We had a quick breakfast and boarded the bus at 7:45am for an early start this morning. We travelled thrrough Lazio, Umbrian and back to Tuscany to Florence. The country of northern Italy is lush and green even in mod-summer. There is agriculture of all kinds everywhere, even lots of fields full of sunflowers.

We arrived in Florence at about 11:30 am and went first to the viewing platform across the river from where the whole city could be seen in panorama across the river, including the Ponte Vecchio, the famous bridge with gold shops in little shop fronts. The second story of the bridge was reserved for the Medici family.

There were many amazing sights to be seen in Florence. It is a beautiful city with many famous artists, sculptures and architects who have contributed to the development of the city. The dome on the cathedral is the precursor to the one in St Peter’s in Rome. The design was taken by Michelangelo and used to design the dome of the St Peters Basilica.

Galileo Galilei was a famous scientist who lived in Florence. Leonardo da Vinci was born in Florence. Michelangelo spent time here and he is buried here.

The leather shops are all over town. Leather goods of all kinds can be purchased here. There are bags, shoes, sandals, wallets, coats, belts and gloves all priced surprisingly low. There is an uncertainty of where the goods all come from, but we were assured that if it says “Made in Italy” then it is true. I partly believe it. The guide did say they have a substantial Chinese community working in Florence.

We left Florence at about 4:30 pm. I received some birthday messages from Sam and Abi because it has ticked over to midnight in Australia. Turning 50. The eight hour time difference makes the celebration time a bit uncertain.

Florence was fantastic. Well worth a longer visit.

We drove from Florence to Pisa and parked the bus outside the walls of the old city centre. We walked into the cathedral precinct and immediately the leaning bell tower stands out. It’s 3.7 degree lean is very pronounced, possibly amplified by the skinny but tall nature of the building. The tower used to lean at 5.5 degrees but the government spent 30 million euros straightening the tower by 2 degrees. It is still a surprisingly exaggerated lean.

We did not think we would be able to climb the tower because we had been told that it shut at 6:00pm. But we discovered it was open till 9:30pm so we were able to buy the 18 euro ticket and climbed to the top. Steve Carroll, Rob Crawford, Darren Tappouras and I climbed the 286 steps to the top of the tower. The view is fantastic and the lean can be felt even at the top. The floor and the stairs all feel weird because of the lean. We spent about an hour at the top watching the sun go down in the western sky. Walking down was slow because I was stuck behind a boy who was scared of heights and he was practically crawling down the steps.

We drove to our hotel and settled in for the night. I went out and bought a delicious Italian pizza to celebrate my last evening in my forties. I turn 50 tomorrow.