.: sweet layer :.: hi from the leaning tower of pisa

Saturday, September 10, 2005

hi from the leaning tower of pisa

ciao everyone! apryl and i are in pisa!

we just got back from seeing the leaning tower... just for your information, it is open to the public again and you can climb the tower for a fee. it has been awhile since i wrote from barcelona... sorry but we hardly have any down time with all the sightseeing. since barcelona we have been to nice france (french riviara), venice italy and florence italy!

nice was fun.. i met a french guy named francois on the train going to nice. he studies law in montpellier but goes back on some weekends to nice to see his family... so lets see... he's friendly(check), educated (check), comes from a good family (father is a doctor, check) he speaks 3 languages (check), loves travel (he went camping in the alps, check), he's stylish (check), he's cute (check) ... ok that's it... i'm moving to FRANCE! hahaha just kidding! apryl and i went to a grocery store called monoprix and picked up a bottle of framboise sparkeling wine, a bagette, litchi yogurt and walked down to the shore (beach ) and made ourselves a picnic on the french riviara!!!

welcome to nice, the french riviera

the shore of nice

how cool... so ok we got a little laughy and couldn't stop for awhile! haha for some reason my arms felt kinda heavy and limp at the same time but i think it was just psychological cuz there was hardly any alcohol in the wine... it was a girly drink!

the train ride to venice from nice was ridiculous! it was an overnight train but we decided to be economical (cheap) and get the seat car tickets instead of the sleeper car ticket... they not only squished us 6 to a room but the seats were torture contraptions... you'd basicly have to be shaped like a pisscaso cubist sculptor to fit comfortably!. it was either built to fit giants or midgets cus an person with average proportions just couldn't get comfortable! haha it was so frustrating it was funny!

the rialto is a famous bridge and this view is captured by every single tourist to this amazing city

a gondela ride is super expensive but look how cool it is

a gondelier in venice

san marco is that famous square in venice with all the pigeons

venice was simply the coolest place! we went on a boat ride through the canals to this island called murano... that is where they blow venician glass and make the most beautiful things all out of glass.... we saw them make a vase, plate, jug and the coolest was watching them make a stallion figurine standing on its two hind legs... it's really fast. it takes 20 years of training to become a master so that they can make stuff in 20 seconds. they use copper to make the green colour, pure gold to make the red and manganese (sp?) or was it magnessium (sp?) to make the black colour.... needless to say we picked up some pieces of glass with pure silver and 24kgold while in venice... some of them were less than 5 euro!!!

murano is where all the venician glass is crafted

stallion of glass by a murano master

check out my necklace. murano glass baby!haha

apryl's newest addition to her paperweight collection

we spent one night in florence which is too bad cuz i would have really really really loved to see the museums there ... but we arrived too late and left to early the next day. we did however wander past a market by a beautiful church on our way to our hostel and made it back just before they closed... this market sold leather goods... wow it smelled so good!

we got a little lost in florence when it came to finding a place to call it a night

it is 1:05pm in pisa now and have a train to catch to naples at 3:00pm
you have to see our pictures of the tower! i honestly never dreamed i'd get to see it! you walk up to it and it's seriously trippy! haha it's actually really beautiful and well worth the side trip. well i guess i'll leave off here. we just have 1 more week till we get back to reality and the boring everyday stuff. booo hooo.. but there is lots to look forward to for us... we have positano, rome and paris up ahead!