9th-12th Apr: 20th wedding anniversary holiday in Tuscany
9th: Flew from East Midlands airport to Pisa, giving plenty of time to look round the Leaning Tower before catching our train to Montecatini Terme.
We were amused by how many people were posing for "I'm pushing it over / holding it up" photos.
Intricate door & pillar carving.
10th: Spent the morning looking round Montecatini Terme, with its fountains and a statue of Puccini.
This was a beautiful old building housing one of Montecatini's famous thermal baths, but unfortunately it was all locked up.
After a picnic lunch in the park, we took the 'funicolare' up the hill to Montecatinin Alto.
11th: A slightly less leisurely pace for a whistle-stop tour of Florence.
We declined the local speciality 'bistecca Firenze' (t-bone steak) - the minimum order was 1kg, and they cook it very rare.
We had a good look round the Bargello national museum, but gave the Uffizi a miss.
The bridge of jewellery shops.
View from the Abbazia di San Miniato al Monte.
Back to the cathedral for sunset.
12th: Sunrise over Montecatini Alto from our bedroom balcony. On arrival we had been given 'the best room in the hotel', which was a lovely surprise.
With half a day to kill before our flight home, we stopped off at Lucca on the way. This is where we were originally meant to be staying, but a G7 foreign ministers meeting had spoiled our plans.
We started with a walk halfway round the city walls, which are big enough to have a road on top.
Then we weaved our way through the narrow streets
We climbed the steps of the Torre Guinigi for the view. The tower has trees on the top!
The city was busy dismantling the barriers that had been in place for the G7 meeting.
Mont Blanc from the plane
