Pisa, Florence, and Pickpockets

Pisa from the Bus
Pisa, Italy
May 14, 2024

The fun continues--with some security issues. Today we went to Pisa and Florence and encountered more pickpockets.

I guess in Italy, for some reason, teen girls choose to be pickpockets. In this case our tour guide identified them and informed them to leave our tour group alone, which they readily agreed to do. 

Pisa was fantastic. We were there early in the morning and able to use some of the beautiful morning light to capture the scene. The image of the cathedral and the Leaning Tower in the morning light that I took from the bus is really special. The walk from the bus parking to the Leaning Tower and Field of Miracles was treacherous, but doable.  

We then bussed to Florence of the remainder of the day and went on a walking tour of the biggest sights in the city. I wish we had more time to actually visit some of the sights, such as the museum where the statue of David resides. We had a great lunch on the tour which was pleasantly authentic Italian with wine! Included. But the free time at the end was far too short and I felt as if we saw the sights, but did not really get to experience them.

Crowds? Did I mention the crushing crowds? Today it was school kids all over the city as the end of the school year approaches. 

Today was a 10-hour tour and we were exhausted as we returned to the ship just before the gangway was supposed to be raised. We were in time for dinner, however.

-- Bob Doan, off the coast of Italy headed to Portofino