We got up this morning, had a quick breakfast and hopped a train for Pisa. We were going to leave Roger’s half-used metro ticket with the hotel clerk or someone, but Roger was unable to find it when we left. The train ride down was rather dull, with skies which were intermittently sunny (briefly) but mostly cloudy. Sometimes the clouds hugged the ground so closely that we saw very little other than what was within a mile or so of the tracks. Other times, we could see distant mountains or the plains of the Po River. We arrived in Pisa and it was windy and cool as we set out on a walk toward the tower. Once across the river, we stopped at a charming restaurant and had lunch before resuming our quest for the tower. When we arrived, we were disappointed to discover that the tower was temporarily closed due to the high winds. The clerk told us that there would be a decision in about 30 minutes regarding the next ascent of the tower. Roger and I hung around the tower and looked at displays, then went into the ticket office to warm up while Christian bought some postcards, wrote some quick messages and sent them off. The decision was finally made that it was too windy for an ascent at 3:30, and that at 4:00 they would make another assessment. Disappointed, we gave up and caught a train on to Florence. We arrived in Florence and walked to our hotel - not a long walk except that we got lost and overshot it by a few blocks. A kind American girl helped us locate it. Ironically, the hotel is located right beside the Disney Store. At least there isn’t a McDonalds across the street! Roger and I rested and Christian went out to explore.
We asked the hotel clerk for a dinner recommendation, and she suggested a restaurant across the river. We set out for it, heading past the Disney store and lots of gelato shops. In a piazza at the end of our street were lots of statutes - mostly copies of those that can be seen elsewhere in Florence. We turned and headed for the river, crossing it on the Ponte Vecchio, Florence’s oldest bridge, dating back to Roman times, with lots of small shops built right on the bridge - all closed at this hour. We found the restaurant and had a lovely dinner of crepes, chicken in cream sauce, and wine. We bought three desserts which we cut into thirds and passed among ourselves. We returned to the hotel, showered and went to bed.
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