Pisa, Lucca and Firenze, Italia

As promised, here is the first installment of Katie and my fabulous tour across Italy and Greece. Due to primitive internet conditions in Greece, I'm posting this from back in Rome, so this is going to come sort of all at once. So, um, prepare yourselves.

Katie and I ... fresh-faced before our epic 10 day tour of 11 cities* in 2 countries. Fun!

First Kate and I set out to conquer central Italy, and I did what I thought I would never do: I visited the leaning tower of Pisa. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I am that Tourist.

The Cathedral, Baptistry and Tower complex is actually sort of pretty ... very surprising.


I apologize in advance, but we had to take this picture ... enjoy:

After 3 hours in Pisa we'd pretty much exhausted the sights, so we moved to the charming town of Lucca, where the Pisan romanesque style of Churches is more tastefully displayed.

The Cathedral of Lucca ... pretty and not choked with tourists.


I trace the pilgrim's maze on the Cathedral porch

Finally, we stopped in Florence, because I couldn't in good conscience not take Katie to Florence when it was so close.

Ze Doumo


I talked Katie out of waiting in line for 3 hours to see the real one, and we went to the Ufizzi instead ... I'm a smooth operator.

After a brief and uninspiring stay in Bari (nice churches, skeezy guys) Katie and I embarked on the ship to Patras, Greece, a 14 hours cruise through the Adriatic (mostly at night, I'm happy to say).

I'm so nautical

Next, our whirl-wind tour through Greece!

*Okay, I'm counting some ruins as "Cities". Maybe I should have said 7 Cities and 4 ex-Cities, but I think that's a bit over-wrought, don't you?