Day 20 : Pisa/Florence

For our last full day staying in Rome we decided to take a day trip to Pisa and Florence. In a effort to get everything in on the one day Christie and I had to get up at 4:30 in the morning, leaving Becca in the room to continue sleeping until a more normal hour, as she was going to join us later in Florence.

After getting dropped off by the train at a completely deserted train station we eventually figured out what direction to walk in. You'd think it would be easy, but you cant actually see the tower from the train station, which is what we'd been hoping for.

It's really something else to see. Silly architects building things on unstable ground. Thank goodness that the government intervened and engineered something to keep it from sinking further.

Since we were at Pisa we did the only logical thing that one can do.

We decided not to go up inside of the tower, as we needed to get back and catch our train to Florence. However there were many many photos taken of the tower from all different angles, and at some you don't realize that it is even tilted! Very strange.

Getting back to the train station was probably harder than getting to the tower. While that seems a bit odd, we were stuck on the wrong side of the train tracks and since there are signs EVERYWHERE telling you not to run across the tracks we weren't sure exactly what to do.

Turns out we should have stayed where we were, as we ended up going to platform 2, and our train left from platform 2L (which you can't actually see from the main platform). Oh well! We made it to Florence and found Becca. We were just about 15 minutes late.

I'm sure everyone knows why we all decided to head to Florence. No, not for the shopping (although we definitely did some shopping). For this spectacular man.

Once again, yes, you're not supposed to take pictures… but then I wouldn't have any dramatic effect! All that build up would be for naught. Can't have that now can I? Really, I do this all for you. So appreciate it! And don't tell me I'm a bad kid for breaking the rules (Although this time it was Becca that broke the rules). :P

Our train wasn't until later so we opted to have a quick bite in Florence before heading home. Originally we were going to have a big meal, but since we'd all been out in the sun for the past couple of days and we were ever so tired from shopping we just picked something up quickly.

After getting food we were all rejuvenated and ready to continue our travels. Our next stop? Shoes! While I don't have a picture of it for evidence, we all bought dark brown leather sandals from the same store. We're just cute like that.

Exhausted and laden with bags we boarded the train back to Rome. Before settling in for the 4 hour train ride home we looked out the window and saw this amazing Tuscan Sunset.

Goodbye Florence, I'll be back someday.