Leaning tower, bike tours... cocaine naked?

Another great weekend. Yesterday we took a day trip to Pisa & Lucca. We were only in Pisa for an hour or two, and although it was nice to see the leaning tower, the whole city felt so rushed that the stop there wasn't really worth it. Mostly, it felt super touristy and kitschy

After that was Lucca, though. Maybe the town, or maybe it was the weather—probably some combination of the two—but our time spent there was some of my favorite time in Italy. We rented bikes and rode around the city. The city walls, which are about 30 meters wide all the way around, have now been converted into one large public park with bike path included. Despite the fact that my bike was entirely too small and consequently hurt my ass, the gorgeous weather made up for it. My time in Lucca was capped with a walnut and strawberry gelato.

After Lucca we caught a train to Florence for a soccer game Sunday (today). That night, after some trouble, we eventually found our hostel. for €12, it wasn't a bad deal. The beds were comfortable and the rooms relatively spacious. The view, on the other hand, was a little questionable. Before we went out for the night, around 10:30, someone noticed that from their window, we could see a television in the adjacent building. They were watching porn. Not only that, but as this man stepped into visibility, it became obvious that he was wearing only a T-shirt. Soon thereafter, he began doing a line of coke. An interesting beginning to the night, to say the least.

The next morning we were out of the hostel by 10 am, and went around to the markets of florence buying purple paraphernalia (forza viola!). The atmosphere outside the stadium was excellent—game day is the same all around the world. Inside the stadium was everything I expected from a euro-soccer match. Constant songs and jeers, especially "Palermo, Palermo, vaffan culo!" (Palermo, go do it in the ass). The opposite team's fans were in a fenced-off section to protect them from the home fans, or vice versa. Unfortunately, Florence didn't even score one goal, so we didn't get to experience the explosion from the crowd after a score, let alone a victory. Nevertheless, it was a good time.

Florence this time around was much more enjoyable, probably because I wasn't dead tired of traveling and wasn't forced to go to 2+ museums a day. Also, the weather was beautiful. Now I'm headed back to Cortona, but we'll be headed back here later in the week to see Animal Collective.