Firenze-1 (Pisa)

The nice man woke me up at 6:15 and I took a cold shower (but i didn't expect different!) I got dressed and picked up my nasty breakfast again, but today I had an italian croissant with NASTY pastry cream in the middle. I took the 7:42 train to 9:45 into Florence. After getting lost I found my hostel. I dropped of my luggage and once again found BAD planning. Florence is closed on Mondays, so i had to do my Pisa trip today instead of tomorrow :) I walked to the center of town to buy tickets for the Florence sights for tomorrow but they only had the Uffizi so i bought it. I tried to find a tour to Pisa, but at American Express they said you can't go to the top of the tower if you take the tour so I decided to go myself. I took the 12:37 train to Pisa which got me in at 1:40. I walked to the tower area. The earliest tour was at 4:40! ARGH! By then it was 2:15 so I had to do it. How could i not go to the top!!!! Since i had so much time I paid to do the other 5 touristy things which wound up being a bit boring. I finished that within an hr and 20 min. Then I asked 2 american guys to take the traditional touristy picture of me pushing the Tower! Then I went to get some gelato. THEN i got to go to the top of the tower which was about 300 stairs up and then 300 down. After I took tons of pictures I went back to the train station getting a bit lost (as usual) and window shopping. Got on the 5:54 train back to Florence and went straight to dinner at Da Ganino. Best dinner of the trip! Pasta Porcini, Bisteca Fiorentina (specialty in Florence), Garlic Spinach and Tiramisu! AND they gave me a discount because I was studying culinary. I met a mom and daughter from CA who said they come here every 2 years for the past 15 years! They said it was their favorite restaurant in Florence. I could see why! They were a delight to talk to! And they helped me chose dinner...which was GREAT! They also walked me part of the way home :) THANKS for the company!!!! Eventually I went home and met ED because I saw him drinking Chianti and eating Mcdonalds! He also happened to be one of my roomates and I have to say my favorite person I met on my trip! We talked for a while and then I went to bed at 11:30!