Tuesday morning, back at Montecatini Terme. Elaine and I were too tired from the late return from Florence to go back early the next morning. So, we decided to "walk the town" instead.

From our window, this is the view of the two pools.

This was no simple carousel.

A street in Montecatini Terme. We took a good walk, through a park and eventually to a computer store to try to buy a zip disk for Craig to save our digital pictures. We bought a PCI card in Venice to move them from our camera to his computer, but he didn't have a spare zip disk. No luck here! These were geeks that barely spoke English. Elaine's feet taking a pleasant swim. Later, from our bus, we got our first view of the Tower of Pisa.

It was a double decker. It wasn't operating when we were there. After our walk, Elaine and I visited the pool where we had a nice chat with Claudia. I told her that I came to the pool to ogle the girls, and she was a very nice ogle indeed. After leaving the bus, we had a short walk along the old city walls to the gate -- seen at the far right of the wall.

To the left, see the steel cables that are holding up the tower. They were fastened on a building at a pretty low level. Personally, I don't see how they will prevent much of a lean.

It was a brilliant day to see the white marble structures. Who are all those Washington people?

The cathedral and the tower. Perspective makes them all seem to lean.

The banana shape shows that the tower leaned from the beginning of its construction.

This picture makes the best case for the incredible lean.

All three - baptistery, cathedral and tower. Only the tower leans.

This is the church where we sang our UNESCO concert. Elaine, Drew and poster.

As you see, the poster was different. The concert was preceded by an introduction in Italian and English. We had a very enthusiastic audience.

Back at Hotel Settentrionale, we are all getting ready to leave.

A nice picture of Mary from the bus, probably looking out the window at Bryce, who is chatting up Elizabeth.

Bryce, I don't blame you. This is Elizabeth from London, our new ACFEA tour guide. She will accompany us for the rest of the tour.

Louis writes: "This is the Franciscan Monastery attached to the Upper Basilica of San Francesco in Assisi." I took the picture out of the front window of the bus, but at the time, didn't have a clue what it was. The next session details a lot more of this.

Immediately after arriving at Assisi, we were let off at a bus park and told to find some lunch. Afterwards, we would have a guided tour of the area.

Brian spotted a nice restaurant which was advertised on a wall above the street. After some searching, we found it and had a very nice lunch. The tour in the afternoon was long and very interesting, so it will be the subject of the next page.

Next, Assisi and Perugia Back to beginning.