Museum Hopper

Jason really wanted to visit the Leaning Tower of Pisa .  He did not feel the need to go up the tower -- that completely surprised me!  Jason loves to go up things.   We ended up renting a car to get to Pisa.  We found parking  pretty easily  a few blocks from the tower and the square it is in.  We walked into the walls of Pisa and there was the tower!   It is definitely a wonderful photo op.   We bought a ticket to go into the baptistery, which also got us into the cathedral without waiting for a timed entry ticket.  We did buy our tickets on site.   The Cathedral was really beautiful.  It is almost too bad that the tower is so close to it as I think it gets the short end of the stick.   Look at the beautiful altar Lectern View of the cathedral from the  Baptistery The Baptistery was beautiful too.  Much more sterile and stoic inside.   The...

on our second day of biking, our main destination was the  castello di brolio .  we biked out to the vineyard and castle and then back.  the wine tasting room is the bottom of the hill with the castle at the very top. since everything in tuscany that is older than about 100 years old seems to sit at the top of a hill,  we had a decent hike up to the castle.  we ended up only touring the outside of the castle as the inside was closing for a "lunch" break. the views were pretty spectacular.   this castle was considered the southern border of florence and transferred hands a number of times, but finally rested in the hands of florence.  "when brolio growls, all siena trembles" was a very common saying.  the restaurant at the castle was delicious as well.  our pasta dishes were delicious.  if you go to the castle and pay admission, you get a free tasting in the wine room as well.   Castello di Brolio View f...