On day 9, we left our hotel in Pisa around 9am to go to the Pisa Cathedral complex to see none other than the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa. It’s a pretty remarkable view! We had about an hour and a half to hang out in case people wanted to climb to the top of the tower, so we took that time to – yes, you guessed it – take ridiculous photos.
The Cathedral and Baptistery in Pisa are both gorgeous, but the fascination of most tourists is always with the tower. Every Cathedral has a bell tower, but only Pisa’s leans. Back when they first started building it in 1173, they didn’t realize that they were building on alluvial soil (composed of fine particles of silt and clay and loose sediment) , which means the foundation is very weak. After about three tiers of the tower, the architect realized it was leaning. Over the course of 177 years, they tried many different solutions to straighten out the tower – including building it in the opposite direction – but inevitably the architects gave into the natural right lean. Throughout the years, there have been many attempts to help preserve the tower and keep it from toppling over. Most recently, they wrapped chains around it to steady it while they inserted metal into the ground! We wouldn’t to lose this magnificent sight:
After Pisa, we headed back to the bus. The trip between Pisa and Florence was only an hour, so it made for a pretty enjoyable and painless bus ride. Our hotel in Florence, Club Hotel, was located incredibly close to the center of the city, right next to the train station.
We had an hour or so before we were meeting Angie for a mini-walking tour, so Taylor, Windsor, and I went in search of somewhere to eat for lunch. Everyone went to a little café next door, but we decided to skip over that and see if we could find something different. We came upon a restaurant called “La Grotta di Leo” and had DELICIOUS meals. If you go to Florence on your own Contiki European adventure, we highly recommend it.
After lunch, we met up with the rest of the group and went on a mini tour of Florence. Angie pointed out the main points of the city (like Piazza Signoria and Piazza Republicca) and we went as a group to Leonardo’s Leather Works! We had a lesson in how to tell if something that claims to be leather is actually real. Unfortunately, we learned that the only way to tell is if the opposite side of the leather is suede, which is difficult with things like jackets. :( Also, if you’re ever shopping on the streets of Italy (or anywhere, for that matter) and a creepy guy approaches you and tries to prove it’s leather by quickly moving a lighter below the jacket – don’t believe them. Fake or real, any jacket will light on fire if the flame is held in one place long enough!
After we poked around the leather shop and people picked up some goodies, Angie gave us some tips on wandering through Florence. She mentioned a specific street that had ‘vintage’ stores. With Granny Taylor in tow, that was obviously the direction we headed. We strolled down one of the side streets, popping into some little shops, but more or less didn’t find anything we would call “vintage”. Taylor did end up purchasing a gorgeous picture frame, however, and both Windsor and Taylor each purchased new scarves at Zara!
That night, we headed back to the hotel and tried to get a little work done. The rest of the group went to a bar called the Red Garter to do karaoke, but all three of us were feeling particularly under the weather. Instead, we wandered around our hotel in search of another delicious restaurant. We eventually found one with a fireplace (it was freezing) and decided to eat there. It wasn’t the best food, but it’s also very difficult to get terrible food in Italy! Windsor had pizza, Taylor and I each had pasta, and we made our way back to the hotel full, happy, and ready to take on day 2 of Florence!