Day 317 , Pisa and Florence, Italy
For Paul’s birthday we saw a famous tower, went to a famous city, learned more about a famous man. First, we drove twenty minutes away to Pisa. We were last here in 2002, it was raining, the tower was surrounded by scaffolding. So we were excited to see it under different circumstances.
Even the drives are interesting.
The day was perfect, not too hot but sunny. When we pulled into the parking lot, there was no one around the car. But by the time I opened the door, many vendors were making if difficult to get out of the car.
I have many more photos but will spare you the repetition. From there we drove to Florence. After we managed to find parking, always a tricky thing, we grabbed a slice of pizza at this cute stand. These are everywhere.
Of all the museums to choose from, we made a group decision for the Leonardo da Vinci. It turned out to be the right choice. Although it isn’t a particularly large museum, we stayed there for hours. The unique perspective they present is they featured working models, both life-sized and small, of many of his drawings. It’s the kind of museum I think my dad and sibs would have liked.
Cuteness everywhere in this city.
I c
The street life is busy around the well known Piazza della Signoria.
You may be on top of the world, but there’s a pigeon on top of your head.
When Madi was four she was bothered by these statues, especially the one of the man standing over the woman he had just decapitated with a sword, holding her head. Creepy at any age, really. But there are happier distractions in the square like choosing from mountains of gelato, carriage rides, dog statues in windows, and even a wedding.
The Duomo is one of the most unique cathedrals externally simply because of the colors used on it. We also went inside. The elaborate external features may have heightened my expectations for the interior. Turns out it was one of the more simple cathedrals I’ve seen.
It’s quite something when you’re walking down a narrow road and you come up against the side of the Duomo
We walked around the city for quite sometime, came across a leather market. There is so much to do in this city we may have to come back for longer. We found a cute sidewalk restaurant to have Paul’s birthday dinner. Our waiter even brought out a special Tiramisu dessert with a candle, sang to him, and gave us complimentary lemoncello for toasting. Great ending to a perfect birthday.
