We left the town of La Spezia at 9am and headed for Pisa on the train and local bus. After visiting the famous tower and cathedral, we wandered around the local square and had lunch at an AMAZING local sandwich shop.
the cathedral and its famous belltower (the leaning part)
no cheesy tourist photos from us…Percy on the other hand….
We then headed back to the local station where we had stored our luggage and onwards to Florence! The hotel here (Hotel Ester) is a gorgeous little B+B set up with a shared kitchen, huge rooms and a terrace with a view!
the view from hotel ester
After settling in (and B fixing every rooms TV because he’s a legend) we headed off to explore the local area and eat.
pretty florence!
the sculpture with no defined start point – you can look at it anywhere and it looks like the correct viewing angle could be obtained. Amazing detail, look at the butt dimples!
the start of the secret tunnel from one part of the city to another
100-200 years ago you would knock on this little door and the hatch would open, they would take your money and wine would appear!
ponte vecchio (bridge) at night, we need a daytime photo though
Dinner was at a tiny little restaurant that usually only serves lunch. Our intrepid tour leader knows the owner so he made dinner for our group. 25€ was 6 courses plus all you can drink wine and the food was AMAZING! No food pics but I think this image sums it all up perfectly (thank you my beloved for taking this stunner of a photo haha):
1.5L bottle of chianti….mmmm
Tomorrow: Visiting the statue of David, the Da Vinci museum, wine tasting and more in Florence
Steps today: 20614…not bad. Nowhere near enough to walk off the amazing food though!
Mel
P.S. Cold update: my snot seems to have improved but chesty cough is raging. B now has snot, but no chestiness. YAY TOUR GROUP BUG SHARING!
Mel's Travel Blog 
Oh no hope brad;s asthma isn’t affected especially chest area grab some anti biotics for brad to keep any chest infection right away . dont want to spoil the holiday.
B never brings drugs on a trip although I bring half a pharmacy haha, he’s got lots of snot reduction drugs and seems good 🙂