Saturday; Florence
With sore heads we headed off to Florence with a quick stop in Pisa to see the leaning tower; we saw it… it was leaning… we moved on. (It was quite interesting to learn however that it started leaning when they were building it as the foundations sunk into the ground on one side. Stubbornly the Italians just continued to build, correcting the weight distribution of the tower as they went.)
We arrived in Florence and had a terrible dinner at the hostel (frozen bread bruschetta and undercooked pasta with tomato sauce) but our Florence stay was redeemed by the following day. After a walking tour of Florence with a local guide we explored the streets finding many shops and stalls where I bought way too many things. We stopped for lunch at a busy restaurant and had bruschetta and pasta before heading towards the Basilica where Michelangelo, Galileo, Raphael and Dante are buried. We saw a street puppet show, bartered with locals over leather bags and, to finish a wonderful day, we had pizza for dinner followed by the biggest gelato I have ever seen/ eaten.
Sunday & Monday; Rome
We arrived in Rome and headed for a group dinner at a local restaurant where we had pasta and Italian wine. The entire group has been sick and some people did not make it out into the city but Alex and I soldiered on... when in Rome...
We began our day at the Vatican which was mind-blowing. The wealth and grandeur of the collection and the history behind the artworks (particularly the Sistine Chapel) is amazing. I bought some Rosary beads and sent my grandfather a postcard from Vatican before leaving for St Peter’s Square. We then walked to the Coliseum and explored Palatine Hills. We found a little restaurant on one of the back streets and decided to have a late lunch. I had pizza, again, and it was yummy.
We headed back to the hostel to have an early night and to get some washing done. This trip is exhausting!!!
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