The hostel served a great (but not free) breakfast. Rob and I headed over to the Tower (and surrounding Piazza del Miracle). Since I’d been there the day before, I was able to smooth Rob’s way, and take a picture of him in front of the Tower. Not like he was attempting to hold it up. That’s absolutely a thing – we were surrounded by hundreds of people gyrating wildly while their associates tried to get a picture of them holding the tower up with one hand, two hands, a foot, etc. In the same piazza there’s a large cathedral. When there yesterday I hadn’t noticed that it’s leaning too!
From there Rob and I separated, as I just wanted to wander. Rob wanted more time for photos. I spent the day power-wandering the city.
I returned to the hostel at 1:00 pm and ran back into Rob. We spent a while discussing the upcoming plans as his trip comes to a close. We’re a day behind my (mostly made-up) plan. Forecasts for Saturday and Sunday are rain – up to 13 mm. So, revised plan. We’re going to spend the next two days cycling along the coast towards Rome. From Grosseto we’ll take a train the last bit to Rome. That will let us avoid the rain, as well as not cycling into Rome directly (avoiding the traffic). It will mean three days in Rome for Rob. His flight is early Tuesday morning, so a bit more time across a Sunday to ensure his bicycle goes home with him.
From there I left again to wander the city. Picked up a bicycle tube along the way, to replace the current spare that has two patches (one from some point prior to this trip). I failed to find a camping/wilderness store. I failed to get around to that in Milan, and have been searching ever since for fuel for the stove. Being able to prepare my own food when camping is both another failsafe, and a lot cheaper than buying food at the campground restaurant.
We made hostel reservations in Rome. I’m confident there’s plenty to do in Rome for three days! That said, I’ll likely leave Rome on Monday. Rob will be spending Monday night at the airport rather than leaving the hostel at 3:00 am Tuesday morning. Arriving Monday will also avoid (or at least mitigate) any last-minute crisis in getting to the airport.