Day 238 Sun 10 Jun 2007, Lucca to Florence, Tuscany

First stop is in the opposite direction in Pisa where we score a parking place underneath the tower. Then the morning is spend climbing the tower, visiting the museum, cathedral and baptistry on the Campo dei Miracoli (field of miracles), one of the most impressive collections of buildings and on the WH list of course. Apparently they are all leaning, although the tower is 5.4m off and was leaning even when they’d only got up to the 3rd floor. They stopped at this point for about 26 years before building the next bit, with the top with the bells finished rather later. The climb up the spiral staircase inside the walls is interesting as sometimes you are leaning in and at others leaning outwards as you go up.

After a gelato its off to Florence about 80km away where an apartment awaits. However finding it is a bit of a challenge as because of building works some of the one way streets have been reversed and no-one's told Kenny. Eventually, finding a parking spot right outside we discover that it's only the pick up place for the key and the actual apartment is a couple of kms away, in the labyrinth of lanes by the Ponte Vecchio. We can probably safely claim to be the only Australian car to attempt to cross the Ponte Vecchio much to the consternation of the pavement artists.
Unable to pull off the same parking solution as in Rome, the car is abandoned in a parking station which costs almost as much as the flat – maybe I could sleep in the car – and we set off to explore the city and have dinner at Piazza San Croce.