Firenze and Pisa... april 11-13, 2007

Florence, or Firenze, gives one a pleasant feel when strolling about. There is less hustle and bustle, certainly a conducive environment to visit the many art museums. However, being poor and not too interested in Botticelli's art, we skipped them entirely! Guess it is sacrilegious but gazing at artwork does get dull after a while no matter how beautifully rendered.

We did visit the Duomo Cathedral and went up the cupola (dome). The exterior is outstanding in that the walls are colourful and it is decorated with colourful frescoes and fine statues. The interior was different from most long cathedrals with many alcoves at the side, instead, there was a middle that leads to large side areas. The dome interior was painted with in three sections, the bottom being most arresting with scary scenes of hell but the view outside was peaceful as it was early morning. I looked more at the lovable baby girl of a good-looking German family touring the Cathedral!

For more
http://picasaweb.google.com/guai.ah.lian/Florence

Next, we made a short trip to Pisa. We, and all the world, had funny photographs of the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Lester, Lydia and I went up the Tower and it was a dizzying experience. The steps spiral around the tilted building, so there is up and down feeling in addition to circular effects. To make matters worse were steps worned out in the middle through years of stepping. But reaching the top was rewarding, the view was interesting and there were large bells to inspect.

Prepare for a funny and dizzy trip!
http://picasaweb.google.com/guai.ah.lian/Pisa

Then it's return to rest at the hotel before setting off to Venice! The hostel we booked was full, so they packed us off to a hotel that is really a hostel. The guy at the reception was very humourous though, he looked at our backpacks and said, "Where are all the rest of the people? I see luggage for 15 but there's only 5 of you!"