Chris & Kelly's Travel Adventures

Today was all about Pisa's "Square of Miracles".  Jeanette & Julieth...this day is for you!  We arrived in the Square of Miracles about 8:30 am as Chris had a ticket to climb the leaning tower of Pisa.  They were very strict about bags, masks, & social distancing.  In fact Chris had to wear a beeper than went off everytime he got within 1 meter of someone else!  I personally chose not to climb (physically I could have done it, but then would have been exhausted all day, and I had too much I wanted to see!). Chris said its a good thing I opted out, the stairs where slanted, slick and no hand rails, so I had a good time people watching from below.  Many of the 1st pictures are thanks to Chris. :)

As Chris recovered from his climb, we watched people play with their dogs in the grassy lawn surrounding the cathedral and missed our pups!  Then we went to visit the cathedral.  I had not read much about it specifically and I have to say generally paintings don't interest Chris and I much.  That being said, this cathedral changed our minds.  Yes it is big and beautiful.  It has many sculptures, stained glass windows, intricate carvings and architecturally IMPRESSIVE, but the real show are the many oil paintings.  The size of each painting could only be described as "Honkin"...(thanks Victor) and the colors incredibly vivid.  Chris noticed the date plates beside each painting and it covered hundered of years and you could see the progression of detail and style in each period.  It was a wonderful place to visit.  I know there are too many pictures in today's post, I just couldn't choose! 

We stepped into the Baptistry and were dazzled by the stained glass windows.  Many of the major cathedrals or basilica's have removed a large portion of fragile relics and put them in adjacent museums under glass or in temperature control rooms for preservation.  Many times these museums are as interesting as the churches.   Today's museum covered garmets of the clergy as well as bible coverings, bibles and hymn books dating back to the 12th century.  

I'm sorry I forgot to capture this next find, but don't worry we will find another one (maybe several dozen!) At lunch they had for dessert something called Tartufo (which in Italian means truffle), however we are both learning sometimes the translations are not literal, but can be named for a region its from or in this instance how it looks.  Tartufo in this case is a densly frozen disc of vanilla ice cream and then they pour hot espresso over top and it looks like a floating mushroom.  Its the Italian version of an root beer float, with a big burst of energy afterwards!  After a rest and a change of clothes we headed back toward the Arno river for a romantic evening dinner at Ristorante Galileo and had our 1st Florentine steak (minimum order was 900 grams, so we are eating leftovers today for lunch).  Then we walked along the river, music was playing from bars along the banks of the river and the moon was full.

A very nice way to say goodbye to Pisa!