“洋”的心情日记及生活点滴 Raynard's diary .......: March 2010

Flight No: CX293/CX292 (HKG-FCO-HKG)
Date: 20th - 24th March 2010
Flying Hours: 13 hours 55 mins
(GMT +0100)

This is my 3rd time flying to Rome, first time I went to the city of Rome spending time at every corner of this ancient historical city. The 2nd time I went to Vatican City & Florence, costing me EUR82 for the return train tickets from Rome to Florence, but it's all worth going as it's really a beautiful and peaceful little Italian town. And this time, I went to Pisa, to visit one of the 7 Wonders of the World, the Leaning Tower of Pisa (Italian: Torre Pendente di Pisa).
This time I had my Korean flight purser Chris accompanying me to Pisa, she told me she hasn't been to Pisa after flying for over 15 years, which surprised me. It happened that I was having the same crew rest period with Chris inflight from HKG to Rome and I mentioned about my trip this time, and I have inspired her with my travelling mission every flight, which made her to cancel her initial plan to stay only in the hotel room and followed me to Pisa, a day trip from Rome.
We woke up very early the next day after arriving Rome, meeting at the hotel lobby at 0700 and we started our trip. We took the hotel shuttle van from the Sheraton Building 2 to Building 1 and from there we walked for around 15 mins to the bus stop and wait for Bus #771 taking us to the Metro Magliana, and from there we took the metro to the Roma Termini (Main train station). You must be wondering why will it be so complicated to get to the train station. YES it's definitely not easy to travel from our hotel to Roma Termini as our hotel location (Sheraton Gold Resort) was located at a quite remote place out of Rome. There's a free shuttle taking us to the city of Rome but the earliest shuttle is 1000, I wanna get to Pisa earlier, spending more time there before heading back to Rome, again, to catch the latest shuttle(2145/2245) back to my hotel, that's why I need to take the public transport which is definitely inconvenient to the train station, as we were taking the 0946 train to Pisa arriving at 1255, that's the cheapest among the few schedules available. Just to share with you guys that taking train in Europe is very costly and there're fast train taking you non-stop straight to the destination, of course at an even higher price; and a slow train with stops at different stations which brings you to the destination at least 2-3 hours later than the fast train. So it's your choice to pay more, or to spend more time in the train. The Euro train website to check and plan for your schedules: http://www.raileurope.hk

The price of taking bus and metro in Rome are at a fixed price of 1EURO. A little travelling tips for you, you can purchase the time ticket from the ticketing machine or from the newspaper stall or tobacconist and the time you use the ticket, time will be printed on your ticket and within 75mins, you can use the same ticket to take any bus or metro in Rome without needing to buy another new ticket. It's good especially you are having connection from bus to metro. I learnt from my experience as I was stupid enough to purchase new ticket every time I take bus or metro. So, please don't repeat the silly mistakes that I did =))

Spring is around the corner and you can see beautiful flowers from the tree.

There are cabins in the train and we as the passenger can have our privacy.Arriving at Pisa Centrale after 3hours travelling in the train all the way from Rome.
First thing when we arrived at Pisa, was to hunt for food as both Chris and I didn't have our breakfast before leaving. Chris was very nice that she paid for the lunch, thanking me for the arrangement in return. She's a very sweet and lovely friend, and I really thank her for accompanying me to Pisa, at least I have someone to talk to all the way.The Leaning Tower of Pisa (Italian: Torre Pendente di Pisa) or simply the Tower of Pisa is the campanile, or freestanding bell tower, of the Cathedral of the Italian city of Pisa. It is situated behind the Cathedral and is the third oldest structure in Pisa's Cathedral Square (Piazza del Duomo) after the Cathedral of the Baptistry.
Although intended to stand vertically, the tower began leaning to the southeast soon after the onset of construction in 1173 due to a poorly laid foundation and loose substrate that has allowed the foundation to shift direction. The tower currently leans to the southwest.
The height of the tower is 55.86m (183.27ft) from the ground on the lowest side and 56.70m (186.02ft) on the highest side. The width of the walls at the base is 4.09m (13.42ft) and the top 2.48m (8.14ft). Its weight is estimated at 14,500 metri tons (16,000 short tons). The tower has 296 or 294 steps; the seventh floor has 2 fewer steps on the north-facing staircase. Prior to restoration work performed between 1990 and 2001, the tower leaned at an angle of 5.5 degrees, but the tower now leans at about 3.99 degrees. This means that the top of the tower is 3.9 metres (12ft 10in) from where it would stand if the tower were perfectly vertical.Lovely Chris from Bushan, Korea
The weather wasn't good that day, it began to rain after 40mins when we reached there. So I am not satisfied with the pictures this time and I will be visiting it again for sure in the near future. Most of my pictures were under-exposed, still learning to master the functions of my new camera.
This is cute & creative

Some short video to share, click PLAY: