Having crossed 7 time zones and roamed about Rome, we were quickly off to sleep in the hotel on the outskirts. Early morning, we took one of the highways that connected Rome to Pisa. As they say, all roads lead to Rome, and it indeed true going by the traffic in and out of the city. We started off in bright sunshine and a couple of hours into the journey, it was all snowy landscapes. It was enchanting and dreamy to say the least. We did a halt in one of the expressway petrol stations, which doubles up as a food outlet. We have to exit through a shop selling chocolates, biscuits and the like, and are so enticing to buy. This we heard is the norm in Italy. We did get some chocolates to munch along the remainder of the journey to Pisa. The whole journey was a solid 5 hrs, but we did not mind.
We had to take the public bus to get to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I was surprised to see a few blacks touting in Pisa with imitation goods like umbrellas and leather bags. We were forewarned about things to watch out for, including pick pockets, gypsies trying to mug you, as well as tout at popular tourist places. Since we were behind schedule, the plan was to have lunch first, followed by the tower itself. However, there was some issue with the place that the tour manager arranged, so we ended up at an ala-carte Italian restaurant nearby. We did spot Indian and Chinese restaurants as well near the Tower for those who are planning a trip there. We were three vegetarians in the group, so we ordered a pizza each. By the time the huge pizza turned up, it was too late to cancel. We could each eat only half the pizza in the allotted time before we had to rush to capture some hurried pictures of the leaning tower of Pisa.
The leaning tower of Pisa is a bell tower to a cathedral that is inclined at the 6 degree angle. The government banned tourists in 1990 once they realized it could topple over. They then used lead blocks as well as digging out some earth to stabilize it by 0.5 degrees. We heard that it was on the top of this leaning tower that Galileo used his telescope for his studies, before proposing to the church that earth orbits the sun and getting himself killed. But what’s more interesting is that the leaning tower of Pisa started leaning while it was built itself, with only 3 out of 8 stories having been completed! I was inspired that the ancient Romans never gave up.
Once Pisa was done with, we took a 2 hour trip to Florence, which was an ultra successful commercial hub built by Lorenzo the magnificent. Florence has a very rich culture detailing the innovative ideas executed by Lorenzo, including the introduction of the first Italian currency called Florin, trading in gold, establishing the working middle class with workers being employed by corporate rather than the church. This magnificent city also contains the biggest church in Italy outside the Vatican, has the first stock exchange and has a dedicated square for banks. This city was the 500 year old Wall Street and much more. The city itself derives its name from a flower, which is omnipresent here and still remains the symbol of pride. Lorenzo also developed key ties with other city states as it was the financial hub, helping him in times of war. He is said to have defeated Pisa and Venice. A big river Alba divides the city into two, which was used to separate the quiet residential and happening commercial parts. Bridges help connect the two parts for easy access. Work hard and play hard seems to have been the moto of this city.
We had a long walk by the river in the biting cold night, which was an experience in itself. We went for a stake dinner at La Casa, being entertained by classical Italian songs while we had our dinner. The dinner was the usual three course meal with Spaghetti with tomato sauce, grilled eggplant and desert. I was sick and tired of eggplant on Day 2 itself. By the time we reached hotel it was almost 10. It is no big deal back in Singapore, but here we were just dog tired and all we wanted was to get some valuable sleep.
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