It's 7:40pm right now and it's all dark outside the window. Not that there's much to see, a lot of farmlands on either side, though earlier there were mountains and hills in the distance. Overall not too different from long distance drives in Victoria. Although, I admit, the buildings are a little different, older too.
Last night, after visiting the Trevi Fountain, we travelled about an hour or so towards Florence before stopping at our hotel for the night. This is to reduce the travelling time the next morning.
The hotel was called Park Sabina Hotel and, our tour guide told us, offered the cheapest wifi rates out of all the hotels we'll be staying on the tour (not including the hotels which offer it for free).
I quickly bought one, and was using that to upload day 2's entry. I must admit that I was falling asleep while I was typing that in bed, dropping the phone frequently as I fell asleep whilst typing.
The bed was much firmer than the one in London (we'd stayed at a Holiday Inn near Heathrow airport) and I didn't wake up with a bad back as I did in London.
Waking up at 6:30am this morning seemed like a luxury compared to the 3am start the day before. Breakfast consisted of two small slices of bread slathered with Nutella (it seems to be a favourite in European hotels), a juice and a yogurt - I spent too much time trying to get my contacts on and didn't have much time left for breakfast.
After a 3 hour bus ride, we arrived in Florence. For all it's fame, again I did not see any obvious business district. Just like in Rome, everything is hidden behind old buildings.
We didn't spend much time in Florence to be honest. We drove up to Michelangelo's Square where we spent some time taking photos of Florence from afar and the statue of David.
Hmm, Maggie and I spent so much time taking funny photos of us and the statue of David that I didn't actually spend any time studying the statue. What a shame... ;P
A short bus ride took us to Delta Hotel for lunch.
I was not expecting much after our sub par experiences so far (dinner last night was spaghetti cooked in tomato sauce, and there weren't even a lot of sauce to speak of), but this restaurant actually looked pretty decent (just realised I didn't take any photos).
We were served spaghetti marinara that wasn't too bad. We were also served a roasted chicken with potatoes and salad sides, margarita pizza and ice cream. I wouldn't say it was fantastic Italian food, but it was surprisingly good for this tour.
After another hour of bus riding - I sleep through all of the bus rides if I can, though I've taken to reading a book (more on that later) - we arrived at Pisa.
You can't actually drive to the tower of Pisa, you have to either take a shuttle bus or a "train". The train like those you see in Disneyland or in shopping malls, a little car at the front pulls a series of carts and the whole thing decked out to looks like a train. Ours was also decorated with ads for the McDonalds, "100 meters from the Leaning Tower of Pisa".
The tower and it's surrounding area is actually surrounded by high stone walls, so we couldn't see anything until we walked through an opening in the wall.
I swear that sight was the most impressive out of all that I have seen on this trip so far.
Perhaps it was the stormy clouds behind the buildings whilst it was sunny where I was standing, but the Tower and the two buildings in front of it was starkly outlined and imposing.
The area around the Duomo, the Basilica and the Tower Is surrounded by a large area of manicured lawn. People sit or lay in small groups enjoying the sun and the view.
Of course, we took the required, "pushing tower" photos.
After the Leaning Tower of Pisa, we are now headed to the hotel in Venice. Best Western I believe.
Oh I mentioned a book didn't I?
Well back in the hotel in London, they have a bookshelf for books people leave behind. You're free to take one or leave one behind. I took one called Ink Exchange and quickly found that it was the second book in the series. So, I downloaded the first book called, Wicked Lovely. Pretty good so far, though I don't think it's your sort of thing.
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