Since our ship docked in Livorno, a good hour and a half from Florence, we knew if we wanted to see both Pisa and Florence we would need to book a private tour (waiting on public transportation between the two locations would eat up way too much time).
After hopping over to the Cruise Critic Roll Call for our cruise ship (read more on that here), I found an existing Rome In Limo Tour Group headed to Pisa and Florence that was looking for more people. For 87 Euro ($117)/person, we would have a dedicated tour guide and van driver for 9 hours to take us to Pisa and Florence.
Since both Pisa and Florence can get immensely crowded, Rome in Limo suggested that we start our tour as soon as the ship docked in Livorno.
When we got off the ship we were met by our Rome in Limo guide. Her name escapes me now but she was really sweet and friendly. All 15 of us hopped into the Rome in Limo van for our 30 minute drive.
Along the way, our guide provided us with tons of history about Pisa and the surrounding area.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa's construction spanned 177 years, beginning in 1173 when the first two layers were built. The structure leaned from the beginning stages because its foundation is incredibly weak, only three meters deep in very unstable soil.
Over the next 100 years, several architects were hired to resolve the leaning problem. One architect attempted to correct the lean by building the upper floors higher on one side then another. The lean however progressively became worse with the addition of the tower's immensely heavy bells.
Before restoration work began in the 1990s, the tower leaned 5.5 degrees. Fearing that this severe angle would eventually cause the tower to collapse, a team of engineers restored the tower in the 1990s, lessening its tilt to 3.99 degrees.
Soon after our history lesson was over, our car made it to the parking area for the Pisa square. Our guide walked us over from the parking area to the Piazza del Duomo.
The streets leading up to the Piazza were covered with vendors selling cheap knick knacks. Most of them had these creepy Pinocchio marionettes.
Legend has it that the Pinocchio story was created in these regions so you see a lot of Pinocchio souvenirs floating around. 
Juxtaposing the creepy Pinocchio faces were the beautiful fort walls surrounding the piazza.
Once we arrived, I was so glad that we had decided to take an early tour. We literally had the entire piazza to ourselves.
After taking the classic holding up the tower pictures, we decided to explore the Duomo and Bapistery building that share the square with the leaning tower.
Although we couldn’t enter either building because of church services, we were awestruck by their beauty from the outside. 
The Duomo (cathedral) was built in 1064 mirroring the Romanesque style of that period. The façade is covered in gray marble and white stone.
The Baptistery sits on the opposite side of the leaning tower, closest to the entrance to the Piazza. Built in 1153 to mimic the Romanesque style of the Cathedral, it’s the largest Baptistery in Italy.
After wandering around for 30 minutes on our own, we met back up with our tour group and headed over to our van.
But not before we stopped in the McDonald’s right outside the square for a potty break. For those of you unfamiliar with European culture, there are no such things as public restrooms so you have to take every free chance you get. Luckily, McDonald’s lets visitors use their bathrooms for free. Even if it was the most disgusting bathroom I’ve ever seen.
With our bladders empty, we jumped back into the van for the hour and a half journey to Florence. Our guide provided us some more history lessons and gave us some background on the Tuscan countryside.
Since I’ve already given you information overload, I think I’ll stop here for the day. Stay tuned tomorrow to hear about the rest of our day's adventures in Florence.
What You've Missed:
Monaco
Up Next:
Florence
