Leaning Tower of Pisa, Easter in Florence!! 4/10

Friday morning after getting lost and fighting with the car guy about our GPS system, we heading off for Pisa.  Within 20 min of leaving, Jaimie was asleep in the back seat!  Sarah and I made a couple good CDs before we left so we were having a blast in the car.  The drive to Pisa was about 4 1/2 hours because we decided to take the coast.  I love driving in Italy, and especially in Tuscany.  There are just so many great things to see and besides, who can resist a road trip?  With about and hour left to go, we stopped along the beach in a little town called San Vincenzo for lunch.  Since their tourists haven't come yet, many things were closed down.  We found a really great place that was literally right on the beach, but it was closed at lunch time.  We walked around for a little while and found a cute place were we had three great pastas and cappuccinos.  After we got back into the car and headed to Pisa.  Amanda was meeting us there from Florence with her roommate Erin since they had never been there before either.  

I have to admit, I thought the tower would be bigger.  It was pretty amazing to see though.  The history behind it is that it was originally supposed to be the bell tower for Pisa's Cathedral.  They started building it and when they got to the third level, it started to sink on one side.  They tried to fix it but it just didn't work so their theory was to make the floor on the sinking side thicker so that it would be level.  This only made it worse since the extra weight made it sink more.  They still continued to build it and we have the Leaning Tower of Pisa.  Great story I know,  I should be a historian.  In 2000 they restored the angle of the lean to where it was 300 years ago because it was continuing to sink.  They say that it is secure now and that it won't sink any further but I guess only time will tell.  

Since the only thing really to do in Pisa was take pictures of holding the tower up, we did that and then went for a drink at a restaurant.  Jaimie discovered her new love.....Orange Fanta.  They make pop different here and the Fanta tastes a lot more like orange juice than like pop.  The entire rest of her trip in Italy she was trying to find Fanta at every store and trying to figure out how she could get some home in her suitcase without it exploding.  

We then headed to Florence to stay with Amanda.  Saturday we got up early and walked around.  It was very crowded so we weren't able to get in to see the David but we saw the replica in the town square.  We did a lot of shopping in the leather markets and scarf stands.  It was a very relaxing day, which was good because it would be our only relaxing day while they were here.  That night we went up to Michelangelo's piazza and watched the sunset except it was cloudy.  We still got to see Florence from up above which was very cool.  

Sunday was Easter so we made a big breakfast and then attempted to go to mass at the Duomo.  Florence had put on an annual fireworks show with white oxen leading the cart of fireworks and they had a ton of bands playing as well.  It was super crowded and a little frustrating because we were too short to see anything (well I was too short).  Mass was supposed to start at 11 but they never opened the main doors and it took us until 11:30 just to move from where we were.  We finally figured out that they were letting people in on the sides and went that way but by the time we got into the Duomo, there were no seats.  We stood for a little while but they were letting people in just to look at the Duomo and it took away from the feeling of being at mass ( and besides, it was all in Italian so I was the only one understanding anything) so we went to get Sarah and Jaimie their first taste of gelato.  Once the gelato touched Jaimie's tongue, she couldn't get enough of it.  (No hard feelings Jaimie, the same happened for me, hence why I need a treadmill for my birthday...cough cough Mom)  We went back to Amanda's place and packed up because we were headed to Venice for the rest of Sunday and Monday!  

I was a little sad leaving because that was my 3rd and last time in Florence (this year anyways).  I loved lots of things about Florence, like how much slower the pace of life was than Rome, and how "Italian" it was.  I'm glad that I was able to show it to Sarah and Jaimie.