Vacations That Change Your Life: Day 6

Wednesday: Rome was the huge haul and after that, Florence would come in second for most things to get done and to see. So today, I am happy to say, was a pretty relaxed day, and I also had the first of my two favorite meals in Italy (they're tied for first) on this day! We started off the day by getting up around 9a and being out by 10a. We were able to leave our bags at the hostel for free and would be charged 1.50 euros per bag per hour after 2p. We were pretty hungry when we left the hostel but it was also pretty late for breakfast. Plus, we didn't really know where the good food spots were in the city and we weren't sure just how far away the one thing we really wanted to see in Pisa was (the grounds of the Tower). So we just started walking in that general direction with the intention of stopping if we saw a good place to eat. On our way we passed through a little open air market and Rosie and Joe bought a couple of little knick-knacks and scarves.

Welcome to Pisa!

At this point, we were starving! We agreed on no more stopping until we at least figured out where we should be heading. We walked maybe 10 more minutes and we suddenly knew it exactly where we were heading: STRAIGHT!

Yep, the Leaning Tower of Pisa was suddenly just at the end of the street. As hungry as we were, it was going to have to wait. It's not like you can see one of the most famous landmarks in the world, know that it is within your reach, and say "later; I need to eat first." Oh no; no, you don't do that. 

The cathedral 

=)

And after we had at least wetted our tastes, we could allow ourselves to feel famished again and go look for lunch. We eventually found a restaurant nearby that had a reasonable menu and then we commenced to enjoying my first of two favorite meals in Italy: pesto gnocchi for me (various other pastas enjoyed by the others) and two pizzas- a chicken and a mushroom- to be enjoyed communally. What fun!

The ristorante!

Yes, you should be jealous right now. I'm jealous that I ate this and I no longer have it in front of me!

Chicken on the left, mushroom on the right. Oh so SO good

And because lunch isn't complete without dessert, we decided to enhance our now other-worldy Coolness Level by buying gelato and walking with it to eat in front of the Tower. I got a scoop of pistachio and a scoop of hazelnut. Sweet, creamy, dense, and natural- you bet your boyfriend it was amazing! haha But I'm sure anything tastes better while sitting on Italian grass, in the sunshine, looking at the Leaning Tower of Pisa. :)

Yes, my eyes are rolling back into my head in this picture. What? It was good!

Friends <3

We spent about 15 minutes enjoying this simple pastime of sitting and enjoying, and then we headed into the cathedral to see the interior of the dome and the famous pulpit by Giovanni Pisano. It was incredible! We also took pictures of the Baptistery that is directly across from the cathedral but it cost to go inside and we didn't want to pay. I'll do it another day in my life. :)

The outside

Inside the cathedral

Giovanni Pisano's pulpit

The dome

Baptistery

Once done marveling at the interior of the cathedral and the rest of the grounds, we went outside to look through some of the kiosks that were near the Baptistery and then start heading back to the hostel. We made it back after 2p so we had to pay a little for our bags, but it wasn't much. After that, we walked ourselves over to the train station and got ready to go to.... Florence!

On the walk back to the hostel :)

We bought our [very cheap] train tickets to Florence, hopped on the train, had a little chill time, and then got off before the sun was even half-way done setting in Tuscany. 

Welcome to Florence!

Even though we felt like there were a few good hours left in the day to do things in Florence, we were a little late for seeing touristy cites this evening. We had to put our Florence list on hold for the next day, but that was alright- we had plenty of time to enjoy a fabulous Tuscan meal tonight. Side note, it also turned out that we were early for checking in at the hostel: our beds weren't all made when we got there but the guy at the front desk was nice enough to let us go in there and relax until dinner; he made the rest of the beds when we went out. While we were waiting for dinner time to roll around, Roshanna used the one computer in the hostel to do some work on a website she writes for, Joseph and Selene entertained themselves by using the internet on their iPhones, and Chantalle and I made a list for the next day. We went through one of my tour books and wrote down everything of interest (cathedrals, museums, piazzas, etc), operating hours, and prices. After a solid hour and a half of these simple distractions, we were all very happy and ready to head out to dinner. Joseph has a friend who visited Italy once before and recommended a restaurant to him. He didn't know the name but he did know what street it was on and the sign that was on the door. Well, he was the only one with an idea for dinner so we were very willing to go searching for this place. On our way, we got a glimpse of the famous and breathtaking Florence Cathedral and were able to cross the Ponte Vecchio! I took a few pictures but none of them really came out; it was too dark at this point. Not to worry, both of those will come tomorrow!

We walked around looking for Joe's restaurant for about 20 minutes and finally found the sign we were looking for: a wine glass with a halo on top. The menu was a little pricey but it smelled terrific inside and hey, we were in Tuscany! Were else in the world should one splurge on dinner? Unfortunately, though, we walked into the restaurant to find that it was actually a wine bar that also serves small snack plates. There were a lot of tables inside but they were the tiny 2-maybe-3-seater tables and they were all full. I think Joe was a little bummed that we couldn't eat here but he seemed to brush it off just fine. So, we stepped back out into the chilly Florentine night air to find a real restaurant. It wasn't hard to do this, thank goodness... we were starving after all of that walking! We found a very charming, rustic place where the restaurant was downstairs, below the street. The menus were taped onto wood planks and had beautiful things written on them like "Tuscan Sausage" and "Pizza Bread." We split some wine and bread, I had a Tuscan bean soup (incredible!), a tomato/cheese pizza bread, and Joe and I split Tiramisu for dessert. Happy happy happy happy happy.....

My soup

My pizza bread

My dessert!

When we were done eating, Roshanna went up to the counter to get our receipt and an older Italian man commenced to chatting her up for the next half an hour. We were fine to enjoy ourselves just sitting in this beautiful, Tuscan atmosphere, but when we heard Rosie burst out into opera, we knew it was time to go. haha On our way out we realized that we were actually probably holding up the staff too, because we were definitely the last customers in the restaurant and some of the lights had already been put out. Oh well; we had enjoyed it!

We had an interesting walk back to the hostel: Roshanna wasn't feeling too well and actually got sick on the way. Joe and I waited with her while Chantalle and Selene went on ahead. When the three of us [finally] made it back to the hostel, the other two were no where to be found. This wasn't a big deal, except for one tiny detail... they had the key to our room!!   >:(  To make another long story short: we killed time on the internet until these two goofballs eventually showed up. It was annoying but we just brushed it off- there was no use in creating issues between people in our group. Once in our room, I got my things ready and claimed the bathroom before anyone else could to take a shower. I eventually got into bed pretty late but I was feeling good: we had eaten an unforgettable lunch in Pisa, seen one of the world's most famous landmarks, had a fabulous dinner in Florence, and we had a great plan created for the next day. Not to mention we had safely made it from Rome to two foreign Italian cities within the past 24 hours. :)

Thank you for continuing to follow my adventures!! I love and miss you all <3