A small tip for you, in Italy a Latte is not a very milky coffee, it is in fact just warm milk, do not make the same mistake my sister did. Luckily Angie (a woman on the trip I made good friends with) could speak a little Italian and could explain what we actually wanted.
Monday, 16th September
Up bright and early, refreshed after a day on the beach, we made our way along the Mediterranean and beautiful landscape into Italy and Pisa, home of the famous leaning tower. Work on it started in 1173 but by the time the 3rd floor was built it was already leaning. By making one side of the structure with marble that was thicker than the other side attempts were made to straighten it but the tower currently has a tilt of 5.5 degrees. No trip to Pisa would be complete without a photo of you propping the tower up, so here I am. Standing under the tower and looking back the way we came you could see so many people posing for photos standing with their arms raised in exactly the same positions, it would have been quite comical to watch had we not done the same ourselves. This was where I found my favourite Gelati flavours - pistachio and lemon, may sound weird but they really go well together. If anyone knows where I can get pistachio flavour ice cream in England then please let me know.
We arrived in Florence and given just 40 minutes to shower (there were 5 of us in the cabin with 1 shower) before we set off to Florence for our group photo to be taken overlooking the city at dusk. We then went on to another of the optional extras that was a 5 course traditional Italian meal. Bread with olive oil and some sort of meat followed by toast with pate, then a pasta and spaghetti course, chicken in tomato sauce followed and ice cream for desert. And of course a couple of bottles of wine to wash it all down. Then a couple of hours were spent in a pub with really awful live music so that when we went back to the contiki village I wasn't in the mood to go to the bar so I took the opportunity to have an early night (relative to other nights, there was no such thing as an early night on this trip).
Tuesday, 17th September
This morning was spent in Florence seeing a leather demonstration and then a few hours to go shopping and go on a guided tour if we wished. This started in the Piazza della Signoria which contains a replica of Michelangelo's David, this was the closest we would get to seeing it as the real one is in the Galleria dell' Accademia. I'm not a big fan of art so I left the tour and wandered around the city on my own for a while, taking in the atmosphere and enjoying being in a foreign place instead of rushing around trying to fit everything in. We all met up at the designated meeting place and then it was back on the coach, next stop Rome.
Before we went to Rome's Contiki village Jono dropped us off at the train station and we went into the city centre for a quick look at the sights and to have some dinner. Starting at the Colosseum, past the Mamatine prison, capitaline hill, up to the Pantheon and then past the Palazzo Madama (this had several guards at the entrances. Italian men, in uniform, carrying rifles - phwor!!!! Epitome of every girls fantasy) to the Piazza Navona. We got pizza for dinner from a little pizza and gelati shop that gave discounts to Contiki travellers; the ice creams were so big that even Shane had difficulty finishing a whole one.
We arrived back at the Contiki village quite late and headed straight for the on sight nightclub after unloading our bags from the coach and finding our cabins. Bed at the usual time of 2am.