Another lazy morning as we didn’t have to be anywhere until 10am. It does take all my patience to share a bathroom with 3 other people – I would never pass kindergarten these days! Breakfast at the hotel is a standard European affair: yogurt, pastries, cheeses, hard boiled eggs, cereals and a monster espresso machine! No GF options for me – I knew that coming in – but I had a GF roll that I bought in Rome and just used that as an excuse to eat more Nutella with my egg and yogurt.
Then off to see Florence’s famous Duomo. The exterior is spectacular: multicolored marble and ornate decorations. It is a sight to behold. The interior is, frankly, far less impressive. While the literature explains that the stark design represents the severe religious beliefs of early Renaissance Florence, it is pretty boring inside. Now, we are a bit hard to please having seen some of the great cathedrals and mosques in Europe as well as some amazing smaller churches. And I did light a candle for my mom as I am accustomed to doing in all churches we visit. But after 15 minutes, we were done. Checked that box and now moving on.
To Pisa! We discovered that the town with the tower trouble is about an hour from Florence so we hopped in the car, navigated perilously through the streets of the city to get to the autostrade and west to Pisa. One hint about Italian driving: lane markings are apparently only suggestions and not actually something that one is required to follow. We listened to Italian radio (including one of our new favorites from the concerts in Rome) rolling through Tuscany until we reached our destination. We opted for the free car park on the outskirts of the historic area and wandered into town.
And what a surprise we got! The piazza outside the Leaning Tower, and the Cathedral for which it was meant to be the bell tower, sit in a lovely grass square. We procured our (outrageously expensive) tickets to climb the tower at 3.30 in the afternoon and wandered through the town to find lunch. With no street map or guide to where we were going, we nonetheless found a lovely little place (coincidentally named La Toscana as was last night’s restaurant in Florence) outside the main tourist area where the waiter spoke little but passable English, there was no “tourist menu” and he didn’t even roll his eyes when I asked about “senza glutine” – he just said “beef” and that was that. Actually, I had roast pork, salad and white beans and the entire meal was lovely. Add a liter of Tuscan white wine, light and dry and slightly fizzy, and we decided it was one of the better meals of the trip.
Then off to the duomo. Gillian and I were not properly dressed to enter the church – we had bare shoulders – so I am now the proud owner of two new scarves made of the finest Italian polyester. (They are actually very nice!) We decided that we liked this cathedral better than the one in Florence. The paintings on the ceiling above the alter were spectacular and there were fabulous frescos all over the church. We did acknowledge that architecturally it was probably not quite as fantastic as the one in Florence – even our untrained eyes saw some of the asymmetries that we suspect make purists crazy- but we decided it was the best cathedral of the day nonetheless.
And then it was our time to climb the tower. Even Frank with his vertigo decided to give it a try and we wandered 250+ steps to the first platform more than 150 meters off the ground. And that was enough for him. He enjoyed the view, and scarpered back down to terra firma leaving us to head up the final level to the bell level. And the view was spectacular! I’ll post pictures shortly but they won’t do justice to the experience. After wandering around the top, looking like drunken sailors, we were herded back down the stairs which would have been uneventful if Duncan hadn’t gone over on his ankle on the uneven marble stairs – like mother, like son?
We then wandered about town looking for a pharmacy to get a wrap or brace for the gimp and eventually found one on our way back toward the car park. Duncan got his ankle attended to and I found a cornucopia of GF foods – in the pharmacy! – and stocked up on rolls and muffins and the like. It was then time for our daily gelato before heading back to Florence.
And of course we hit the city at rush hour. I gripped the door handle repeatedly as Frank navigated through traffic to the parking garage (under my direction since Sally the GPS couldn’t understand “garage near mercado central” but I still know how to read a map). We wandered through the markets as things were starting to close up. Gillian got a belt, Duncan a wallet and I got a purple leather case for my sunglasses. Apparently, Florence is known for its beef and its leather – there might be a relationship there…. 🙂
Then brief respite in the hotel room before heading out to dinner at a GF-friendly restaurant that came highly recommended. While the food at Ciro and Sons was excellent, it wasn’t worth the *two hours* it took for the main course to arrive. Granted, we did order appetizers (garlic bread and GF bruschetta) but even those took an hour after we were seated. We tried hard to be patient and not be “typical Americans” but when the tables all around you are being served and moving on and you can’t even get more water or wine, one tends to get cranky. Or at least I do.
However, the day in total was a hit. I’ll leave the appropriate review on Trip Advisor and move on. Tomorrow is our big excursion into Chianti so I need to make sure I’m in an excellent mood!
Step count: 18, 588 or 8 miles – some of which was upwards on uneven marble.
Nun count: 6 but we were in two cathedrals today so I shouldn’t be surprised.
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