On the road again! That's how the morning started. We took our sweet time getting packed up and into the car and out of Rome, and within a few minutes, we made a McDonald's stop. Erik picked up a sandwich of some kind that smelled like FRIED in the car (fun times) but Adam and I were not as pleased with the selection. Bummer. Snacks in the car I guess!
We were hoping to get to Florence to drop off our bags at the hotel and make our way to Pisa. We are so paranoid about leaving anything in the car from all the horror stories we have all heard about theft and robbery in Italy. We have experienced NONE of it, especially in Rome where we were on the lookout all the time for pickpockets (beause everyone says watch out), but we are still a little worried. Trying to do things the smart way. We were able to check in to our hotel in Florence, which was right on the Arno River, the main river that flows through the middle of the city. Our hotel was right above the Austrian Consulate, so we found out that parking was a little tricky. We were allowed to park there as early as 7:30pm and then through Monday morning, because there is no ticketing on Sundays (HOLY DAY!) in the city (maybe the country). It was fine for us because we wanted to drive to Pisa anyway, but we knew we couldn't park there again until it was 7:30.
We hopped right back in the car and drove to Pisa to see the Leaning Tower and anything else the city (town?) had to offer. It took about 50 minutes to get to Pisa, and we had to find parking nearby to walk over to the tower. We found a parking lot nearby - that wasn't any trouble at all. But there was a guy in the parking lot selling packets of tissues, and other junky souvenirs. We paid the parking machine as instructed, and in his not even broken English (we're not sure what language it was) he was trying to tell us to pay him to watch our car. Well he is definitely a scammer but we didn't want him breaking INTO our car while we were gone, for us not paying him, so I think we gave him 1 or 2 Euro. If he gets this from everyone who comes into this lot, who thinks that they HAVE to pay him, well he is a smart dude doing pretty well for himself, all things considered. But, we were also too wussy to not give him something.
We walked about 3 minutes before arriving in the "Field of Miracles" which contains the Leaning Tower. I was totally blown away by how cool it looked! I obviously expected it to be leaning, and I even read about it in our tourbook and knew that it was approximately 15 feet off of center, and 5 degrees slanted. But up close and in real life, it was completely visibly slanted, and I thought it was - magnifico! Pictures, pictures, pictures! I did a few but the boys were hungry so we wandered the streets of Pisa in search of some grub. We settled on a restaurant not too far from the tower, and we were all pretty happy, I think, with our meal! I got gnocchi (AGAIN, yes, I know) with pesto - it wasn't as good as some of the other gnocchi I've had, but hey, ya win some, ya lose some. We went back to the field to take some more pictures including some attempts at some funny ones, but man, it's hard! You have to stand just so and have your photographer crouch down almost lying on the ground, and then line yourself up exactly with the tower so that it looks like your hand is touching it, or you are kicking it down, or holding it up. Everyone else was doing the same thing, so I didn't feel AS goofy. Not that I have any shame anyways. I'd do it even if I was the only one. I think Adam and Erik were embarassed by me so I tried not to drag it out too long, but I was seriously on a high from seeing this thing. On our way back to the car I took a few last shots of the tower.
We still had time left to kill, so on our drive, when we spotted a casino next to a cafe, we knew we hit the jackpot! (Pun intended.) The guys wanted to go check out the casino, and I wanted to read in the cafe next to it. I had my book with me, wanted a hot drink to warm me up; this was absolutely perfect. Adam turned the car around at the next roundabout, and we all got out of the car. I walked with them into the casino just to check it out incase I DID want to stay, but it was smoky in there and just not my scene. Ahhh, finally some relaxation time! I ordered a hot chocolate at the cafe, put my bag and book down on the table, and while I was waiting for my hot chocolate, I saw them walk by the door. They came in and told me it wasn't a "real" casino - it only had slot machines. So much for my relaxing time alone! They came in and joined me while I sipped my hot beverage, but there was no reading that happened. We got BACK in the car again and just drove back to Florence. When we arrived, we had about an hour before we were legally allowed to park by the hotel, so we parked the car in a lot at the corner of the street. We paid up for our parking to get us through to the right time, and went into the hotel.
Dinnertime! Our hotel owner gave us a recommendation for a good Italian restaurant in the city called Benedetto, and we decided to check it out. By far it was the nicest restaurant we had been in during our entire trip. Tonight was Erik's last on the trip so it was our last as a group of three - we wanted to treat ourselves! Our waiter was fantastic - explained almost everything on the menu to us, told us what was Tuscan and what was just Italian, and even brought us an extra appetizer since he thought the guys would want more than just the one. They also brought us 2 plates of bruschetta on the house. I normally really do not like tomatoes - almost everyone in my life knows this. But the night in Rome that I had bruschetta, AND this one, proved my taste buds wrong. I guess when it's seasoned nicely, there's good flavor, and it's on yummy bread, I can do bruschetta! (And I've also found out that it is pronounced broo-sket-ah.) We all ordered some wine (my choice being Muscato of course - and the waiter thought it might be too sweet for me - hahaha he doesn't know me very well!). Instead of ordering gnocchi, I decided to change it up and get a spaghetti dish that sounded fantastic - it was with cheese (formaggio - my favorite!), pears, and truffles. I also got a stuffed zucchini appetizer that was really tasty! Unfortunately, the waiter or the chef got my order wrong and they brought me the ravioli! It was the other main vegetarian dish on the menu, and because I had mentioned to our waiter that I didn't eat any meat, he must have just confused it. So he brought it back to the kitchen, and had the chef make me a fresh batch of the spaghetti dish! I had a guilty conscience about it though, because I wasn't sure if they would be throwing away the ravioli, or if they were going to be able to reserve it (maybe their laws aren't the same here as in the US) or maybe the wait staff would get a chance to do some taste sampling! I normally don't cause a fuss in restaurants, but I really truly wanted that dish and was happy I said so. It was what I ordered and what I wanted and what they gave me. Between the appetizer, the bruschetta, the spaghetti, and the wine, I had a fabulous meal, and took pictures of each course to prove it! I even got a picture with the waiter at the end of the night. What a sweetie pie!
We decided to check out the bar scene in Florence, but it was raining. Again. And we heard that Italians don't really go out in the rain. So much for trying to meet the locals! We stayed for a short while at the bar we chose (whose name escapes me already) and went back to the hotel via cab. Erik ran up to the room to get his bags while the cab waited for him downstairs (somehow in broken Italian we explained to the driver to wait and that we had one passenger going to the train station). Another day of the Eurotrip in the books! Buonne notte!
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