Day in Pisa and Lucca

At the Leaning Tower of Pisa!

On a bike ride around the city in Lucca!

Well it is officially our last week here in Florence and since yesterday was our last full day to travel, a few girls on the trip headed up to Pisa and Lucca for the afternoon! When we got to Pisa, we walked back to the leaning tower and I was just expecting it to look like all of the pictures I had seen. But when you actually see it in person, you realize how weird of a concept it is that it actually leans.

We talked to a lady by the tower and she said it still leans a little more each year because the ground under it is sinking on one side. So eventually the tower will one day fall but I am so glad I got to go see it in person!

Since there isn't much to see in Pisa other than the leaning tower, we headed on the train to the city of Lucca! I had never even heard of Lucca before the trip so I had no idea what to expect. My friends had told me it was a city surrounded by a large brick wall. When we got off the train, that is the first thing we saw. Inside the walls, it was quiet and not very many people around. After walking around for a while, we grabbed some lunch and then headed to the bike store! We couldn't wait to ride our bikes around the walls of the city. We quickly realized that biking was a much faster and easier way to see the city than walking was!

The wall around the city was actually a road but it was only for walkers and bikers so we enjoyed not having to look out for cars! The weather was perfect, the view was perfect and my friends and I had a nice relaxing ride around the city. After about an 8 mile bike ride, it was time to head back home to Florence.

Taylor gets to Florence tomorrow night and I am SO excited!!! Since we can't talk on the phone, I hope I can find him at the train station!

This week in Florence is the festival so the city has already been getting very crowded! There will be many fun activities all week like the parade, fireworks, shows, and the Calcio Storico Fiorentino which is a game played by the Italian men. It is a mixture of soccer, wrestling, and boxing. The men fight for their women and for Florence. I was watching a video online last night trying to understand the concept of it. All I saw was about 40 men on a sand field running around with a ball and then other guys beating each other to a pulp for no reason. Apparently there are no rules other than no weapons. I finally googled it and I think I understand the concept now but I will spare you the details. I had no idea it was such a big deal in Florence but tickets to the game sold out in two days!

It's going to be a fun week!