The Wonder Weekend

I am here after a weekend that saw an another wonder in my life. It was definitely one of the most fabulous trips. I started on friday early morning by going in Eurostar train to reach Milan(Eu 29) at 11pm and as always dillu was late. After waiting frustratingly for an half an hour, mailed him. At 1pm there was a reply from him giving the directions to his house. Finally we met & we had dinner in an Indian restaurent, saw beautiful Duomo of Milan.

We left to florence that night itself; on the way at Bologna my officemate joined us and we reached florence at 5:30am. We started going around places at 11am. First we saw the Duomo, surrounded by a baptysry - where Dante (of DIVINE COMEDY) was baptised and a beautiful bell tower, is the fourth largest cathedral (largest i guess is in cologne: source takla). I felt Milan Duomo is more beautiful. The 'Ponte vecchio' a famous 14th centurey bridge was very impressive. Then we saw a couple of palaces. The palaces are not as beautiful as Indian palaces like Jaipur/Udaipur(though we didnot go inside) they were really good considering that they are very old. Then we went to have a look of whole city from a hiltop. 

On the way back we went to UFFIZI(EU 6.5) museum where there are some 10,000 renaissance paintings. It's collection includes masterpieces of Leonardo da vinci, Michaelangelo, etc. Unfortunately Monalisa was not there. (Later I learnt that its in Paris).

Florence was impressive for its ancient look rather than the famous monuments it has; It was really interesting to see different sized city buses , some as small as a van, plying in routes according to width of road.  All the places were within walking distance(~2.5km) from station; hence the map and the lonely planet guide 'Europe on Shoestring' was of great help.

We left Florence to Pisa(one hour journey) sunday morning 9:30 am after having good sleep in Youth Hostel. We started walking from station towards the famous square Campo die Miracoli(Field of Miracles). Walking along  streets of this charming town was a pleasure, and it took about 45 mins to reach this miraculous square. I can justly say that this square is definitely one of the most beautiful places in whole world. It has a cathedral, baptistry and of course the famous 'Leaning tower'(60 m high, 5.5 degree inclination). We decided to cancel our earlier plan of leaving by afternoon and spent the whole day there. We also went on top of this wonder which has been recently reopened, by paying 15 Euros.

Vishwesha G

Forthcoming attractions: Rome and Vatican City on next weekend.