Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Pisa, and the start of Florence

I didn't explore Pisa much. It was raining, so I just headed straight to where the Leaning Tower is - at Campo dei Miracoli (Field of Miracles). I wanted to go up the tower, but it's a steep climb at a steep price of 15 euros. So I decided to check out the duomo instead. It was my first time ever inside a duomo, and it was freakishly beautiful! It was still drizzling when I came out of the duomo, so I decided to go find an Internet café and do my geeky stuff.

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inside the Duomo at Pisa

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left to right - baptistry, duomo, leaning tower

An hour later, as I walked out of the café, yeehaa...!! The weather had taken a beautiful turn. So off I went to snap some photos. The piazza itself had 3 main sights, the leaning tower, the duomo and the baptistry. Kind of cool. Lining the street opposite those three buildings is what I like to call the "Campo dei Miracoli di Capitalism," a whole street lined up with souvenirs that probably weren't made in Italy anyway.

I decided to take lunch at a restaurant just outside the west gate. It's called, I dunno, something dei Miracoli. Don't ever go to that place ok!! It was my fault though, the menu didn't have a price list, and I was attracted by the TV they had, since I haven't watched TV in a while. Makan punya makan, the pasta that wasn't so good, I ended up paying 25 euros for that seriously bland meal. Bloody hell betul!! But what to do la right....I ate, so I paid. And I lost the mood for doing anything else, so I headed to the train station and got on the train to Florence.

Florence is nice! I checked into my hostel. It's called Ostello Archi Rossi, just nearby the train station. I was a bit skeptical at first, I've never stayed in a travel hostel before. I asked if they had a single room, but they were all full, so what the hell right, I'll just stay in the 6 bed dorm I've already reserved. As it turns out, my dormmates are great! And the room is cool, it's got a computer with free broadband, and it's a really fast computer too..not like all the free ones I've seen along my journey. Hehehee of course I like la right?? It's the perfect place for me hahaaaha! Can upload photos, check email etc etc. Hee hee. Excited terlebih tak..!!

So I'm now chilling on my bed while the 3 girls who are leaving early tomorrow pack their bags. It was a rainy day in Florence today, I took a free walking tour with the hostel (yes they organize those), then went on another guided tour to the Accademia in the afternoon. Michelangelo's statue of David was spectacular! It was just amazing to stand before it and see the details of the carving. Siap nampak veins semua ok...too bd cannot take pictures. Spent most of the day with one of my roomies who comes from Japan, one very cool girl who's just 2 days older than me, just quit her job and decided to travel. Sound familiar? Keke..

I had a nice day, I am glad to finally meet some people because the trip was getting pretty lonely after 7 days staying in single rooms, moving from city to city. Hopefully the weather will be nice for pictures tomorrow ya!

Ciao Ciao!