

In any case, the combination of the cathedral, baptistry, crooked bell tower, and enclosed cemetery more than make the trip worthwhile. Mayu was most taken by the Leaning Tower out of the ensemble, but I especially liked the Duomo and battistero. The Campo was predictably mobbed with tourists, most of whom were doing the obligatory "here's me pretending to hold the tower up" shot. We played along and made equal fools of ourselves, but tried to vary things up slightly. Hey, everyone's gotta play stupid tourist games sometimes.

With Pisa being a university town, I figured we'd be able to track down some cheap eats. I was quickly proven right, as we found a great little trattoria in the backstreets off Piazza dei Cavalieri that was packed with locals. For only about €13 we were able to each enjoy a filling serving of tasty tortellini and gnocchi (Mayu and me, respectively) and follow up with some tiramisů for dessert. Not bad!

Back in Florence then this afternoon and evening, we spent a couple hours walking through some of the areas of the old center that we'd missed before. Heading past the Piazza del Duomo one more time, we picked up some luscious gelato at what's widely considered the city's best gelateria. After poking around some more and visiting the Chiesa San Croce and Biblioteca Nazionale, we then grabbed a calzone dinner from a cafe. That proved to be our undoing. Total overkill. The first thing we noticed at the cafe was how much larger they were than at our previous calzone experience in Venice. It didn't seem to click in that they were likewise a bit more than what one person should really eat. Having bought two different kinds with the notion of sharing, we barely got through half of one before we realized that a single for both of us would have sufficed. Somehow I managed to finish one. Mayu however didn't even manage half. I don't think we'll be eating calzone again anytime soon.

Tomorrow morning we're off to Rome for three days. After that it's off to chaotic, dodgy Bari in Puglia to jump a Greece-bound ferry. Looking forward to the lot of it, myself.
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