Pisa and Lucca

It is officially spring break now and since I don't have any plans to travel anywhere until Wednesday morning, my roommate and I decided to do a day trip yesterday to Pisa, Lucca, and Florence.  It was a lot in one day but we figured we should just go because Pisa and Lucca are really small and we have both already been to Florence.  All the towns are about an hour away from each other as well.  We got to Pisa first and got on a city bus straight to the  "Field of Miracles", which is where the Leaning Tower is.  It was a really nice day out and everyone was lying around on the grass near the buildings.  I didn't know this, but the Field of Miracles actually has the Leaning Tower and a duomo and baptistry too.  We learned that all of the architecture of the buildings is called "Pisa Romanesque" because it is different from traditional Renaissance buildings.  The Leaning Tower was really amazing.  Apparently as it was being built, three different architects tried to correct it but one side of the land it was built on was really marshy and that's why it leans.  All of the buildings on the grounds lean a little bit as well.  I think you can tell from pictures, especially the baptistry.  We took pictures of ourselves "holding" up the Leaning Tower which was really fun.

 Train ride along the Mediterranean 

 Field of Miracles

Me holding the Leaning Tower

After seeing the sights in Pisa, we got on the train for 30 minutes to Lucca, which is another small, lesser-known town in Tuscany.  Luckily I have the Rick Steves book so I knew about it.  Lucca was really beautiful and quiet.  We walked to one of the main piazzas where there was a duomo called San Michele.  The book said that the churches in Lucca are the same kind of  "Pisa Romanesque".  It was siesta so the duomo was closed but it was still pretty from the outside.  After that we walked to another main piazza called "Piazza Anfiteatro" because it is on the site of the ancient Roman amphitheater.  The piazza was actually oval shaped so you could tell it had followed a similar ground plan to the amphitheater.  At the piazza we sat and had a glass of wine and some cheese.  It was really nice because it was so sunny out and it was really quiet for the most part in the piazza.  After walking around for a few hours we headed back towards the train station and stopped at another cathedral.

 Lucca

 Duomo San Michele

 Piazza Anfiteatro

 Cathedral

Finally, we arrived in Florence where we walked back to the big duomo and around the streets selling the leather goods.  We didn't have that much time in Florence so we just got a quick dinner and then got on the train back to Rome.  It was a long day but relaxing at the same time.  I am leaving tomorrow morning for Barcelona and Dublin which I am really excited about so I will post pictures of that when I am back on Monday.