Jan 2008

We had 3 days in Florence from the 27th to the 29th. It was probably one of our favorite places in Italy, maybe not so much for the city itself but more for what we did around the region.

First day we got a ‘free’ (forgot to write it on our global pass tickets) train ride to Pisa. It's 1 hour from Florence and there is pretty much only one thing to do there, and it’s a bit wonky. We got our pictures of the leaning tower and the square and then on our way.

Because we only took the morning in Pisa when we got back to Florence we went to the Gallery where Michelangelo’s Statue of David is. And it’s pretty impressive, over 5 meters tall and it pretty much in perfect condition. Unexpected but cool nonetheless.

Since we’d been in Florence we had been searching for a wine tour of the Tuscan region but all we could find was 60 – 100 euro each. Eventually we came across a tour that was only 15 euros, wow right!! the downside was that the pamphlet was all in Italian and it seemed like it was just gonna be country Italians trying to sell you wine. Anyway we thought we’d give it a go anyway, and it turned out to be awesome. It was sponsored by the Tuscany area council (hence the cheapness), we got to visit a few churches and small museums in the area as well as a lunch stop at a winery with an endless glass of wine and full plates of salami, bread and other Italian niceness. Then onto another little medieval town where a ‘wine professor’ enthusiastically explained the differences between the different wines of the region, of course it was all in Italian so we just nodded, smiled and kept drinking.

Our final day we spent doing a lazy walk around the city and up a couple of the hills around the city limits, ah lovely.

rachel being a jewel glutton

Next stop Rome!!