Travel With A Traveling Gnome

When gearing for my first international trip I got obsessed with the idea of traveling with a traveling gnome like in the movie Amelie.  It was like a right of passage, an initiation to travel if you will, or maybe I just wanted an excuse to buy a gnome. 

I named him Herman, a traveling Gnome I bought on Amazon, complete with his own passport.  I bought two more gnomes that I creatively named for my besties.  I'm the only one that ended up using the gnome as a traveling gnome.  I'd like to believe he was the secret to my travel success.

Herman easily fit in my purse, and traveled from London to Greece with me.  He was there when I stumbled out of a bus and sprained my ankle in Paris, he held my hair back when I was puking in the toilet after having too much vino in Venice, he was our bodyguard when we were chased through Switzerland by a public masturbator, and he drank it up with us during Oktoberfest in Germany.

Date Accomplished:   October 2nd, 2007

Lean With The Leaning Tower Of Pisa

The Leaning Tower of Pisa, located in Pisa, Italy, is a belltower that, well, leans.  The tower began to lean during construction in 1173.   It took over 300 years to build.  The foundation that the Leaning Tower of Pisa was built on was too soft on one side that caused the tower to lean.  After construction it continued to progressively lean for centuries afterwards.  Before restoration, the tower leaned at 5.5 degrees, post restoration it now leans at 3.97 degrees.   Located also in the square are the Cathedral and Bapistry. 

In front of The Leaning of Tower is a large grassy area where you can get the best tower photos.  You know, THOSE photos of people leaning on it, and pushing it straight.  The grassy field is "off limits" but people walk on it anyways.  While we were there no one enforced it, but I have heard that they do occassionally.

This is such a touristy thing to do, but I am a tourist.  So there.

But I think what I enjoyed better than taking those cheesy photos were taking shots of others attempting their photos.

This is what the passersby see.

After taking our photos, grabbing a scoop of gelato, we then took a walk back to our bus.  But we were missing something, our friend, Edgar.  Edgar was from Mexico and he had left some of his most important stuff on the bus.  Since we were on a tour everyone agreed to wait for at least ten minutes, and one person went running to go look for him.  He was nowhere to be found, so, we left whether we liked it or not.  We were so worried that he wouldn't be able to find his way back to Florence without his valuables.

We lost Edgar in Pisa!!  For the remainder of the day we kept saying, "Where in the world is Edgar?"

That evening after a night of drinks in Florence, we arrived back to our hotel to find Edgar there!   He had gotten the meeting time wrong by an hour, and after he realized we were all gone, he panicked.  I would have probably cried, actually, I know I would have cried.

After his mini panic attack he bucked up, found an Internet cafe, found out where we were staying, took a train, bus, and taxi to our hotel!  Till this day, anytime anyone mentions Pisa, I immediately think of poor Edgar lost in Pisa!

Date Accomplished: September 23rd, 2007